Consumer behavior towards Organic Food Consumption

with Reference to DELHI NCR

INTRODUCTION
The Indian economy is still quite reliant on agriculture and it contributes nearly 14% of the
countrys gross domestic product and almost 60% of the population is dependent on agriculture.
The trend of organic food that was initiated in the developed regions such as Europe and North
America has expanded to developing countries like India. Ever since the concept of organic food
got famous in the country, India has emerged as one of the largest markets in the world for
organic food. Food consumption patterns are rapidly changing nowadays as a result of rising
concern about the nutritional value of food and health issues. The demand for organic foods has
significantly increased due to increasing awareness on health, food safety and environmental
concerns. Organic products are produced with an objective to produce healthy and quality foods
without using any chemical products. So organic product not only preserves the environment but
it also improves public health, bringing significant benefits both to the economy as well as to the
social cohesion of rural areas. Organic foods are thus has becoming very popular due to its
various benefits largely the health concern as compared to the non-organic ones. Organic food
usually costs up to 20% to 30% more than conventional food items which is one of the major
challenges in Indian market as majority of the consumers are quite price sensitive. However, at
the same time increasing health consciousness and increasing disposable income among Indians
is incessantly increasing the demand for organic food.
In a country like India where labor-intensive farming is more suitable organic farming would be
a better option. Organic crops need less water content and most of the agriculture irrigation
requirements is still dependent on monsoon so organic farming suits more. As the high price of
the organic food is due to the gap in demand and supply if supply will increase price will
automatically come down and within the competing levels with non-organic food items. And last
but not the least the quality of food would be way much better than then non organic food.
Certification of the organic food products is the major concern for the producers to prove the
authenticity for their product and generate consumer confidence. Government has shown
positive signs by improving the status of the certification agencies. The process of the
certification is well defined, although it is costly for small farmers.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Consumers who were concern on the environment can be inferred to be sensitive to information
regarding to not only the environment itself but also on products, brands and activities that
might affect it. The most convincing evidence supporting the growth of ecologically favorable
consumer behavior was the increasing number of individuals who were willing to pay more for
environmentally friendly products.
However, the amount that consumers were willing to pay for organic foods seems to depend on
few variables such as the type of food, the relative cost of a comparable conventionally
produced item and the absolute price of the item. Besides, the organic food consumers were less
likely to consider price as important compared to whose consumers who didnt and never
purchase organic products before. The consumers had positive attitudes towards organic
products where one of the most common mentioned reason for purchasing organic products was
it was perceived as healthier than conventional alternatives. Also the consumers did not always
buy sustainable products as consequences of environmental concern or to be net the community
or due to personal beliefs but mainly to give priority to health, to be part of the social group, to
distinguish from others and to accomplish the need to try out new technologies.
Although the motivation or intention was high but it was impossible to transform the intention
into practice due to low availability. Another factor that can also influence a person intention
towards purchasing sustainable food products was the situational factor. A person who came in
to a store with an intention of buying organic food products may be disturbed with the
promotion of conventional products or the non-availability of the organic food products. The
research studies identified additional positive attributes that consumer associated with organic
food products which included improved taste. Reasons of buying could be grouped according to
general and commodity specific concerns and it included food safety, human health,
environmental impact, whereas commodity at- tributes included taste, freshness and packaging
The studies concluded that environmental knowledge did not contribute to organic purchase
behavior. Also the eco-labels were attractive instruments informing consumers about the
environmental impact of their purchasing decisions. A variety of factors have contributed to the
increasing popularity of organic food products. Among the reasons are claims that organic food
products taste better than conventional produced foods, concerns about health and nutrition,
environmental concerns, concerns over the use of chemicals and pesticides in conventional
farming, the erosion of confidence in factory and concerns over animal welfare.
Also discovered that consumers placed relatively high level of importance on health
consciousness and perceived value whereas low level of importance on food safety concern and

religious factor in their intention to purchase organic food products. There were several studies
that supported empirically the assumption that consumers environmental knowledge or ecoliteracy was a significant predictor of environmentally friendly behavior.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The aim of the study is to gain knowledge about consumers demographic characteristics,
attitudes, health consciousness, environmental concerns, organic food knowledge and
behavior towards organic food product consumption. This Study also deals with the
organic food industry in India by taking in consideration the existing brand in Indian
market and Certification of the organic food products. The study also aims at
understanding the factors influencing the popularity of organic food in India. The factors
under consideration are health awareness, high prices, weak marketing, high cost of
production and small scale farming. It aims to find out the impact of nutritional labelling
on organic food product impact consumer buying behavior. The study also aims to
analyze the constraints in marketing of organic products and to suggest suitable measures
to attract potential consumers.

OBJECTIVE
1. To identify the factors that affect the purchase decision of consumer with respect
to organic products.
2. The impact of organic labelling on organic food product impact consumer buying
behavior
3. To analyze the attitude and behavior of Indian consumer and their purchase
intention toward organic products.
4. To analyze the constraints in marketing of organic products and to suggest suitable
measures to attract potential consumers.

METERDOLOGY
Methods of data collection
Collection of secondary data
The secondary data would be collected from the websites, international and national journals in
the field of management as well as marketing, business magazines, business dailies, referred text
books in marketing management as well as service quality and academic studies conducted in
the related areas for the purpose of building a strong conceptual background including the
review of literature for the study.
Collection of primary data
For the descriptive type of researches, the best suited research approach for collecting primary
data would be the survey technique using questionnaire method. From a sample, data would be
collected and the different magnitudes will be measured with respect to the whole population
Sampling Size
The sample size of 200 respondents will be collected in region of Delhi NCR.
Sampling Population
In this thesis the city of NCR is considered for the purpose of study.
Sampling Technique
Convenience sampling would be used in this study to obtain information quickly and
inexpensively. If a quick reaction to a preliminary service concept is desired to determine if it is
worthwhile to develop it further, a convenience sample may be appropriate.

TOOLS USED FOR ANALYSIS

Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) is used for the purpose of analysis and Microsoft
Excel is used for the presentation of the research data.

Percentage Analysis
All the demographic analysis of the respondents (residential area, gender, age
composition, occupation, income level and so on) would be done on the MS Excel
platform and output would be used for further SPSS techniques.

Factor Analysis
Factor analysis would be used to find factors among observed variables to reduce the
number of variables especially in the context of testing relationship between various
demographic variables and service quality variables in the study
The reduced factors will be then used for hypothesis testing and further analysis in this
research through following techniques

Analysis of variance

Chi Square

Correlations

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