Consumer Behaviour of Seafood Retail Buyers

Abstract

Seafood has been promoted as healthy food in many countries all over the world, almost 90-95 percent non vegetarian population of western countries demand for seafood and seafood products. Seafood is preferred over meat, beef and pork because it is low in fat and, good source of nutrients and omega-3. Seafood is highly appreciated food in all income groups due to its easy availability, affordable price, taste and nutritive value. newlineConsumer behaviour is influenced by preferences, income and spending, lifestyle, education, global interaction, health, information, communication technology, retail and wholesale nature of the market. Indian seafood industry is just started transforming from unorganised to organised way. Changing consumption pattern, emerging market forces and technological developments added its importance in India. newlineThe focus of this research is to understand the buyer s concerns which were not addressed. The consumer does not get convenience, service, credibility and transparency in the seafood market. The seafood consumers drivers, perceptions, influencers are not adequately covered by the researchers. Hence there is need to develop and test a model for consumer behaviour of seafood retail buyers. Consumer preferences, motivation and behaviour vary from person to person, from segment to segment and from market to market and changes with time, this encourages more research in consumer buying behaviour. newlineVery few studies have applied Theory of Planned Behaviour in developing countries and Asia on products like sugar; snacks, soy sauce, organic food and halal food, however literature does not show any empirical study using this model to understand the consumer behaviour of seafood retail buyers in India. Theory of Planned Behaviour allows to extend; it s open to inclusion of additional predictors if it captures a significant proportion of the variance in intention or behaviour. newlineThe present research is descriptive type which was conducted in 3 phases name pre-pilot, pilot and main study.