Introduction
Organic food market is an outcome of organic farming which uses organic fertilizer, and avoids pesticides and chemicals. The recent researches demonstrate that organic farming is an important vehicle to maintain environmental balance. Due to the fact that consumer concerns on health and environmental issues related to food, organic farming has drawn great attention in Europe, including EU members as well as non-EU members during the last couple decades. The increase in awareness of alternative agriculture has direct implications for development of organic foods/products market.
Application of the “6 O Model” for “Organic Food Market”
Offering: The market offers organic foods/products produced by using …show more content…
They have completed high school, have an average age of 52 and an average income of $48,000. Occasions: The supply of organic foods has been rare in the past. Early consumers interested in organic food for non-chemically treated, non-use of unapproved pesticides, fresh or minimally processed food. They mostly had to buy directly from farmers. Nowadays especially the demand for each product group increases on its own harvest time. The shoppers can buy organic foods/products daily, weekly or monthly. In some cases, consumption of organic products has experienced breaks because of the high prices. Organization: Different types of sales channels are used for marketing organic foods. First one is direct sales from producer to shopper via farm shops or weekly markets which was more common in the past. Second way is specialized shops, traditionally provides a market which allows to differentiate products by their characteristics. General stores like supermarkets, hypermarkets are the final sales channel. A mix of different sales channels may exist in each country. Small quantities of consumers being reached by these channels. International trade is a new approach for this market. A large potential for international trade in organic foods seems to be promoted by national organic movements and trade …show more content…
The most significant sales of organic fruit and vegetables occur particularly in Italy, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Germany. When compared, fresh products account for a much greater share of the organic market throughout the Europe than the case in the non-organic market. In most of the countries and especially in the northern Europe, livestock-based foods and in particular milk and dairy products comprise a large proportion of the organic product sales. Belgium, Netherlands, France and Finland are the countries that sales of organic meat and meat products are particularly high. Those countries hold approximately the 10% of the market share. In many other countries the market for organic meat and meat products is much less developed because of several reasons but most importantly due to lower processing capacities and major price differences between organic meat and lower priced non-organic meat. Another example is about the cereal products that are easily sold in supermarkets and they reach high market shares in Czech Republic, Finland and Norway. Bread and bakery products play an important role in the organic food market and they hold a market share