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Importance of origin in the purchase of chicken meat in Central-Southern Chile

Abstract:

The recent importation of chicken meat into the Chilean market, an evaluation and a comparison were made of the relative importance of the country of origin, presentation and price in the choice of this product among consumers in Temuco and Los Angeles, central-southern zone of Chile, together with the identification and characterization of consumer segments based on their preferences, demographic profile and ethnocentric behavior. This was done through a direct survey of 800 consumers, 400 in each city. It was determined by conjoint analysis that origin (45%) was more important than presentation (30.2%) and price (24.8%) in the purchase decision, with differences between the two cities in the importance attributed to origin and presentation. Using analysis of hierarchical conglomerates, four market segments were distinguished. The most numerous (56.8%) attributed great importance to origin; two groups (30.3% together) gave greater importance to presentation, while the minority group (13.0%) attributed great importance to the price. Three of the four groups preferred Chilean chicken meat to that imported from Argentina (83.6%); the predominant preference was for whole chicken; and all segments preferred a lower price. The profile presented by the groups varied by city, frequency of purchase of imported foods, gender, area of residence, and ethnocentrism. Thus although there is a majority preference for Chilean product, the domestic fowl industry must maintain competitive pricing in the internal market, while it is feasible to differentiate the product based on its origin, taking advantage of the ethnocentrism detected in consumers.