The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown and social distancing mandates have disrupted the consumer habits of buying as well as shopping. Consumers are learning to improvise and learn new habits. For ...example, consumers cannot go to the store, so the store comes to home. While consumers go back to old habits, it is likely that they will be modified by new regulations and procedures in the way consumers shop and buy products and services. New habits will also emerge by technology advances, changing demographics and innovative ways consumers have learned to cope with blurring the work, leisure, and education boundaries.
Food choices tend to be stable over time; they do not change fast, since consumers tend to act like creatures of habits. However, food habits can evolve, like currently the craft beer category. A ...change of habits involves a change of perception towards a product. Therefore, what is changing in the perception of beer? Two studies were conducted to address this question. First study was preliminary and aimed at exploring beer consumption habits in Mexico and a better understanding of craft beer representation among beer users. A questionnaire was administrated to 207 consumers in Mexico City during a beer festival. Results showed that respondents could be classified in: industrial beer (41.1%), occasional industrial (24.1%), and craft beer (34.8%) consumers. Craft cluster included mostly 25–35 years old men with high-income level. Among the craft beers cited by respondents from this cluster some are industrial, suggesting that the concept of craft beer might not be well defined, or defined in ideological terms. The second and main study was conducted using consumer ethnographies to understand the motivations and benefits of craft beer consumption. Opposite to industrial, craft beer emerges as an experience-based and symbolic product rather than a utilitarian one. The main motivation for drinking craft beer seems to be the quest of authenticity. Respondents’ motivations to drink craft beer are generated by three important factors: desire for more knowledge, new taste experiences, and move away from the mainstream beer consumption. Craft consumers do not drink the product for its functional attributes, they consume it for what it means and as a consequence they build an identity, perceived as more authentic and unique, in comparison to the mainstream industrial beer consumption in Mexico.
•Habits of consumption test show that men outnumber women in craft beer consumption.•During the sensory ethnographies, craft beer consumption arises as a male bonding product.•Craft beer emerges as an experience-based and symbolic product, rather than a utilitarian one.•Craft beer consumers drink the product to build an identity, perceived as more authentic and unique.
COVID-19, caused health and economic problems in almost all countries. This crisis has caused unprecedented supply and demand shocks and led to significant changes in people’s behavior and spending. ...Demand depends on consumer behavior, which may have changed with the outbreak of the pandemic. Consumer Behavior is a process of analyzing the causes and patterns of consumer behavior when purchasing products and services. The article analyzes the changes in consumer behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Western Balkans.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to huge increases in media and home advertising consumption. As cities or countries have been closed or reopened, depending on the evolution of the pandemic, consumer ...safety and convenience have become decisive factors in selling products. While many brands have narrowed their campaigns, others have adapted to these times, capitalizing on their home audience by carefully planning each campaign. Brands have understood that they need to send messages that convey security and trust to customers..
This study aims to compare the environmental impact of three food packaging systems (Overwrap: OW, High Oxygen Modified Atmosphere Packaging: MAP and Vacuum Skin: VS) currently used in beef meat ...market, including the potential waste effect that derives from shorter shelf-life in the inventory and assessment. The Life cycle Assessment method was used, and a “cradle-to-grave” approach was applied for both packaging and meat chains. The functional unit was defined as one unit of packaging containing 500 g of sliced beef. Considering only the packaging life cycle, the OW system has the best environmental performance in most of the environmental impact categories, while considering the potential food waste effects, results showed that the packaging system with the longest shelf-life (VS) represents the best environmental solution. Future eco-design approaches for packaging solutions for food products should consider the ability of reducing potential food waste, as a direct consequence of improved shelf-life.
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•The most used beef packaging in Europe are studied using Life Cycle Assessment.•Influence of shelf-life on food waste is considered.•A cradle to grave approach is used to analyse potential food waste.•Potential food waste effects determine the choice of the best packaging.•Packaging eco-design approach should include food waste effects.
