British Food Journal - Vol. 105 No. 3 2003: The Croatian food and drink market

British Food Journal

ISSN 0007-070X Volume 105 Number 3 2003

The Croatian food and drink market Guest Editors Professor Natas˘ a Renko and Daniella Vignali

Access this journal online __________________________ Editorial advisory board ___________________________ Abstracts and keywords ___________________________ Guest editorial ____________________________________ Attitudes of the Croatian population toward genetically modified food

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Natas˘a Renko, Vesna Brc˘ ic´-Stipc˘evic´ and Sanda Renko_________________

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Market segmentation on the basis of food-related lifestyles of Croatian families Tanja Kesic´ and Sunc˘ana Piri-Rajh ________________________________

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Food marketing in the function of tourist product development Marcel Meler and Zdenko Cerovic´ __________________________________

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A case study of the Croatian beer market structure and performances Ksenija Dumic˘ ic´, Sanda Renko and Natas˘a Renko ____________________

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Farmers’ wine fair: a case study Damir Kovac˘ ic´ and Marija Radman ________________________________

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CONTENTS

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EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Paul Allen Honorary Secretary to the European Food Law Association, East Sussex, UK Professor Stephen J. Arnold Professor of Retailing, Queens University, Canada Professor Peter Baron Department of Marketing, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK Dr Alan Beardsworth Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK Professor Jo Carby-Hall Law School, University of Hull, Hull, UK Tim Cooke Food Marketing Consultant, Seymour Cooke, Food Research International, London, UK Lorna Daly Department of Food Service Hospitality, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK Professor Leo Paul Dana Management Department, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Dr Stephen Dealler Microbiologist, Burnley General Hospital, UK Professor Gordon Foxall Distinguished Research Professor, Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK Roseline Gelperowic Food Marketing and Product Development Consultant, Paris, France Dr Les Gofton Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Cathy Hart Lecturer in Retailing, Loughborough University Business School, Loughborough, UK Professor Roy Hill School of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Cranfield University, UK

Professor Richard W. Lacey Department of Microbiology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK Dr Hal J.H. McFie Head of Department of Consumer Sciences, AFRC, Reading Laboratory, Reading, UK Professor Linda McKie Research Professor in Sociology, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK Professor Alberto Mattiacci Department of Economics and Business Management, University of Siena, Siena, Italy Dr Roger J. Neale Agricultural & Food Sciences, Loughborough, UK Dr Martin Palmer Principal Economist, Meat and Livestock Commission, Milton Keynes, UK Stephen Ridge Associate Director Quality Assurance, Somerfield Stores Ltd, Bristol, UK Clive Robertson Head, School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK Claire Seaman Department of Applied Consumer Studies, Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, UK Dr John L. Stanton Jr C.J. McNutt Chair of Food Marketing Research, St Joseph’s University, Academy of Food Marketing, Philadelphia, USA Alan Turner Consultant in Food Science, Technology and Law Dr Tihomir Vransˇevic Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Professor Verner Wheelock Consultant, Verner Wheelock Associates Ltd, Broughton Hall Business Park, Skipton, UK

Editorial advisory board

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British Food Journal Vol. 105 No. 3, 2003 Abstracts and keywords # MCB UP Limited 0007-070X

Attitudes of the Croatian population toward genetically modified food Natas˘a Renko, Vesna Brc˘ ic´-Stipc˘evic´ and Sanda Renko Keywords Genetic engineering, Food, Croatia, Consumer attitudes Until recently, the Croatian public has been relatively indifferent and unaware of issues related to genetically modified (GM) food products. However, the situation has changed and the Croatian public is becoming deeply sceptical about the benefits of GM food, and also generally about the food they eat. This paper examines some of the dimensions of the attitudes of the Croatian population toward GM food, and points out the high level of knowledge about biotechnology, and also the high level of non-acceptance in this regard. These findings are significant for Croatian trade (especially importing and exporting), since knowledge about population preferences may influence the status of the Croatian food industry, as well as foreign food producers.

Market segmentation on the basis of food-related lifestyles of Croatian families Tanja Kesic´ and Sunc˘ ana Piri-Rajh Keywords Market segmentation, Croatia, Food, Lifestyles This paper explores the existence of different food-related lifestyle segments in the Republic of Croatia. Using international instruments and a cluster analysis (joining-tree clustering), five different segments were found which differ in buying motives, quality aspects of the food, buying decisions, cooking methods and consumption situations. They also differ in socio-demographic characteristics. These segments, making up the following percentage of the population, were named: relaxed – 13 percent, traditionalists – 27 percent, modern – 32 percent, concerned –11 percent and hedonists – 17 percent. The names were determined by the main statements more frequently used by the families who belong to the respective segments. These segments are expected to change in the future, in size and in the characteristics of behaviour concerning

food-related lifestyles. Therefore, we plan to repeat the research in the year 2004. At the same time, we would like to compare these segments with those distinguished in developed European countries that have conducted similar research.

Food marketing in the function of tourist product development Marcel Meler and Zdenko Cerovic´ Keywords Croatia, Food, Marketing, Tourism A tourist product should be observed as a total, i.e. integral, one, comprising material (goods) and immaterial (services) partial tourist products and partial tourist quasiproducts (being the results of a primary tourist offer that is not a result of human labor). The main idea of food marketing in foodstuff production, if observed as partial tourist products, implies that a guest, i.e. a tourist product consumer, is not only offered food and beverage as partial tourist products but that he also gets satisfied quantitatively, qualitatively, esthetically, ethnologically, gastronomically and in any other sense, including the accompanying immaterial partial tourist products, i.e. services, which will be eventually manifested in an increase in the room-and-board and, especially, secondary expenditures. Since the whole problem is analyzed using the example of the Republic of Croatia, simultaneously proposed are corresponding solutions in the field of food marketing that would be in the function of tourist product development.

