Search Results
We used choice experiments to investigate consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for various apple (Malus ×domestica) varieties. The experiments also asked consumers to evaluate a series of quality attributes by allowing them to taste apples. The choice experiments were conducted in real markets where consumers were making fruit purchases to eliminate any decontextualized biases. The objectives of this study were to determine how much consumers are willing to pay for 13 new and existing apple varieties and learn what quality attributes consumers’ like or dislike in new vs. older apple varieties. Results show that compared with other apple varieties, participants were willing to pay the highest prices for ‘SweeTango®’, followed by ‘Zestar!™’ and ‘Honeycrisp’. Frequent and infrequent buyers were willing to pay significantly different amounts for most of the studied varieties. In addition to WTP estimates, our study also shows what quality attributes consumers consider as improvements compared with existing varieties. Combined with objective measures of these quality attributes, our transdisciplinary study will help apple breeders make more targeted breeding decisions by better understanding what quality attributes consumers like or dislike about the studied varieties.
Determining consumers' preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for organically grown and locally grown fresh produce is very important for stakeholders because it helps them figure out what type of fresh produce to grow and sell, what to emphasize in marketing efforts, and what are reasonable prices to charge. However, the literature that studies and compares consumers' preference and WTP for both organically and locally grown fresh produce is sparse. The objective of this study was to investigate consumers' WTP for organically grown and locally grown fresh produce and the marketing segmentation of these two types of produce. We combined a hypothetical experiment and nonhypothetical choice mechanism to investigate consumers' WTP for the attributes organic, local, and organic plus local for fresh produce. We found that when real products were used in the hypothetical experiment, the hypothetical bias (the difference between what people say they will pay and what they would actually pay) was not high. We found that consumers' WTP for the organic attribute was about the same as their WTP for the local attribute. Consumers' sociodemographics affected their choice between organically grown and locally grown produce. Furthermore, we found that consumers patronized different retail venues to purchase fresh produce with different attributes. The findings of the research have great importance for fresh produce stakeholders to make correct production and marketing decisions; the findings also contribute to experimental method choice in consumers' WTP research.
Little research has been conducted that comprehensively studies consumers' choices of cut flowers at different occasions and for different gift recipients and how they associate different meanings with various types of cut flowers. Therefore, this article attempts to fill this gap in the literature. Using data collected by the Ipsos-National Panel Diary Group for the American Floral Endowment, we determine how the purchases of both traditional and specialty cut flowers have been changing over time and how characteristics of gift purchasers and gift recipients affect consumers' choice of different types of cut flowers. The data include consumers in 48 states and Washington, DC, whose floral purchases were tracked monthly for 14 years. Findings of this analysis confirm that floral purchases have been changing over time. In addition, the underlying drivers of floral purchases are dependent on the floral-buying occasion and the motivations underlying gift giving. These factors also influence the choice of which flowers to purchase along with the sentiment and/or symbolic meaning associated with each flower type.
Traditional turfgrasses found in residential lawns provide a functional and aesthetically pleasing landscape if provided adequate resource inputs, yet, as available natural resources become more limited and public concerns grow stronger about the ecological effects of urban turfgrass management, it becomes increasingly important to pursue alternative landscape options. There are non-traditional turfgrasses that require fewer resource inputs that could be made available to homeowners. The objective of this study was to estimate consumer preferences and the relative importance of aesthetic and maintenance attributes of turfgrasses as well as identify potential market segments of the residential turfgrass market. Conjoint analysis was conducted on survey responses of 116 Minnesota homeowners. The results indicated that maintenance attributes of turfgrasses, specifically irrigation requirement, significantly affected consumer purchasing behavior. The analysis also identified four potential market segments, the Price Conscious segment, the Shade Adaptation segment, the Mowing Conscious segment, and the Water Conscious segment.
Both natural turfgrass and synthetic turf fields have distinct advantages and disadvantages and present unique challenges. The challenges evolve over time because of climate change, players’ ever-changing needs, and the development of technologies. It is imperative to identify these challenges and devise effective solutions to overcome them. We conducted a survey of 97 administrators and managers from various organizations in the United States who were responsible for managing community sports fields. Our findings identified budget constraints as the biggest challenge for natural turfgrass field management, followed by issues related to use/scheduling and weather/climate. For synthetic turf field management, the top three challenges included budget constraints, use/scheduling, and other challenges (mainly safety issues). Additionally, administrators and managers consistently indicated increased funding as a solution for addressing challenges of both natural turfgrass and synthetic turf field management. We discuss the implications of these findings and provide potential ways to address these challenges.
