Who buys organic food? Understanding different types of consumers

Abstract Globally, concerns regarding consumers’ food quality and safety have increased. There is an increase in the search of alternative healthy and safe food that also enhances immunity. Organic food eliminates most of the concerns that consumers have. Market experts expect the Indian domestic organic food market to grow rapidly in the coming years. This study aims to understand the characteristics, attitudes, and buying patterns of different types of consumers so that producers, sellers, and the government can design appropriate marketing strategies. To study the attitude of consumers, the Multi-attribute Model was used. A survey was conducted in Delhi-NCR, and data was obtained from 556 consumers. Through Exploratory Factor Analysis, six factors were derived: health, humanity, and environment; obstacles in buying; trust and confidence; fundamental knowledge; tradition and culture; and social acceptance and status. Based on these factors, and with cluster analysis, consumers were classified into five segments: incognizant consumers, unconcerned consumers, critical consumers, conservative consumers, and congruent consumers.


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
These days consumers are becoming more conscious about their health and the food that they intake. Organic food serves their needs of safe and healthy food. Globally, organic food market is expanding. India's most of the organic food produce is exported but with increasing awareness, Indian organic food market, which is yet very small and fragmented, is also growing. In an emerging organic food market, it is indispensable for producers, marketers and policy makers to understand consumers, their attitudes and buying behaviour. This study explored that consumers are aware about the benefits of organic food related to health, humanity and environment but there are a number of obstacles, like high prices, erratic availability, inaccessibility in buying these products. Some consumers have low level of awareness and some are skeptical about the genuineness of these food products. Therefore, to address consumers' concern and to bring this market into mainstream, consolidated efforts are required from all the stakeholders.

Introduction
Worldwide, concerns regarding food quality and safety have increased as there has been an increase in the number of food-related diseases and scandals. The outbreak of coronavirus pandemic has also raised concerns. Consumers now actively seek alternative food that is healthy and safe, and enhances immunity to prevent diseases. Organic food products eliminate most consumers' concerns towards regular, conventional food. The term 'organic' serves as a heuristic cue of superiority over conventional food (Vega-Zamora et al., 2013). These food products are produced naturally by harmonizing all aspects of chemicals-free pesticides and fertilizers (Lampkin, 1999), Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), and irradiation (Marwa & Scott, 2013). Moreover, organic farming and organic food consumption are closely related to environmental, economic, and social concerns (Salleh et al., 2010). Consumers perceive organic food to be less damaging and more environment-friendly than conventional food .
Food industry experts believe there to be enormous potential in the organic food market. In the year 2018, global retail sales of organic food and drinks market marked USD 105.5 billion (Sahota, 2020), which was USD 97 billion in 2017 , USD 89.7 billion in 2016, and USD 81.6 billion in 2015 (Willer & Lernoud, 2018).
The COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled the demand for organic food products, as consumers believe these products will help boost immunity and act as ammunition against the virus. As a result, organic food stores across the globe are witnessing a considerable increase in sales.
The United States is the biggest organic food products market in the world; however, this trend is expanding to emerging countries too, like India and China (Techsci, 2013). Globally, India has the maximum number of organic food producers . Most of this produce is exported to developed countries, such as the US and some European nations (Yes Bank, Ingenus Strategy and Creative Research, 2016).

Objectives
1. To study the factors affecting the attitude of consumers towards organic food 2. To identify the types of organic food consumers and understand their characteristics and buying patterns

Theoretical background of the study
There are many existing models and theories to understand consumers' attitude, intention to buy, and buying behaviour. In context of organic food, Zanoli and Naspetti (2002) used the Means-End Chain model, while Chen (2007), Arvola et al. (2008), Voon et al. (2011), andAl-Swidi et al. (2014), and Teng & Weng (2015) used the theory of Planned Behaviour. Vassallo and Saba (2015) used the Values theory, Kareklas et al. (2014) used the Self-Construal Theory, and Lee and Yun (2015) used the S-O-R model and Cue Utilization Theory to study the buying intention and behaviour of organic food consumers.
Many studies found that attitude is the most significant predictor of intention to buy organic food products (Kozup et al., 2003;Yadav & Pathak, 2016). Attitude is a combination of consumers' feelings, beliefs, and behavioural intentions towards a product (Perner, 2010). The more favourable feelings consumers have, the more they will consume (Honkanen et al., 2006). Literature suggests that researchers have developed a few scales to measure the attitude of consumers towards organic food; however, most of them are being used in developed countries only, where they have been used only once and then criticized (Bruner, 2003) on practical and methodological parameters (Sarabia et al., 2020).
For the Indian economy, organic food is a paradox; it is both traditional and a new and modern concept (Gumber, 2018). There is a requirement for a practical, simple, and effective method to measure attitude for the provision of a basis for understanding consumers and designing effective marketing and communication strategies (Taticchi et al., 2010).
Attitude can be measured with the help of the Multi-Attribute Model, which states that attitude towards a product is a function of beliefs and perceptions about its attributes (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010). When consumers are involved with a product, they tend to search for information related to its salient attributes and accordingly form an impression about it (Cox, 1967). Product attributes significantly influence the purchase of organic food products (Chauke & Duh, 2019). Attributes like health, environmental protection, and animal welfare are important determinants for purchasing organic food products (Lee & Yun, 2015). However, some studies found that while consumers have a positive attitude towards organic food, it is not reflected in their actual buying behaviour (Auger & Devinney, 2007;Carrington et al., 2010;Moraes et al., 2012;Padel et al., 2005). Therefore, it is vital to examine attitudes and study actual purchase patterns to identify the profiles of different types of consumers. The theoretical framework of the study is presented in Figure 1.

