Gaps in product range
Final report
Duration of project
August 2009 to February 2011
Contact person at the University of Kassel
- Dipl. Soziologe Fabian Buder
Head of project
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hamm
Dept. of Food and Agricultural Marketing
Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences
Steinstr. 19
37213 Witzenhausen
"Increasing the sales potentials of organic food products. Identification of gaps in the product range and specific purchasing barriers for organic products"
Research Project within the framework of the Federal Organic Farming Scheme and other forms of sustainable agriculture (BÖLN)
The research project aims at identifying potentials for sales of organic products for manufacturers and retailers. The central research question is which products and product groups still offer potential for increasing sales and how this potential could be developed? The project focuses on consumers that already buy a relevant amount of their food in organic quality (committed organic consumers). This consumer group is particularly interesting for the organic food market because these consumers although they are already familiar with organic products still spend a considerable share of their budget on conventional food products.The project encompasses three methodical steps: In the first step, household panel data from the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK) will be analysed to firstly identify products that are still bought in conventional quality by regular organic consumers and secondly products that consumers simultaneously buy in organic and conventional quality. In the next step, face-to-face interviews with consumers will be used to explore the reasons for not purchasing particular products in organic quality. In a third step, the results of step one and two will be merged and recommendations for manufacturers and retailers of organic products will be developed.