A case study of the Croatian beer market structure and performances Ksenija Dumic˘ ic´, Sanda Renko and Natas˘a Renko Keywords Beer, Brands, Marketing, Croatia, Surveys, Brewing industry This paper considers the structure and performances of the Croatian beer market, as well as consumers’ attitudes and preferences. The results emphasise that the domestic brands with their quality and tradition, in spite of the imported beer brands’ influence,

are the dominant brands on the Croatian beer market. Farmers’ wine fair: a case study Damir Kovac˘ ic´ and Marija Radman Keywords Croatia, Wine and spirits, Farming, Consumer behaviour, Image The goal of this research is to empirically test one of the direct selling models – the farmers’ fair. We examined how the fairs can influence general recognition and improve the image of wines produced on family farms in Croatia,

and how they affect the sales and number of the buyers at the family farms. Two surveys were carried out, one with fair’s visitors (n = 678) and the other with wine producers (n = 47). The research results confirmed usefulness of the organisation of the family farm wine fair on the Croatian market. The recognition of the family farm wine has increased and the image of these wines has improved on the local market. By participating at the wine fair the wine producers have enlarged the buyers tree and the wine sales at the farm.

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Guest editorial The Croatian food and drink market The following five case studies, examine current issues and themes in the Croatian food and drink market. Case study 1 ‘‘Attitudes of the Croatian population toward genetically modified food’’, demonstrates how consumers are becoming deeply sceptical about the benefits GM foods provide and also generally, about the food they eat. Research conducted for this case, indicates that negative attitudes have been brought about by large debates in the media and it is mainly women and highly educated respondents in large towns who are more sceptical about the quality of GM food products, compared to non-GM foods. Case study 2 ‘‘Market segmentation on the basis of food-related lifestyles of Croatian families’’ evaluates the behavioural patterns of five different segments, which all differ in buying motives, quality aspects of the food, buying decisions, cooking methods and consumption situations. The five named segments include relaxed, traditionalists, modern, concerned and hedonists. A cluster analysis was adopted as the research methodology to obtain the abovementioned behavioural data. It was found that the largest segment was modern (32 percent), which is considered to have further growth and is considered a true reflection of the trend in Croatia, more working women, with less time to spend buying and preparing food. Case study 3 ‘‘Food marketing in the function of tourist product development’’ evaluates food marketing and levels of consumer satisfaction in the Croatian tourism industry and highlights the importance of both tourism and agriculture as strategic directives in the economic development of the country. The article goes on to explain how these directives will significantly contribute towards an economic revitalization, which is important in post-war conditions. Highlighted, is the importance of implementing food marketing in the economic, catering and hotel entities’ marketing policy in food production. This is regarded as a necessity if consumer needs are to be satisfied to the highest level possible.

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Case study 4 ‘‘A case study of the Croatian beer market structure and performances’’ reviews the history, market structure and performances of the Croatian beer market, as well as consumer’ attitudes and preferences. The research for this case has been conducted in two phases, in order to build a comparative insight. Qualitative

and quantitative, in the form of interviews and surveys respectively, were conducted to arrive at some conclusions. The findings illustrate that despite imported beer brands being prominent world wide, their consumption has not become established in Croatia yet and Croatian consumers still prefer domestic brands.

Guest editorial

Case study 5 ‘‘Farmers’ wine fair’’, empirically tests the importance of direct selling and the impact of farmers’ fairs on wine consumption in the market. The case highlights how wine fairs do create a number of benefits for producers. Surveys with both visitors and consumers were conducted to establish some findings. Conclusions summarise numerous benefits of direct selling at wine fairs, including an increase in the recognition of the family farm, improvements in image of both the wine and the family farm, visitor satisfaction with the organised exhibitions and being able to participate at the fair and thus an overall increase in sales. The case recommends that fairs should continue to be used , not just in Zagreb, but also in other Croatian regions. Natas˘a Renko and Daniella Vignali Guest Editors

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The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0007-070X.htm

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Attitudes of the Croatian population toward genetically modified food

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Natas˘a Renko Marketing Department, Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Vesna Brc˘ic´-Stipc˘evic´ and Sanda Renko Trade Department, Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Keywords Genetic engineering, Food, Croatia, Consumer attitudes Abstract Until recently, the Croatian public has been relatively indifferent and unaware of issues related to genetically modified (GM) food products. However, the situation has changed and the Croatian public is becoming deeply sceptical about the benefits of GM food, and also generally about the food they eat. This paper examines some of the dimensions of the attitudes of the Croatian population toward GM food, and points out the high level of knowledge about biotechnology, and also the high level of non-acceptance in this regard. These findings are significant for Croatian trade (especially importing and exporting), since knowledge about population preferences may influence the status of the Croatian food industry, as well as foreign food producers.