Beliefs and perceptions about attributes of organic food
Many studies have been conducted to understand consumers' beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, intentions, and buying behaviour towards organic food. Various attributes of organic food and consumers' beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes towards them are presented in Table 1.

Beliefs and Perceptions about
Attributes of Organic Food

Attitude towards Organic Food
Purchase Pattern of Different Types of Consumers  Studies conducted across the globe suggest that attributes like healthiness, safety, taste, and trust are more dominant in some regions. In certain others, factors like environment-consciousness, price, knowledge, and awareness significantly affect consumers' attitude and purchase behaviour for organic food products. In a country like India, where the concept of organic food is paradoxical, as in both traditional and modern, a number of other factors may also have a significant impact on consumers' attitudes towards it.

Types of organic food consumers
In the previous studies, researchers have identified different types of consumers on the basis of lifestyle, food-related lifestyle, price sensitivity and willingness to pay, attitude, attitude towards organic labelling, knowledge, demographics, and consumption pattern. The findings of these studies are presented in Table 2.
The Indian organic food market is an emerging one, but it is still scattered and in the infancy stage. So, it was decided to study consumers' types based on the basis of attitude. Attitude helps to explain consumers' preferences and is the predecessor of consumers willing to accept and adopt organic products (Sarabia et al., 2020).

Survey
To achieve the objectives of the study, a primary data-based survey was conducted in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). A survey was undertaken with a self-designed questionnaire near grocery stores and markets selling organic food products (fruits and vegetables). Data was collected using the Area Sampling Technique.
The sample size was determined based on the following formula given by Cochran (Cochran, 1963, p. 75).
Where, n o is the sample size, Z is the abscissa of the normal curve, p is the degree of variability, q is the confidence level, and e is the desired level of precision. For the present study, value of Z is 1.96, which is derived from the statistical table that contains the area under the normal curve, p is 0.5 (maximum degree of variability), confidence level 95% i.e., q is 0.5, and precision level, e ± 0.05 On the basis of the above formula, the sample size determined for the present study was 385. In the pilot study, it was found that approximately 120 stores were selling organic food products in 23 districts of NCR (including NCT-Delhi). All these districts were divided into four zones. It was assumed that more the number of stores, higher will be the numbers of consumers in the area, and vice-versa. To have a good representation of the population, and reduce the sampling errors it was decided to have a sample size that is five times the number of stores in the each zone. Therefore, data was collected from a sample size of 600 respondents, who were aware of organic food products. 556 questionnaires were complete and thus were used for the study.

Survey instrument
The questionnaire included questions on socio-demographics, purchase frequency, and thirty-four statements designed to study consumers' attitudes towards organic food. Respondents were asked to rate their agreement level with the statements on a five-point Likert Scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Reliability and validity of the instrument
Thirty-four statements were designed to study the attitude of consumers. To check reliability, that is, accuracy, consistency, and predictability of scale, Cronbach Alpha was used. The value obtained was 0.908, which is considered a good reliability score (Chawla & Sondhi, 2011). The instrument's validity, that is, to see if it measures what it is supposed to, was ascertained by discussions with experts during pilot testing. Construct validity was checked and confirmed with Confirmatory Factor Analysis, which was performed after applying Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Data analysis
After the data was collected in the form of filled up questionnaires, the next step was to prepare it for statistical analysis, so that meaningful results and inferences could be drawn. The data was coded and entered into the computer using Microsoft Excel software. Statistical techniques like exploratory factor analysis and cluster analysis were used with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for studying consumer's attitude towards organic food and to segment consumers into homogeneous groups respectively. Same statistical techniques were used by (Nikoli et al., 2014) in Bosnia, by (Oroian et al., 2017) in Romania and Herzegovina, (Dumortier et al., 2017) in US to study consumer perceptions and attitudes and to segment them in homogeneous groups.