Turfgrass seed, a living organism, is facing more stringent trade regulations compared with nonliving products. We applied multiple empirical approaches to explore the impact of these regulations on trade flows in grass seeds. We constructed a series of novel variables to measure these regulations, such as environment regulation stringency, pre-shipment inspections, market conditions, and product requirements. Our results showed that nontariff trade measures had substantial impacts on the trade of grass seeds. These measures sometimes worked as barriers to trade and at other times worked as catalysts for trade.
Competition among floral retailers has promulgated industrywide structural changes while giving consumers more choices in locations for purchase. Consumer panel data collected by the American Floral Endowment from 1992 to 2005 were used to evaluate consumers' choice of different floral retail outlets among box stores (BS), traditional freestanding floral outlets (TF), general retailer (GR), other stores (OS), and direct-to-consumer (DC) channels. Since 1992, market share and percentage of transactions decreased through TF but increased for BS. Mean expenditure per transaction in TF was higher than in BS and GR. Consumers who made floral gift purchases were more likely to patronize TF, but those who bought floral products for themselves were more likely to purchase from BS. Consumers patronizing TF or DC were more likely to buy arranged flowers rather than unarranged flowers. Consumers who purchased foliage plants and outdoor bedding or garden plants were more likely to buy them from BS. Reasons consumers who choose BS and GR cited for using those outlets included convenience and lower prices, whereas consumers who purchased from TF and DC cited delivery, reputation, and service as major drivers impacting their use. Demographic and geographic differences were also identified among consumers using the aforementioned outlets.
Flower color is a dominant attribute of fresh flowers, likely playing a key role in purchase preference. Several prior studies showed flower color preference differed by gender, but other information on color preferences is sparse. Data for this study were collected by the Ipsos-National Panel Diary Group for the American Floral Endowment, which maintained an extensive panel of consumer transactions from 1992 to 2005, including floral purchases. Multinomial logit analysis of single-stem cut flower purchases showed that men and women differed in their cut flower color preferences but that flower color preference also varied with demographic characteristics and by occasion. We grouped colors into six categories: BluePurple, RedBronze, PeachPink, White, Yellow, and Other. The highest percentage of flowers purchased were RedBronze (34%), whereas the lowest percentage of flowers were Yellow (10.01%) with Other flower colors accounting for less than 5% of purchases. Although women used a more diverse color palette, both men and women were more likely to buy RedBronze flowers for an anniversary and buy PeachPink flowers for Mother's Day. Between 1992 and 2005, women were less likely to purchase PeachPink flowers and men were less likely to purchase RedBronze over time. Overall demand for BluePurple and Yellow flower colors increased over time, whereas the demand for other color categories decreased over time.
All stakeholders along the supply chain affect the dispersal of native and invasive horticultural plants. This is especially true for the consumers who determine how the plants are ultimately used. Therefore, consumer attitudes toward native and invasive plants cannot be ignored. This study used an experimental auction to explore market segmentation among consumers in terms of their preference and willingness to pay for labeled native and invasive attributes. We identified three market segments, namely, “nativists” (16%), “invasive averse” (34%), and “typical” (50%) consumers. The three segments of consumers differed in their demographics and attitudes toward native and invasive attributes. From a government policy perspective, labeling invasive or native plants could potentially change the behavior of some consumers, but half of the market is unlikely to be substantially swayed by invasive/native labeling. Therefore, supply-side intervention policies such as sales restrictions may be more effective at promoting native plant purchases and restricting the purchase and spread of invasive plants.
Literature on the domestic trade of nursery crops is sparse. Based on national survey data collected in years 1999, 2004, and 2009, we used augmented gravity models to investigate the primary factors affecting the value of trade for both large and small nurseries. We found that the impact of distance on trade value was different between large nurseries and small nurseries; the impact of distance on national nursery trade has been decreasing over time; and the level of impact of distance on nursery trade differs across regions. Additionally, the value of nursery trade was affected by plant types the nurseries produced and other business characteristics.