British Food Journal Vol. 105 No. 3, 2003 pp. 148-161 # MCB UP Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/00070700310477103

Introduction The literature surrounding biotechnology and genetically modified (GM) food and a significant number of previous studies highlight the potential benefits and risks of the use of GM products (for example, Dolliver, 2000; Drucker, 2002; Milmo, 1999; Prewitt, 2001; Walkley, (2000) etc.). There was initial enthusiasm about the potential benefits (Benady, 2002; US Department of State, 2000a, b, c) such as: . in raising agricultural productivity (i.e. higher yields and lower costs); . the use of fewer chemical pesticides and herbicides; . in protecting the environment and natural resources (smaller risk of toxic contamination of both surface and ground water); . in benefiting consumers with a wider array of more nutritious, safer and convenient food and, also, with a wider array of choices in medicine and fuel resources; and . in improving nutritional value of crops and thus solving some health problems (for example, 1 million deaths, 14 million cases of blindness and infectious diseases of children have been linked to vitamin A deficiency). However, we are currently witnessing more and more critical reviews. Critics have disputed almost all the benefits mentioned above and have pointed out

some disadvantages such as allergic reactions, toxic effects (Consumers International, 2001; Hurtado, 2000), the impossibility of solving the problem of under nourishment due to the lack of access to GM foods, and the opinion that behind everything there is the race of multinational agrochemical companies for profit (Hurtado, 2000). Biotechnology is not a latter-day phenomenon because from the early days of human civilisation man has used some techniques to improve his quality of life. Kerr (1999) distinguished two types of genetic modification: (1) Genetic modification within species (i.e. speeding up of natural processes such as when man used micro organisms to make wine, bread, cheese, etc., and selectively bred animals or plants to obtain a desired characteristic). (2) Transgenic modification (or genetic engineering, which allows gene transfers which would be impossible with traditional breeding). In contrast to genetic modification, the first category has experienced little consumer resistance and there are many GM food products on food-store shelves (such as chocolates which carry lecithin derived from soya). While traditional breeding can only exchange genes between similar species, examples of transgenic breeding include the insertion of genes from one species into another. Modern biotechnology comprises a variety of techniques that require the use of scientific methods and modern laboratory techniques. Despite the exceptional importance of this topic world wide, we became aware of weak public and government concern in Croatia. However, more recently, we have witnessed increasing interest, partly due to: . Large media debates which have presented some evidence about the dangerous consequences of the use of GM food. . The active involvement of some independent, non-profit and nongovernmental organisations such as the Croatian Association for Consumer Protection. . The Croatian moves to become a legal member of the European Union (EU) (since the EU requires members to pass legislation on the marketing and production of GM foods and to set strict monitoring standards for GM organisms, the Republic of Croatia has to define strategies related to this subject and to pass the law regulating the area of GM food). Croatian attention to this topic was previously relatively limited and resulted in a lack of available data resources and research in the domain of GM food. Thus, in preparing this paper we were oriented towards the studies of foreign authors (Bredahl, 2001; Ekici, 2000; Kerr, 1999; Hamstra and Smink, 1996; McGowan, 2001; Prewitt, 2001; Dolliver, 2000). The findings of those studies suggest that most US citizens are more likely to believe that biotechnology has more benefits than risks. McGowan (2001) explained this fact with the statement that

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‘‘in the US consumers haven’t made up their minds yet’’. On the other side, Europeans remain deeply sceptical about the benefits of GM foods. Walkley (2000) pointed out two reasons for this hostility to GM foods: ‘‘the BSE crisis (mad-cow disease) and the fact that GM products were released to the market unregulated’’. As the debates continue to take greater proportions (they have extended to political areas, too), it was reasonable to conduct a study designed to explore Croatian public knowledge and awareness of the potential benefits/ negative effects of the use of GM food. Methodology The study of the attitudes of the Croatian population towards GM food was designed to find out the general feeling about GM food products. The study included the following areas: . aided awareness and the correct identification of meaning; . the most important source of information; . evaluation in comparison with ordinary, non-GM food; . awareness of production and sale in Croatia; and . probability of purchase in the case that GM food is clearly labelled and cheaper. The survey was based on the OMNIBUS method conducted on a representative nationwide sample of the adult population (15+ years) in Croatia. Thus, data include citizens of Croatia aged 15+ years living in the country and excludes: . those who live temporarily abroad; . those who live in collective households (prisons, nursery homes, etc.); and . foreign citizens who live in Croatia. The field research was conducted from 4-19 December 2001. The method of the OMNIBUS survey was face-to-face in-home interviewing with a highly structured questionnaire. At each address, in each household, the respondent was selected according to a random procedure, by using the last birthday date method from the list of household members aged 15+ years. If the interview was definitely refused in the household, another address and respondent were selected at the same sampling point, by using the same random method. The sample in the survey is representative nationwide, and is a two-stage random sample of adults in Croatia. The stratification was completed according to the number of adult population (15+) in the regions and the size of residence in them, on the basis of population data (Census, 1991). The total number of sampling points in the sample was 98, in 76 cities/ villages. The demographic characteristics of the surveyed sample are outlined in Table I. There is an over-representation of females in the sample, but it was felt

Item

Percentage

Region Zagreb and surroundings North Croatia Slavonia Lika, Kordun, Banovina Istria, North Coast, Gorski Kotar Dalmatia

22.0 17.7 17.8 11.1 11.6 19.8

Number of residents Up to 2,000 inhabitants From 2,000 to 10,000 From 10,000 to 100,000 Over 100,000

42.2 13.8 18.8 25.2

Gender Female Male

59.2 40.8

Age (years) 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ Unknown

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18.1 21.3 17.9 16.8 10.8 15.1

Marital status Single Married, live together Widowed, divorced

27.2 57.3 15.5

Education Unfinished elementary Elementary Three years – high school Secondary/high College/university

7.8 16.1 15.6 45.1 15.4

Employment status Full-time Part-time Not employed

40.9 4.4 54.7

Household net monthly income Up to e263 e263-e460 e460-e790 e790-e1,118 More than e1,118 No answer

13.1 21.5 36.1 15.5 12.7 1.1

Note: total sample = 1,000 households including 1,000 respondents

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Table I. Demographics of sample

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this would not adversely impact on the final results as general attitudes and perceptions were consequences of other factors (these are mentioned further in the text). The collected data were stored on an especially designated SPSS database. Findings and discussion The survey was designed to include five issues relating to the perceptions and attitudes of the Croatian population towards GM food. Accordingly, the presentation and the additional interpretation of the obtained results were classified (divided) in five sections: Section I. Awareness and knowledge of GM food Assuming that respondents were partly familiar with the subject, we designed the question in such a way that a few alternative definitions were given. Respondents could choose from the offered definitions, such as: .