Sample description
The characteristics of the sample are presented below in Table 3.

Factors affecting consumers' attitude towards organic food
Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed on 34 statements/variables using the Principal Component Method with Varimax Rotation to draw the factors that affect consumers' attitudes. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure was 0.889, which meant that the sample size was adequate. Bartlett's Test's chi-square was 13,216.717, degree of freedom was 561, and the p-value was 0.000, which is less than 0.05, the level of significance, suggesting that the variables had significant correlation between themselves.
The extracted communalities of all the variables were more significant than 0.5, indicating the goodness of fit. Therefore, all the variables were included in the study. Principle Component Analysis was performed to estimate the Eigenvalue of principle components.
Six components having Eigenvalue more than 1, which were explained by 69.713 percent of variance, were selected for the study. It was found that all the variables had significant factor loadings (greater than 0.7) to only one factor. Hence, the structure of the extracted factors from the variables satisfy the assumptions of convergent and discriminant validity. The reliability of variables in each factor was checked with Cronbach Alpha, which was more than 0.8 in each factor.
The results of factors with factor loading, Eigenvalue, percentage of variance explained, and Cronbach Alpha are presented in Table 4.
The six identified factors are: Health, Humanity, and Environment: Organic food is considered a healthier option than regular, conventional food. It is produced without the injection of growth hormones. It helps to protect the wellbeing and health of animals. It is free from artificial flavours, colours, additives, and chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Organic farming is done in an environment-friendly manner, and it helps in reducing water and soil pollution. It supports small farmers and the community too.

Obstacles in buying:
Organic food is considered as routine food sold at premium prices. Another obstacle in buying organic food is availability-it is not easily accessible and its variety is less than conventional food. Also, there is a lack of information about organic food and its availability. Moreover, consumers are unwilling to spare time and travel extra miles just to buy organic food.
Trust and Confidence: Certification of organic food products is significant as consumers gain confidence from certification logos and labels. They do not mind if organic food products have odd shapes, sizes, marks, or blemishes. They trust farmers and sellers when they claim and promote their products as organic.
Fundamental Knowledge: Organic food is produced using natural methods without the utilization of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It is nutritious and helps in preventing diseases. Organic farming is done in an environmentally safe way. The fields organic food is sourced from should be certified by authorized bodies.
Tradition and Culture: Organic food is related to India's ancient traditions and it promotes Indian culture and heritage. It has an authentic taste, which is better than regular food.  Social Acceptance and Status: People in developed countries adopt organic food and buy organic food products as it is trendy and considered a status symbol. Consumers believe that their family and close friends will think highly of them if they buy and consume organic food.

Types of consumers and their purchase pattern
To identify and understand different types of consumers, Hierarchical Clustering was applied to the extracted factors. Five types of consumers were identified with the help of the Agglomeration Schedule. To study the attitude of these consumers, the K-means Clustering Method was applied. The difference between average factor scores of different types of consumers was checked with one-way ANOVA. The p-value of F-statistics was less than 5 percent of significance; hence, all types of consumers are significantly different.
Based on factor scores, the five types of consumers are: Incognizant Consumers, Critical Consumers, Conservative Consumers, Unconcerned Consumers, and Congruent Consumers.
The cluster scores of types of consumers are presented in Table 5 and Figure 2.

