Beef Retailer Perception of Consumer Buying Habits

Consumer purchasing habits may never be completely understood, however motivations that drive consumers to make purchases will remain similar as a result of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Factors that play a key role in purchasing decisions include levels of purchasing assistance, price, perceived health factors, fat content, color, freshness, information sources, prior purchases, and tenderness. Although these factors have been previously studied from the personal viewpoint of the consumer, little work has been done to investigate the relationship between the consumer and the retailer. The retail meat counter serves as the face for the beef industry and is responsible for communicating the positive role of beef to the consumer. Often times the consumer is believed to give a biased opinion of self perceived purchasing habits resulting in consumer data that may not represent the market place. By analyzing retailer perceptions of the consumers purchasing habits, a more representative outlook of the market place may be captured. Results indicate that consumers purchase differently as a result of utilizing different informational sources as well as differing levels of retailer assistance at the point of sale. Purchasing motivators remain different for different types of consumers however; with added information pertaining to value determining beef traits consumers can make more educated decisions ultimately increasing the desirability of beef