Study on the Lamb Meat Consumer Behavior in Brazil.

In Brazil, the sheep market, including lamb meat consumption, is regionalized, and the consumption of lamb meat is higher in production areas; yet, consumption of lamb still remains below that of other meat livestock. The aim of this study was to identify the profile of Brazilian lamb meat consumers in order to understand their behavior in relation to food in general and on the consumption of this species. Therefore, a survey on consumer habits and preferences regarding food buying and consumption habits, their preferences in relation to the quality attributes of lamb meat, and sociodemographic characterization was performed. Data collected were analyzed by nonlinear canonic relationship analysis and categorical principal component analysis, followed by multiple factor analysis. Three consumer profiles were identified: traditional, interested, and disinterested, and a fourth group was considered independent but could not be described. Among lamb meat consumers, men with higher income seemed to be more frequent consumers than the others, and the intrinsic characteristics of meat quality, especially color and freshness, were the most important at the time of purchase. Thus, the results could be important to the industry in order to guide marketing strategies to certain niche markets.

Consumer Profile and Product Knowledge Affect the Usefulness of a Quality Label as a Tool to Differentiate a Product: A Chilean Survey.

Quality labels are useful tools to differentiate food products, but only if consumers recognise them and associate them with specific characteristics. An online survey was conducted to investigate whether Chilean consumers knew about Novillo de Osorno, for which a quality label is being developed. The survey was divided into five blocks: lifestyles, meat consumption and purchase habits, meat choice behaviour, knowledge about Novillo de Osorno, and consumers' socio-demographic information. The place of residence and consumer gender, age, or income were important cues in defining consumers' lifestyles, meat consumption and purchase habits. Respondents could be grouped into three main groups: 1. Younger people: urban with medium-high incomes, which search only for pleasure; 2. Foodies uninvolved and Females uninvolved: females with the highest income level that chose food for nutritional reasons; and 3. Traditional people: men older than 55 with low incomes, living in the Northern areas and interested in taste and in the meat's origin. Nearly 60% of respondents had never heard about Novillo de Osorno. Hence, the supply chain has an opportunity to extend the market. Since price and confidence in the origin are important cues, they must be considered in the design of promotion strategies.

Color and Marbling as Predictors of Meat Quality Perception of Argentinian Consumers.

In Argentina, color and intramuscular fat are the main attributes of raw beef quality; however, it is necessary to clarify how consumers use them, in order to establish different marketing strategies. Consumer preferences are affected by multiple factors. Thus, the objective of the present study was to identify the Argentinian consumer's choice behavior regarding beef color and fat content. An online survey was carried out in Argentina. It inquired about socio-demographic characteristics, purchase and consumption habits and beliefs, showing pictures related to color, marbling and the amount of fat. Choice behavior was evaluated by asking why consumers chose a particular picture out of the ones shown. Several Kruskal-Wallis tests evaluated the different hypotheses. Three different decision trees using the CHAID analysis method were created. Multifactorial analysis was carried out for clustering consumers. Regarding consumer beliefs, 90% of the respondents agreed with the sentence, "The two main characteristics defining beef quality at purchase time are meat color and marbling". Socio-demographic characteristics affected purchase habits and beliefs; they also affected perceptions about meat color and marbling. It was possible to build three consumer groups for future marketing strategies: "hedonic" focused on a pleasing sensory experience, "appearance" prioritized the visual aspects, and the "health-conscious" consumers were interested in their healthy nutrition.