.

.

GM food products include meat, fruit and vegetables which are bred in an unnatural way (with some genetic mutations). GM food products include fruit and vegetables which are bred in an unhealthy way (using large quantities of pesticides and fertilizers). GM food products include fruit and vegetables which are obtained with the crossbreeding of genes of completely different plants; for example genes from a tomato and genes from an apple, etc. (further in the discussion this definition will be considered as the correct one).

Figure 1 shows the basic knowledge of the subject. Generally, when people were asked about their knowledge or understanding of GM food, most admitted

Figure 1. Awareness of the meaning

that they had heard the term (78.9 percent), and only 21.1 percent of the respondents said that they had not. Among the first group that was familiar with the term, we distinguished various segments related to the definitions offered. For the next analysis, we used only those respondents who belonged to the first group (‘‘heard the term’’). As can be seen from the graph in Figure 2, the segment of ‘‘fruit and vegetables – correct definition’’ is the most significant (44 percent). Due to the fact that another definition offered in the questionnaire is almost identical, it is not surprising that a relatively high level of respondents (36 percent) chose the definition: ‘‘GM food products include meat, fruit and vegetables – genetically modified’’. From this observed group of respondents that were familiar with the term, only 11 percent said that ‘‘GM food products include fruit and vegetables – bred in an unhealthy way’’, and 9 percent said that they had heard about GM food, but they were not sure of the meaning of the term. The general findings derived from this question indicate a high level of concern shown by the Croatian population about their health and about the possible risks to their environment. The main reason for this fact could be the increasing media debates about the use of GM food, which has given many people the opportunity of finding out the advantages and disadvantages of GM food. Using the demographic variables we reached the following results: (1) Both women and men have equally heard of GM food and know what it is. (2) The highest level of awareness was shown by respondents: . from the Istria, North Coast, Gorski Kotar region; . in big towns (more than 100,000 inhabitants); . aged 45-54 years; . who were single; . who were employed part-time; and . who were highly educated.

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Figure 2. Awareness of the definition

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(3) The lowest level of awareness was shown by respondents: . from the Slavonia region; . in small cities (up to 2,000 inhabitants); . aged over 65 years; . who were widowed or divorced; . who were unemployed; and . who had failed to finish elementary school education. (4) Households with a net monthly income of over e1,118 showed the highest level of awareness, and households which did not answer the question about net monthly income, showed the lowest level, which could be explained by the fact that people tended not to reveal such information. Section II. The most important source of information The purpose of this section was to discover the sources of information which helped respondents to know more about the subject involved. The questionnaire offered a few possible sources such as: . TV; . radio; . newspapers, magazines; . everyday talk with friends; . something else; and . undefined. Based on the findings from the first section, we used only those respondents who had heard the term. The level of representation of categories mentioned above can be seen in Figure 3. The findings revealed that TV was the most important source of information. Using demographic variables we found out that:

Figure 3. The main sources of information

(1) Both women and men equally watched TV in relation to GM food. (2) TV was the main source of information about the topic (the highest level) for respondents: . from the Slavonia region; . in small cities (up to 2,000 inhabitants); . aged 55-64 years; . who were married; . who had failed to finish elementary school education; and . who were unemployed. (3) The lowest level of importance of TV as a main source of information about GM food was for respondents: . from the Zagreb region and surroundings; . in big towns (more than 100,000 inhabitants); . aged 15-24 years (the group of younger respondents); . who were single; . who had secondary/high school education; and . who were employed part-time. (4) TV was the most important source of information on GM food for households which did not answer the question about net monthly income. The lowest level of importance of TV as the main source of information on GM food products was shown by households with the highest level of net monthly income (over e1,118). Section III. Evaluation of GM food in comparison with ordinary, non-GM food In evaluating the attitudes of the Croatian population toward GM food, we examined whether a respondent, confronted with two products – one made using traditional techniques and an identical product made by genetic engineering – would prefer traditionally made food or a GM food product. The conclusion was drawn from the questionnaire where respondents were asked to compare GM food with non-GM food. They could choose among six different alternatives: (1) GM food is extremely below standard and dangerous for human health. (2) GM food is unhealthy and of less value. (3) GM food is roughly equal. (4) GM food meets high standards/GM food is partly better than non-GM food. (5) GM food is superior and definitely better than non-GM food. (6) No answer.

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Figure 4. Comparison of GM food vs. non-GM food

As we can see from Figure 4, it is clear that the highest levels are achieved by the categories that give bad attributions to GM food (i.e. respondents think that GM food is worse than non-GM food). This result is very important for the Croatian food industry because it suggests higher investments might be made in organic food and natural production. When we use demographic variables as a basis to analyse the evaluation of GM food vs. non-GM food, the study indicates that: (1) The highest level of respondents who gave a worse evaluation of GM food in comparison with non-GM food were respondents: . from the Dalmatia region; . in big towns (more than 100,000 inhabitants); . who were women; . aged 34-44 years; . who were married; . who were highly educated; and . who were employed full time. (2) The lowest level of respondents who think that GM food is not so bad compared with non-GM food were respondents: . from the region North Croatia; . in towns with 10,000-100,000 inhabitants; . who were men; . who were aged over 65 years; . who were widowed or divorced; . who had failed to finish elementary school education; and . who were unemployed. (3) Households which did not answer the question about net monthly income showed the highest level of consideration of GM food as worse than non-

