Developing marketing strategies to increase vegetable consumption

This study aims to examine factors that influence consumption of vegetables in the USA.

Discrete choice methodology is used to measure the relative importance of health benefits and other attributes when choosing food to be eaten at home, cluster analysis to identify segments, and analysis of variance to analyze differences between clusters.

The results show that, for food in general, nutrition and impact on weight are more important than value for money, ease of preparation and taste. However, for vegetables, while the nutrition and weight benefits are very positive factors, taste, cost and ease of preparation inhibit consumption. Results of the cluster analysis suggest that marketing strategies should be adapted for different consumer segments.

The sample size is fairly small – 250.

The results can be used to help food marketers increase consumption of vegetables.

More effective marketing of vegetables should increase consumption, enhancing consumer welfare and reducing health care costs.

Discrete choice analysis has not previously been used in studies of this topic.