The main objective was to examine the impact of social norms, habits, and perceived behavioral control towards intention and its impact on energy-saving behavior. Also, the direct effects of habits ...and perceived behavioral control were examined towards energy-saving behavior. The target population was based on citizens of Saudi Arabia while the data collection was conducted using a quantitative approach. The purposive sampling was used, and data was analyzed using PLS-SEM using SmartPLS 3.2.8. The results show that habits had insignificant impact on energy-saving behavior. The habits had a significant impact on intention. The intention had an impact on energy-saving behavior. The perceived behavioral control had an impact on intention. The social norms had an impact on intention. We recommend that people should enhance their perceived behavioral control by believing on their attitude and feelings towards developing positive intentions that further leads towards energy saving behavior.
Uncertain rental and real estate prices, demographic changes and the diversity of household types are increasing pressure on the housing market. One way of dealing with these challenges is flexible ...housing, which is designed to adapt to changing needs and patterns, both social and technical. It enables buildings to be used for longer periods, which increases their long-term sustainability by reducing not only their material and energy consumption but also the level of environmental pollution. The aim of this study is to examine to what extent criteria of flexible housing are relevant to homeowners and which factors can be used to predict the importance. By conducting an online survey of 519 homeowners in Germany, we were able to identify ten factors that can be used to predict the perceived importance of flexible housing. These are the number of rooms in the property, the size of the residential area, the household size, homeowner's age, environmental awareness, importance to the homeowner of stability and longevity, accessibility, value stability, use of renewable materials and recyclability of construction materials. This study contributes to literature by identifying criteria for flexible housing from the homeowner's perspective. It is the first study to analyse this question empirically.
Some studies that observed lifestyle changes during COVID-19 lockdown measures report positive implications for the environment. However, others warn that these pro-environmental changes may have ...only been temporary and that negative effects could outweigh the positive ones. In this paper, we examine whether the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced pro-environmental changes in the lifestyle and consumer habits of students in Croatia. The research was conducted between the end of 2020 and the start of 2021, using an online survey method, with a convenience sampling of N=1245 students from three Croatian Universities in Osijek, Split, and Zagreb. We looked at a range of lifestyle and consumer habits, such as mobility, shopping frequency and extent, food self-provisioning, as well as recycling and household savings, to see whether there were significant changes that can be classified as environmentally friendly. The results show that the pandemic did not have a significant long-term effect on pro-environmental behavior (PEB). Those who practiced PEB before the pandemic continued to do so, primarily motivated by environmental worldview and prioritizing environmental protection. For others, there were either no changes in PEB during the pandemic, or it was only short-term, connected to the limiting circumstances of the pandemic on their usual lifestyle.
Tourism represents one of the economic sectors with major implications in the sustainable development of the mountain areas. The tourists’ perception regarding the image of the tourist destinations ...is a key requirement that all the stakeholders in tourism have to take into account, due to its major role in shaping and directing the tourist flows and in the development of local communities, by extension. In terms of methodology, the questionnaire method was used in this study, with a face-to-face implementation technique. Among others, the questionnaire had targeted the degree of knowledge concerning Bihor Mountain destination, the tourist consumer habits and the tourists’ perception related to the quality-price ratio because of tourist consumption. The results show that most of the respondents have stated that they have not visited Bihor Mountain Tourist Destination for the first time, coming back here even several times a year because of its multiple tourist attractions and the extremely convenient quality-price ratio. All these show a positive perception of the majority of tourists regarding the visited destination, being materialised in an increased flow of visitors and the beneficial effects on the local economy and the preservation of the mountain areas.
This research explored whether the way companies frame their promotions can increase consumers' participation. Using two studies (Ns = 97 university students and 195 online participants, ...respectively), we demonstrated that compared with an individual-based promotion (i.e., a
promotion targeting the individual consumer), a platform-based promotion (i.e., a promotion targeting all consumers of a given shopping platform) increased consumers' willingness to participate in a promotion campaign. This effect occurred because a platform-based promotion (vs. an individual-based
promotion) increased consumers' perceived savings, further enhancing their willingness to participate (Study 1). We also showed that only consumers who were promotion sensitive responded more actively to a platform-based promotion than to an individualbased promotion (Study 2). Our findings
contribute to the promotion and framing literature and provide practical implications for marketing communications.
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