Profile of consumers and their purchase pattern
To identify the profiles of different types of consumers, a Chi-Square Test of association was applied. It was found that socio-demographic variables like gender, education, background, occupation, and income were significantly associated with types of consumers. In contrast, variables like age and number of people in the household were not statistically significant.
The attitude, purchase pattern, and profile of different types of consumers are as follows: Incognizant Consumers: These made up 11.34 percent of consumers who participated in the survey. These consumers showed a shallow level of fundamental knowledge about organic food and farming. They scored slightly negative on 'obstacles in buying', and flattering on factors like "tradition and culture", "health, humanity, and environment", and "trust and confidence".
This group constituted a more-than-expected number of males over females; graduates and undergraduates over post-graduates and professionals; urban consumers; service-class people with income less than Rs. 50,000 per month. It was observed that these consumers bought organic grocery occasionally, and more than the expected number of consumers had never purchased organic fruits, vegetables, and milk.
Critical Consumers: 20.86 percent of consumers in this cluster marked a high score on "obstacles in buying" and a negative score on "trust and confidence" and "tradition and culture". This indicated that these consumers felt obstacles in buying organic food and did not think organic food to be related to Indian tradition and culture. They did not have trust and confidence in organic certification, farmers, and sellers. They scored low, albeit positive, on factors like "health, humanity, and environment", "fundamental knowledge", and "social acceptance and status". This group constituted more-than-expected number of males; graduates; urban and those migrated from rural areas; professionals; and consumers with income less than Rs. 50,000 per month. It was observed that they bought organic grocery, fruits, vegetables, and milk occasionally.  Conservative Consumers: 21.58 percent of consumers in this cluster scored positive on factors like "tradition and culture", "health, humanity, and environment", and "fundamental knowledge". This indicated that these consumers believed organic food to be traditional Indian food, produced using traditional and natural farming methods, and thus favourable for health, humanity, and environment.
The negative score of the factors "social acceptance and status", "trust and confidence", and "obstacles in buying" indicated that these consumers did not believe that consuming organic food was trendy or a status symbol. Interestingly, they did not feel any obstacles in buying organic food. They had few doubts about the genuineness of organic food. This cluster was dominated by females, professionals, and post-graduates; consumers migrated from abroad and urban consumers; those engaged in business and service; with monthly income between Rs. 50,000-1,00,000. It was also observed that, in this cluster, more than expected consumers bought organic fruits, vegetables, and milk occasionally and organic grocery on a monthly or fortnightly basis.
Unconcerned Consumers: 23.02 percent of consumers in this group marked a negative score on the factor 'health, humanity, and environment, low but positive score on factors like "obstacles in buying", "fundamental knowledge", and "trust and confidence", and a high positive score on "tradition and culture" and "social acceptance and status". This reflected that these consumers had a low level of fundamental knowledge and trust in organic food. They did not believe these food products to be beneficial for health, humanity, and environment. Also, they found obstacles in buying organic food and considered it a status symbol. This group constituted more female than male consumers. Although post-graduates dominated this group, under-graduate and graduate consumers were more than expected. Home-makers and students, and consumers with income between Rs. 50,000-1,00,000 per month were also more than expected. It was observed that, in this cluster, there was an occasional dominance of consumers buying organic grocery. Interestingly, more than the expected number of consumers bought organic grocery once a month. Similarly, most consumers in this category bought fruits, vegetables, and milk occasionally but a marginally more than the expected number of consumers made this purchase weekly, fortnightly, and monthly. This indicated that societal and social trends influenced these consumers.
Congruent Consumers: 23.2 percent of consumers were Congruent Consumers. A stimulating observation about these consumers was they marked a negative score on "obstacles in buying" and "tradition and culture". This suggested that these consumers did not encounter any hurdles in buying organic food, availability, premium prices, and information and variety. Similarly, they did not find organic food to be classical which tasted fare that better than regular food. On the other hand, they valued factors like "trust and confidence", "fundamental knowledge", "health, humanity, and environment", and "social acceptance and status". This reflected that they trusted organic food, its certification, and the sellers. Also, they considered organic food to be healthy, nutritious, and safe for their families, the environment, and animals.
More males, high-income, that is more than Rs. 1,00,000 per month, post-graduates, professionals, and job holders constituted this type of consumer. Although urban consumers were more in number, consumers who had migrated from abroad and rural areas were considerably more than expected. They consumers bought organic grocery, fruits, vegetables, and milk, more frequently than expected.

Implications
An increasing number of food-related diseases, scandals, and the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic -all of these have enhanced consumers' concerns regarding their food habits. They are all the more conscious and careful now about the food products they choose and select to buy. Besides safe and healthy food, they look for alternatives to boost immunity. This study throws light on the different types of organic food consumers based on their attitude towards this food. Organic food producers, growers, marketers, and policymakers should work at creating appropriate strategies to address the different needs of these consumers.