GM food, and households with a net monthly income of e790-1,118 think that GM food is not so bad (vs. non-GM food). Section IV. Awareness of GM food production and sale in Croatia The purpose of this section was to find out how aware the Croatian population was of the sale and production of GM food products on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. From the results shown in Figure 5, it seems that nowadays respondents have experienced the production and sale of GM food products in Croatia. The explanation for this could be the media debates concerning GM food. Of course, not all respondents were aware of the production and sale of GM food on the territory of the Republic of Croatia( (36.4 percent), because 34.9 percent of respondents said that GM food products were not being produced on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, although they were familiar with the sale of imported GM food products; 7.7 percent of respondents knew nothing about the subject and a relatively high level of respondents gave no answer (21 percent). If we analyze the awareness of the sale and production of GM food in the Republic of Croatia and if we use demographic variables in the discussion of the obtained findings, we find out that: (1) Both women and men have equally heard of GM food and know what it is. (2) The highest level of awareness of the sale of GM food was shown by respondents: . from the Lika, Banovina, Kordun region; . in big towns (more than 100,000 inhabitants); . aged 35-44 years; . who were single; . with elementary school education; and . who were employed part-time. (3) The lowest level of awareness of the sale of GM food in Croatia was shown by respondents: . from the Slavonia region;

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Figure 5. Awareness of GM food sales and production in Croatia

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in towns with 10,000-100,000 inhabitants; who were aged over 65 years; . who were married; . who had failed to finish elementary school; and . who were unemployed. (4) Households with highest net monthly income were mostly aware of the sale of GM food in Croatia, and households which did not answer the question about net monthly income were not aware of the subject at all. . .

Section V. Probability of purchasing clearly labelled and reduced price GM food products Worldwide experiences suggest that for many people labelling GM food products seems to be an equitable compromise (Subrahmanyan and Cheng, 2000; Gwin, 2001; Hamstra and Smink, 1996). Labelling is the only way to know what we are buying, and thence to make our choice. A large majority of consumers always want some type of information about products, and labelling could give them this choice. However, the study revealed that although GM food products were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food products, the majority of respondents (48.9 percent) did not want to buy them. The purpose of this section was to find out whether Croatian consumers would buy GM food if it were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food (with adequate design and taste). Respondents could choose among several alternatives: . ‘‘Yes, we would certainly buy GM food products if they were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food products (with adequate design and taste)’’. . ‘‘We would probably buy GM food products if they were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food (with adequate design and taste)’’. . ‘‘Maybe we would buy/maybe we would not buy GM food if it were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food’’. . ‘‘We would probably not buy GM food products, even though they were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food products’’. . ‘‘No, we would not buy GM food products, even if they were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food products (with adequate design and taste)’’. Figure 6 indicates that the vast majority of the Croatian population would certainly not buy GM food products. Assuming that the Croatian population would certainly not buy GM food products even if they were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food

products, we used demographic variables to analyse general findings and we came to the following conclusions: (1) The highest level of respondents who would never buy GM food (not even if it was cheaper and clearly labelled) were those: .

from the Dalmatia region;

.

in cities with 2,000-10,000 inhabitants;

.

who were women;

.

aged 45-54 years;

.

who were married;

.

who were highly educated; and

.

who were employed part-time.

Attitudes of Croatians to GM food 159

(2) The lowest level of respondents which would never buy GM food (not even if it was clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food) were those: .

from the North Croatia region;

.

in towns with 10,000-100,000 inhabitants;

.

who were men;

.

aged 15-24 years;

.

who were single;

.

who had elementary school education; and

.

who were unemployed.

(3) Households with the highest net monthly income showed the lowest level of probability of purchase in the case that GM food products were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food products, but households which did not answer the question about net monthly income showed the highest level of probability of buying GM food products if they were clearly labelled and cheaper than non-GM food.

Figure 6. Probability of purchase in the case of clear labelling and lower prices

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Conclusion This study reveals that the Croatian population is fully aware of the term involved (i.e. the highest level of respondents knew the correct definition of GM food). This fact could be explained by the large media debates about the use of GM food over the last few months in Croatia. In addition, the media debates have been directed toward the adoption of legislation governing the production, quality levels, distribution, health standards, promotion and control of food products. Special attention has been devoted to the monitoring of food origin and to the control of raw materials as well as final products. Although the Croatian Parliament has already banned the import of GM food, the final law on food has not been passed yet. Further findings of this study indicate that women are more concerned about GM food and that highly educated respondents in large towns are more sceptical about the quality of GM food product compared to non-GM food and about the possible production and sale of such products in Croatia. It is surprising that the group that was less concerned about GM food products tended to be the group of older respondents who thought that GM food was better than non-GM food. We expected to find that this group would show the highest level of non-acceptance due to fact that older persons generally give greater importance to what they eat. Finally, we can conclude that the general feeling of the Croatian population about the surveyed topic was totally negative. Despite the fact that we do not know what will happen with GM food in the future, we hope that the attitudes of the Croatian population towards GM food shown in the research, as well as the expected legislation, will bring the Republic of Croatia closer to European standards. References Benady, D. (2002), ‘‘Son of Frankenstein?’’, Marketing Week, 24 January, pp. 24-6. Bredahl, L. (2001), ‘‘Determinants of consumer attitudes and purchase intentions with regard to GM foods-results of a cross-national survey’’, Journal of Consumer Policy, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 23-61. Consumers International (2001), ‘‘Labelling of genetically modified foods’’, CI-Fact sheet for World Consumer Rights Day. Dolliver, M. (2000), ‘‘Displaying our gut-level fear of the unfamiliar’’, Adweek, Eastern ed., Vol. 41, No. 5, p. 60. Drucker, S.M. (2002), ‘‘Concerns expressed by government scientists’’, available at: www.safefood.org/-issue/fda.html Ekici, A. (2000), ‘‘The impact of biotechnology on US farming and US consumers‘ potential reactions to genetically modified food products’’, 25th Annual Macromarketing Conference – Marketing Contributions to Democratization and Socioeconomic Development, Lovran, Croatia, pp. 88-102. Gwin, P. (2001), ‘‘Genetically modified crops’’, Europe, June, No. 407, pp. 22-5. Hamstra, A.M. and Smink, C. (1996), ‘‘Consumers and biotechnology in The Netherlands’’, British Food Journal, Vol. 98 No. 4, pp. 34-8. Hurtardo, M.E. (2000), GM Foods: The Facts and the Fiction, Consumers International, London.

