Analysis of the Consumer Decision Process on the Food Market of a Developing Economy

Manuel, Tiago – Lehota, József

Keywords: Angola, consumer behaviour, developing economy, food consumption, food market trends, D12, I32, J11, M31, Q13

The aim of our survey was to investigate the main factors affecting the food purchase of 300 citizens living in the capital of an emerging economy. With the division of labour in the modern age, for many, the access to alimentary products and services is indirect, via the alimentary supply chain. Consumers of developing economies face serious problems involving their purchase decisions. The access to food may be insufficient in both quality and quantity. Various factors influence the supply of the population: shortages of local food production and processing; explosive population growth; disabled connectivity of agricultural products to the supply chain due to incomplete infrastructure and logistics; questionable security of products as well as the undefined quality assurance system. The food market struggles with continuous shortages, forcing vulnerable customers to reassess their decisions without receiving adequate information.
According to our results, the majority of the population continues to live in traditional, multigenerational family structure near the poverty line, practicing traditional food purchase and shopping habits. For them, it is an everyday struggle to fulfil needs because of scarce financial resources, high number of dependents, transport difficulties, and high and rapidly changing food prices. On the other hand, the consumer capacity of a new middle class – young/middle aged people with better educational attainment, living in smaller families with higher income - is growing with the appearance of consumer needs similar to the ones in advanced economies. These citizens also face a huge consumer risk due to insufficient operation of the food supply chain, and inappropriate information. A better knowledge of the market and the consumer decision process can lead to the creation of diversified, effective marketing strategies to fulfil traditional and new consumer needs as well.

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