Implications for organic food producers, growers, and marketers
In the present study, five different consumer segments have been identified. These are: Incognizant Consumers, Critical Consumers, Conservative Consumers, Unconcerned Consumers, and Congruent Consumers.
Congruent consumers have the most favourable attitude towards organic food and are the most regular buyers. Conservative consumers also hold a positive attitude towards organic food, but they have apprehensions about the genuineness of organic food products. Critical consumers feel there are many hurdles in buying organic food, like inadequate availability, less variety, and high prices, and their trust regarding genuineness is low. Unconcerned consumers feel that organic food and farming do not benefit health, humanity, and environment. They believe it to be a social trend. Their level of knowledge and awareness, and trust regarding organic food is low as well. Incognizant consumers lack a basic understanding of the fundamentals of organic food and farming.
Considering the beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, and buying patterns of different segments of consumers, organic food producers, growers, and marketers must target congruent and conservative consumers. Congruent consumers have the most favourable attitude towards organic food products and they don't feel obstacles in buying these food products. Conservative consumers have a positive attitude towards organic food; however, they are sceptical about these products' genuineness.
Congruent consumers can be won over in two ways: a) by highlighting the history of organic food and farming in India; and b) by offering more services and conveniences. Organic food is traditional Indian food. In ancient times, farming practices followed in India were completely natural, using compost and other organic sources of plant nutrients, and without any use of chemical fertilizers (Gopinath, n. d).
Across the globe, "going back to the basics" has become a trend. Consumers believe that everything that comes naturally and is rooted in the basics is superior in quality (Chan, 2001). Marketers and growers must make "going back to the basics" a part of their promotion strategy so as to communicate clearly the quality of food while promoting Indian culture and heritage and the taste of these products. Moreover, by being offered environmentally-safe packaging, steady supply, and free home delivery, these consumers have the potential of becoming not only loyal consumers, but also ambassadors/promoters of organic food. Their recommendations, stories, and testimonials can serve as useful sources for crafting communication strategies.
To address the concerns of conservative consumers, more information, especially regarding certification, standards, and step-by-step procedure of certification should be included in the communication strategy. Third-party certification, like PGS, can also help to gain the trust of these consumers. Organic farm visits can be offered and arranged for consumers to see and evaluate the organic farming practices by themselves. If these consumers get assurance about the genuineness of organic products, they can be converted to congruent ones.

Implications for policymakers
Organic farming and food consumption are closely related to ecological and economic sustainability. The present study has drawn pertinent information such as the level of fundamental knowledge and awareness about organic food, consumers' attitudes, obstacles faced while buying, and the buying patterns of consumers. A large number of consumers have a low level of knowledge and awareness about organic food and its benefits towards health, humanity, and environment.
To create awareness about organic food and bring it into the mainstream, informational messages by the government should be broadcast using mass media, such as television, newspaper, radio, and social media. Organic farming techniques, health benefits offered, and environmental benefits derived from organic farming must be highlighted. The high prices of this type of food can be justified by presenting the benefits and procedures of organic farming.
To overcome obstacles in buying, like erratic supply and availability, and addressing trust issues regarding the issue of genuineness, policymakers can make special provisions for the promotion of organic food, such as community-supported farming, contract farming, and farmers' markets. Through community-supported farming, farmers can come into direct contact with consumers, and both can understand each other's needs and requirements. For economic sustainability and support of small farmers, certain provisions must be made for contract farming, wherein the government can make an agreement with the farmers for the purchase of organic produce. Special weekly farmers' markets can help in overcoming the hurdle of availability. These markets can serve as a platform where consumers and farmers can contact each other.

Conclusion and future research direction
This study attempts to understand the characteristics, attitudes, and buying patterns of different organic food consumers. Health, humanity, and environment; obstacles in buying; trust and confidence, fundamental knowledge; tradition and culture; social acceptance and status are factors that influence consumers' attitudes.
Based on these factors, consumers were classified into five segments: Incognizant Consumers, Unconcerned Consumers, Critical Consumers, Conservative Consumers, and Congruent Consumers. Marketers and organic food producers must target congruent and conservative consumers on the basis of their characteristics and buying patterns.
Organic food products must be positioned as traditional and safe, as quality products having health benefits and being environmentally safe. Marketers and producers must work at building consumers' trust regarding the genuineness of food products and the certification process. To promote organic farming and organic products, policymakers should make provisions for community-supported farming, contract farming, and farmers' markets. To bring organic food into the mainstream, consolidated efforts are required from everyone-farmers/ producers, sellers, marketers, policymakers, and consumers.
The present study provides insights to marketers and policymakers regarding the types of consumers, their characteristics, such as education, occupation, sex, income, and background, their attitudes, and buying patterns. In the future, research studies can be undertaken on the personality types of consumers so that marketing strategies which are even more focused can be designed. Besides studying the types of consumers and their buying patterns, it is essential to learn their satisfaction level too, which can be taken up in future research. Lastly, the present research has been conducted in the Delhi-NCR area, which is a conglomerate of various cultures and backgrounds; and a more focused study in other regions can supplement this study.