Kerr, W.A. (1999), ‘‘Genetically modified organisms, consumer scepticism and trade law implications for the organisation of international supply chains’’, Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 67-74. McGowan, K. (2001), ‘‘Lessons from around the world’’, American Demographics Vol. 23 No. 9, pp. 50-3. Milmo, S. (1999), ‘‘GM ingredients fuel concerns by consumers’’, Chemical Market Reporter, Vol. 255 No. 13, pp. 6-8. Prewitt, M. (2001), ‘‘Scientists tell COEX bioengineered foods are safe, and say most Americans agree’’, Nation’s Restaurant News, Vol. 35 No.. 12, p. 65. Subrahmanyan, S. and Cheng, P.S., (2000), ‘‘Perceptions and attitudes of Singaporeans toward genetically modified food’’, The Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 269-90. United States Department of State (2000a), ‘‘Frequently asked questions about biotechnology’’, available at: www.usconsulate.org.hk/ato/biotech/2000/0320a.htm United States Department of State (2000b), ‘‘Food safety – regulating plant agricultural biotechnology in the US’’, available at: www.usconsulate.org.hk/ato/biotech/2000/ 0809a.htm United States Department of State (2000c), ‘‘Fact sheet – healthy harvests: growth through biotechnology’’, available at: www.usconsulate.org.hk/ato/biotech/2000/0321a.htm Walkley, S. (2000), ‘‘European GMO food safety still an issue’’, Frozen Food Age, Vol. 49 No. 1, p. 16.

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Tanja Kesic´ and Sunc˘ana Piri-Rajh Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb,Croatia Keywords Market segmentation, Croatia, Food, Lifestyles Abstract This paper explores the existence of different food-related lifestyle segments in the Republic of Croatia. Using international instruments and a cluster analysis (joining-tree clustering), five different segments were found which differ in buying motives, quality aspects of the food, buying decisions, cooking methods and consumption situations. They also differ in sociodemographic characteristics. These segments, making up the following percentage of the population, were named: relaxed – 13 percent, traditionalists – 27 percent, modern – 32 percent, concerned –11 percent and hedonists – 17 percent. The names were determined by the main statements more frequently used by the families who belong to the respective segments. These segments are expected to change in the future, in size and in the characteristics of behaviour concerning food-related lifestyles. Therefore, we plan to repeat the research in the year 2004. At the same time, we would like to compare these segments with those distinguished in developed European countries that have conducted similar research.

British Food Journal Vol. 105 No. 3, 2003 pp. 162-174 # MCB UP Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/00070700310477112

1. Introduction The concept of lifestyle has been developed to measure behaviour as a function of inherent individual characteristics that have been shaped through the social interaction of psychological and sociological factors and past experience. The notion of lifestyle emerges for the first time in the work of Max Weber. Weber perceived lifestyle as a means of status identification or differentiation among social groups. A similar view can be found in the work of Veblen on conspicuous consumption, which is largely motivated by desires for social prestige. Modern theory gives the definition of lifestyle as a summary construct defined as patterns in which people live and spend time and money (Engel et al., 1996). Attempts to measure the quantitative dimensions of lifestyle were initially referred to as psychographics. Psychographic research has stressed the psychological dimension of consumers’ behaviour. It originally focused on individual activities (behaviour), interest and opinions (AIO). In order to measure lifestyle, it was necessary to add demographics as a fourth dimension of people’s lifestyle (Boste, 1984; Lastovicka, 1982). The most popular application of lifestyle by marketing managers is SRI International, a value and lifestyles (VALS) program. It was introduced in 1978 and provided a systematic classification of US citizens into nine different segments. Those segments have distinct value and lifestyle patterns and therefore have been used as a basis for different marketing decisions (Kathle

et al., 1986; Novak and MacEvoy, 1990; Riche, 1989). VALS 2 was introduced in 1989 and includes more psychological factors while VALS 1 was more interest based. The third attempt to segment the market was made by Claritas, a leading firm in this field, on the basis of geo-demographic analysis. They focus on the demographic and geographic areas based on the belief that lifestyle, and thus consumption, is largely driven by demographics factors that are influenced by geo-cultural factors. They called this the PRIZM system. Both VALS and PRIZM have been successfully used in the USA as a basis for market segmentation (Morris, 1986; Bartos, 1989). Many attempts have been made to develop a system to measure a lifestyle concept worldwide. As a result of such attempts BSBW has developed the Global Scan system, based on the premise that individuals with similar lifestyles tend to live near each other. Based on a combination of lifestyle and purchasing patterns, five global lifestyle segments have been found. Such interesting and rich research in the market segmentation of lifestyle and the specific interest of European researchers in food-related lifestyles (since completely different cultural groups live in a relatively small geographic area) have influenced our decision to investigate this lifestyle segment of Croatian families. Our decision was based on knowledge of the Croatian-specific culture of food preparation and consumption and of new trends that will modify this traditional culture connected with this specific lifestyle. The main objectives of this study are: (1) To investigate whether different segments on the basis of food-related lifestyles exist in Croatian families. (2) To identify demographic factors that are related to food-related lifestyle segments. In more specific terms, this study will address the following two hypotheses: H1. Croatian families differ in food-related lifestyles. H2. Different food-related lifestyle segments also differ in socio-economics dimensions. 2. Methodology 2.1 Sample profile The personal survey was conducted across the Republic of Croatia in 2001. The total number of surveyed families was 628. The families were chosen on the basis of a random zone sample in medium-sized towns of the Republic of Croatia. The structure of socio-economic characteristics is given in Table I. 2.2 Instrument We used a cross-culturally valid instrument (Brunsø and Grunert, 1995), which consists of a 69-item food-related lifestyle questionnaire. All questions were rated on seven-point Likert scale. In addition to these, several questions were related to socio-demographics and to the economic status of the families.

