A consumer-oriented segmentation study on edible insects in Switzerland and Thailand

Brunner, Thomas; Nuttavuthisit, Krittinee (2020). A consumer-oriented segmentation study on edible insects in Switzerland and Thailand British Food Journal, 122(2), pp. 482-488. Emerald Publishing Limited 10.1108/BFJ-08-2018-0526

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Purpose–Edible insects might be the meat of the future. However, promoting insects as food, at least inwestern countries, is not an easy task. Segmenting consumers into various similarly behaving groups andtargeting them separately is the first step to more successfully promoting insect cuisine. By taking across-cultural perspective on the topic of entomophagy and investigating the impact of different culturalsettings, additional insights may be revealed that can be used to develop marketing strategies. The paperaims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approach–Using survey data from Switzerland (N¼542) and Thailand (N¼500),a hierarchical cluster analysis yielded four consumer segments in each country.Findings–Interestingly, in both countries, the segments themselves can be named identically andaccordingly to Roger’s diffusion of innovation theory: early adopters, early majority, late majority andlaggards. However, the size of the segments and the people within these corresponding segments are quitedifferent sociodemographically and in some of the investigated psychographic scales, such as food neophobia.The authors conclude that consumers in countries with an entomophagy tradition behave quite differentlyfrom those without one.Originality/value–To the best of the authors’knowledge, this is the first cross-cultural consumersegmentation study on the topic of entomophagy. Based on these results, initial conclusions can be drawn onhow to successfully target the specific segments.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > Consumer-focused Food Production School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences HAFL > HAFL Hugo P. Cecchini Institute
Name:	Brunner, Thomas0000-0002-6770-6548 and Nuttavuthisit, Krittinee
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
ISSN:	0007-070X
Publisher:	Emerald Publishing Limited
Language:	English
Submitter:	Thomas Brunner
Date Deposited:	04 May 2020 10:23
Last Modified:	28 Sep 2021 02:17
Publisher DOI:	10.1108/BFJ-08-2018-0526
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Survey, Segmentation, Consumer behaviour, Edible insects, Entomophagy, Insects as food
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.11681
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/11681