Discovering Niche Market: Consumer Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Organic Pork
With the concern for environmental quality and food safety, organic food products are becoming more important in the global market. In recent years the organic food industry has been expanding and sales of organic products have been increasing. Abundant studies have been done focusing on organic fruits and vegetables which focused on the shortage of organic live stocks. In this paper we focus our attention on organic pork products. Using a sample of 400 Thais consumers, this study proposes the contingent valuation (CV) technique to measure the willingness of individuals to pay a price premium for organic pork in Thailand. In order to obtain the mean "willingness to pay" (WTP) a bivariate probit model was applied to provide information about the crucial variables that affect the WTP. The study revealed that variables that better approximate WTP are based on the lifestyle and knowledge about organic foods rather than the usual socioeconomic factors. The mean WTP on the premium price for organic pork is approximately 34.30 Bath per kg. In order to access the market potential this study shows that the suitable attributes of organic pork which is consistent with consumer preferences are composed of modernized and environmental packaging with special product details. Marketing this product to the buyer it should be set at a reasonable price. Stimulating the market should be done by doing sales promotion and public relations on a regularly basis. In addition, organic pork should be available in any places and convenient for customers to buy.