Consumer behaviors towards ready-to-eat foods based on food-related lifestyles in Korea

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine consumers' behaviors toward ready-to-eat foods and to develop ready-to-eat food market segmentation in Korea. The food-related lifestyle and purchase behaviors of ready-to-eat foods were evaluated using 410 ready-to-eat food consumers in the Republic of Korea. Four factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis (health-orientation, taste-orientation, convenience-orientation, and tradition-orientation) to explain the ready-to eat food consumers' food-related lifestyles. The results of cluster analysis indicated that "tradition seekers" and "convenience seekers" should be regarded as the target segments. Chi-square tests and t-tests of the subdivided groups showed there were significant differences across marital status, education level, family type, eating-out expenditure, place of purchase, and reason for purchase. In conclusion, the tradition seekers consumed more ready-to-eat foods from discount marts or specialty stores and ate them between meals more often than the convenience seekers. In contrast, the convenience seekers purchased more ready-to-eat foods at convenience stores and ate them as meals more often than the tradition seekers. These findings suggest that ready-to-eat food market segmentation based on food-related lifestyles can be applied to develop proper marketing strategies.

Reshaping the Traditional Pattern of Food Consumption in Romania through the Integration of Sustainable Diet Principles. A Qualitative Study

“…Summarizing the ideas expressed in scientific literature, it can be stated that in terms of food transition amid industrialization, all developed countries have experienced, at different rates, the following tendencies: A shift from raw products to sterilized and frozen products after 1950, a constant increase in sophisticated manufactured ready to eat food and dishes [14,15] along with the shift from local shops to supermarkets and hypermarkets as main food providers from 1980 [11,16] and the progression of the commercial catering from 2000 [17].…”

Fast food and take-away food consumption are associated with different lifestyle characteristics

“…Convenience is an important factor for consumers’ food preferences and is associated with eating out and the use of take‐away meals (Rappoport et al. , 1993; Van Dam & Van Trijp, 1994; Candel, 2001; Bae et al. , 2010).…”

Influence of Lifestyles Related to Eating Habits in Ready Meal Consumption: comparative study between São Paulo and Rome

“…One of the objectives referred to the adaptation and validation of the scale of lifestyles related to ready meals of Bae, Chae, Ryu (2010) in the cities of Rome and São Paulo. The results can be considered satisfactory -there is evidence that the dimensional structure of the scale is kept both in São Paulo and in Rome, and the 14 indicators are appropriate to reflect the four dimensions theorized (health, taste, convenience and tradition).…”

“…Accordingly, we expect to contribute with consumer behavior literature based on a comparative empirical study. Bae, Chae and Ryu (2010) detected four factors related to lifestyles regarding ready meals: health orientation, flavor, convenience and tradition.…”

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