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Table I. Socio-economic structure of sample

Family size

Percentage

2 members 3-4 members 5 members and more

15.1 62.1 22.8

Age of respondents < 25 26-35 36-50 51 +

13.8 19.6 48.8 17.8

Number of children 1 2 3 4+

20.7 44.6 11.0 23.7

Education Elementary school High school College education

8.3 55.7 36.0

Monthly income (net) US$238,10 US$238,20-US$476,20 US$476,30–US$833,30 US$833,45 and over

9.4 32.6 35.2 22.8

The same instrument has been applied to studies in Denmark, France, Germany and the USA. The instrument covers the main aspects of buying, preparing and consuming food. These are: .

Buying motives (hedonism, tradition, social aspects, and utility).

.

Quality aspects (healthy, natural, organic, fresh, tasty).

.

.

.

Buying decisions (routine, limited problem solving and new problem solving decisions). Cooking methods (traditional or modern, part of women’s tasks or a division of duties, planned or spontaneous, how much time is spent on cooking). Consumption situations (how important is eating, when the members of the family eat and how meals are spread over the day).

In applying lifestyle instruments to the development of the market, it becomes important whether changes occur over a period of time. So we have concluded that the next study of food-related lifestyles would be appropriate in the year 2004.

A particularly interesting comparison will be the nature, size and structure of the lifestyle segments across countries and the differences that exist in the same food-related lifestyle segments. 3. Data analysis A total of 69 factors concerning food-related lifestyles were grouped into segments using a cluster analysis (the procedure of joining – tree clustering). The size of segments was derived on the basis of mean values which were higher than the total mean value of the joined ratings to questions which belong to the specific segment. Analyzing the results allowed us to distinguish five different segments of food-related lifestyles of Croatian families. Additional insights into segments were added by observing the socio-demographic characteristics of typical segment members. This statistical procedure distinguished five groups of variables which come together through similarities in the pattern of buying and consuming food. By this method, five groups of variables clustered together, which portrayed different lifestyles concerning buying, preparing and eating food. The second step of the procedure was one of qualitative exploring, which gave us the approximate size of each segment – all respondents who had higher than average values which represented that segment were categorized. By this procedure, 1 percent of total respondents overlapped segments and were divided between segments based on the relative size of each segment. The segments derived by the explained procedure are: (1) relaxed; (2) traditionalists; (3) modern; (4) concerned; (5) hedonists. The relaxed segment represents approximately 13 percent of the surveyed population. A total of 15 variables are distinguished by a hierarchical cluster tree analysis as the key characteristics of this segment. The mean values of the attitudes of families in this segment are given in Table II. The following statements are characteristic for this segment (and have the highest mean value): .

I dislike anything that might change my eating habits.

.

I am influenced by what people say about a food product.

.

I do not see any reason to shop in specialty food stores.

.

Usually I do not decide what to buy before I go shopping.

.

I eat whenever I feel the slightest bit hungry.

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Table II. Variables which belong to the ‘‘relaxed’’ cluster and their statistical values

Variables

Mean

I do not like shopping for food (S4) Usually I do not decide what to buy before I go shopping (S6) I eat before I get hungry, which means I am never hungry at meal times (S10) We use a lot of ready-to-eat foods in our household (S14) I dislike anything that might change my eating habits (S19) I have more confidence in food products that I have seen advertised than in unadvertised products (S20) In our house, nibbling has taken over and replaced set eating hours (S23) I do not see any reason to shop in specialty food stores (S25) Going out for dinner is a regular part of our eating habits (S27) I always plan what we are going to eat a couple of days in advance (S31) I am influenced by what people say about a food product (S44) I use frozen foods for at least one meal a day (S52) I consider the kitchen to be a woman’s domain (S57) I use a lot of mixes, for instance baking mixes and powder soups (S59) I eat whenever I feel the slightest bit hungry (S65)

Standard deviation

2.813694 1.977224 3.500000 2.073990 3.015924 1.888368 2.174881 1.582530 3.798092 3.451059 3.154705 1.778463 3.000000 3.646497 2.987261 3.033439 3.676236 2.683706 3.204147 3.238019 3.261563

4.448178 1.955454 1.987961 1.967964 3.166638 1.844071 2.037927 1.760698 1.923914

The data in Table III show that this segment in comparison with other segments has very low mean values on all variables (M = 3.23). The standardized alpha is also among the lowest (0.554419). This supports the statement that the women who belong to this cluster are not interested in buying, preparing or serving the food. For this reason we called this group ‘‘relaxed’’. By exploring the socio-demographic characteristics of this cluster, we can conclude that this segment, more than others, consists of younger families with women up to 25 years of age, 3-4 children, and with the lower income (up to $500). Count

