Why Do not Hungarian People Eat More Fish? Factors Which Influence Fish Consumption in Hungarian Society Today

Temesi, Ágoston

Keywords: risks of consumption, fish consumption activity, consumer survey, attitude to fish consumption, healthy nutrition, Q13

According to the results of a consumer survey which investigated the factors influencing the consumption of fish by the Hungarian population, among the reasons for low fish consumption the following are the most important: ‘the bones in fish are unpleasant’, ‘preparing fish at home needs a lot of work’ and ‘I am not well informed about fish’.
Grouping the factors which were investigated in the consumer survey according to the perceived types of risk, based on the answers of more than 1000 respondents, it can be stated that the decisions concerning fish consumption are influenced primarily by functional risks. Others which cannot be ignored are physical, financial, psychological (unpleasant experience or sensory qualities) risks, while social risks are the least important. Our analysis highlighted that while by the increase in consumption, the consumer perception of all the examined functional, social, psychological and financial risks gradually decreased, physical risks did not change essentially.
Based on these findings it can be stated that during marketing activity related to fish products, consumer segmentation is reasonable, based on the quantity of consumption, because consumers with different fish consumption activities experience different barriers and do not experience these barriers to the same extent. However, those product developers which are reducing the physical risks of fish consumption should not use the segmentation based on the scale of consumption.
Women perceive functional, physical, psychological and financial types of risk as more significant barriers than do men. The exceptions are social risks, which are perceived similarly by both genders. Those product developers which are reducing the social risks of fish consumption should not use the segmentation based on gender.
From the research on age groups it can be ascertained that, during product development, special attention should be paid to consumers aged between 18 and 25 and over 55 years old, given that these groups are affected most intensively by the barriers listed in the different types of risk.

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