UNVEILING PERUVIAN ORGANIC CONSUMERS DEMAND FOR ORGANICS: A LATENT CLASS APPROACH

Abstract

© 2016, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Facultad de Agronomia e Ingenieria Forestal. All rights reserved. This paper seeks to identify the consumer segments that constitute the market for organic products in Metropolitan Lima, Peru. The employed classification methodology, Latent Class Analysis, is implemented within a structural framework that is capable of identifying key relations such as the link between educational attainment and organic product consumption. This study builds on primary data gathered at the study site involving interviews with 547 organic consumers at a limited number of bio-fairs and bio-shops. Our results identify two segments: core and middle-level consumers. Although both segments exhibit similar concerns towards the environment, healthiness and tastiness, the core level exhibits higher preferences for the remaining attributes, controlling for demographical variables. Finally, this research provides evidence that educational attainment increases the likelihood of being a middle-level organic consumer.