Analysis of Consumer Behavior in Regard to the Beef Meat in Kosovo

Abstract

In this study, consumer’s behavior in the Kosovo in respect to beef meat was studied using different socio-economic variables assessed by so-called evaluation criteria as: “very important”, “important”, “same”, and “less important”. The overall objective of the study was to analyze the consumer behavior in regard to beef meat in Kosovo and possibly identify effects of different variables on consumer decision upon purchase of beef meat. Beef meat was perceived differently at various types of purchasing places. Important socio-economic variables explaining individual respondent differences in consumer behaviors regarding purchase of beef meat involved in our study were: price, label, package, quality, trust, and origin of the product, gender of consumer, monthly family income, family member size, employment status of respondents, different regions in Kosovo. Perceived quality, price and trust of the beef meat product were significantly more important (P < 0.05) than all other characteristics no matter of gender, family size, respondent region, monthly economic income or other issues. Supermarkets and retail story’s are the preferred place for buying beef meat for all family size groups ranging from 46.10% - 72.06%, respectively. Conclusions derived from the analysis suggest that assessment of consumer’s behavior through evaluation criteria can contribute to a better understanding of consumer behavior in respect of beef meat and will have positive impact and improve linkages between farmers, traders, processors and consumers as last part of this chain in Kosovo

Attitudes and preferences of Kosovar consumers towards quality and origin of meat

“…Results suggest that consumers in Kosovo pay more attention to food safety and quality using expiration date, food safety certification, and origin, followed by trust on sellers as well as brand reputation. These results are in line with a previous study (Bytyqi et al, 2012). Furthermore, our study shows that Kosovar consumers perceive country of origin (COO) and place of purchase as important cues for assessing safety of meat like consumers in other countries in Europe (similarly to Becker et al, 2000 andGlitsch, 2000).…”

“…While meat is the most important livestock product, it is also one of the main food items -meat represents 19% of an average Kosovo household consumption basket (MAFRD, 2014). Meat consumption is in the range of 41 -44 kg per capita per year (Bytyqi et al, 2012;FAO, 2014). Beef and chicken meat are the most popular types of meat.…”

“…Currently, 30 companies in the industrial meat-processing sector rely mainly on imported raw meat, whilst few small traditional processors rely mostly on fresh domestic meat. The main reason is that imported raw meat, coming mainly from Brazil, Poland and the USA, is usually cheaper than the associated Kosovar products (Bytyqi et al, 2012).…”

“…Previous research on consumer perceptions and preferences for meat in Kosovo (Bytyqi et al, 2012) and Albania (a neighbouring country where meat market is similar to Kosovo) (Imami et al, 2011;Zhllima et al, 2015) has focused on (perceived) meat safety and quality, which are undoubtedly among the main issues that concern consumers when purchasing meat products. Therefore, we also included food safety issues in our survey.…”

An Empirical Investigation on the Effect of Brand Loyalty

“…Packaging not only adds value to the brand but it is an efficient tool for product differentiation and stimulating positive buying behavior and retention which ultimately leads to brand image and loyalty (Pauwels Delassus & Mogos Descotes, 2012;Underwood et al, 2001;Vila & Ampuero, 2007;Wells et al, 2007). Other studies while substantiating the relationship of packaging and brand loyalty argued that effective packaging carve a unique position in the consumers' mind, due to which their confidence increase in terms of reliability and performance which ultimately leads to purchase of the product and brand loyalty (Bed, 2008;Dhurup et al, 2014;Bytyqi et al, 2008).…”