Cumulative count

Percentage

1.00 < =6< 2.00 13 13 2.06349 2.00 < =6< 3.00 226 239 35.87302 3.00 < =6< 4.00 293 532 46.50794 Table III. Deriving the size of the 4.00 < =6< 5.00 74 606 11.74603 segment called 5.00 < =6< 6.00 8 614 1.26984 ‘‘relaxed’’ by observing 6.00 < =6< 7.00 1 615 0.15873 the means of all the Missing 15 630 2.38095 variables which make Notes: N = 84 ; M = 3.239570; standardized alpha = 0.554419 up the segment

Cumulative percentage 2.0635 37.9365 84.4444 96.1905 97.4603 97.6190 100.0000

A loose description of the members of this segment could be: they have no specific buying or cooking methods, do not have clear buying motives, the quality of food is not important to them, the methods of preparing food are not specified, they are under the influence of friends and mass communication in their buying decisions, frozen food is part of their buying and eating habits, they use ready-made food and eat whenever they are hungry, do not like shopping and never plan what they buy. In short, buying, preparing and eating the food is not of primary interest to this segment. This segment is expected to endure the future test. The traditionalists account for 27 percent of the surveyed population. This is a relatively stable segment, which traditionally has a central place in Croatian society. Table IV shows variables that characterize this segment, the mean values of the answers obtained and standard deviations. Table V shows the mean values of the attitudes of families in this segment. The following statements are the most specific for this segment: . ‘‘My family helps with other mealtime chores, such as setting the table and washing up’’. . ‘‘I like to try new foods that I never tasted before’’. . ‘‘I like to try out new recipes’’. . ‘‘Recipes and articles on food from other culinary traditions make me experiment in the kitchen’’. . ‘‘I am an excellent cook’’.

Variables The kids and other members of the family always help in the kitchen (S2) I find that dining with friends is an important part of my social life (S17) I look for ways to prepare unusual meals (S24) My family helps with other mealtime chores, such as setting the table and washing up (S34) Recipes and articles on food from other culinary traditions make me experiment in the kitchen (S37) I love to try recipes from foreign countries (S40) I do not consider it a luxury to go out with my family to have dinner in a restaurant (S42) I like to have ample time in the kitchen (S43) We often get together with friends to enjoy an easy-to-cook casual dinner (S45) Shopping for food is like a game to me (S46) I am an excellent cook (S54) I like to try new foods that I never tasted before (S67) When I do not really feel like cooking, I can get one of the kids or my husband/wife to do it (S68) I like to try out new recipes (S69)

Mean

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Standard deviation

4.252782 1.931472 4.494436 2.011603 3.993631 1.903566 5.358766 4.136239 4.544586 1.878168 4.375796 1.976461 4.332268 2.152910 3.753994 2.063052 3.942492 3.775120 4.385965 5.291866

2.062205 1.856382 3.341241 2.403933

4.506667 3.248725 5.028662 1.761490

Table IV. Variables which belong to the ‘‘traditionalists’’ cluster and their mean values

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The mean value of this segment is M = 4.427003 and standardized alpha is statistically significant (0.728437). Observing the socio-demographic features, we found that the age of the women who belong to this segment show a very broad range of age (25-50) with high school or college education, five or more members of the family and higher income. A further description of members of this segment could be: . .

.

they are very careful of what to buy and how much to pay; they like shopping for food and are proud of their cooking methods and recipes; and they experiment with new recipes and share their experience with other women.

For this segment, cooking and eating food are considered as part of their main social events. Helping the other members of the family on special occasions is also part of our tradition. The modern segment comprises 32 percent of the surveyed population. Table VI shows variables which characterize this segment. Table VII shows the mean values of the attitudes of families in this segment. The following statements characterize this segment: .

. .

. .

‘‘I compare prices between product variants in order to get the best value for money’’. ‘‘A familiar dish gives me sense of security’’. ‘‘I like buying food products in specialty stores where I get expert advice’’. ‘‘I notice when products I buy regularly change in price’’. ‘‘Cooking needs to be planned in advance’’.

It is worthwhile noticing that the segment of ‘‘modern’’ is primarily concerned with the careful process of choosing and buying the food rather than preparing and cooking. This is the main characteristic of this cluster, illustrated by the stated sentences. Count 1.00 < =6< 2.00 2.00 < =6< 3.00 3.00 < =6< 4.00 Table V. Deriving the size of the 4.00 < =6< 5.00 segment called 5.00 < =6< 6.00 ‘‘traditionalists’’ by 6.00 < =6< 7.00 observing the means of Missing all the variables which Notes: N = 271 ; M = make up the segment

3 41 149 227 150 20 40

Cumulative count

Percentage

Cumulative percentage

3 44 193 420 570 590 630

0.47619 6.50794 23.65079 36.03175 23.80952 3.17460 6.3492

0.4762 6.9841 30.6349 66.6667 90.4762 93.6508 100.0000

4.427003; standardized alpha = 0.728437

Variables I compare product information labels to decide which brand to buy (S11) I like buying food products in specialty stores where I get expert advice (S12) I compare prices between product variants in order to get the best value for money (S13) I notice when products I buy regularly change in price (S15) I watch for advertisements in the newspaper for store specials and plan to take advantage of them when I go shopping (S28) I compare labels to select the most nutritious food (S29) A familiar dish gives me a sense of security (S33) I always check prices even on small items (S41) Before I go shopping for food, I make a list of everything I need (S47) Information from advertising helps me to make better buying decisions (S58) I make a shopping list to guide my food purchases (S60) What we are having for supper is very often not decided until the last minute (S61) Cooking is the task that is best over and done with (S62) Cooking needs to be planned in advance (S66)

1.00 < =6< 2.00 < =6< 3.00 < =6< 4.00 < =6< 5.00 < =6< 6.00 < =6< Missing

2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 6.00 7.00

Mean

Standard deviation

4.370429

2.835930

0.454690

1.960582

5.213037 4.813694

1.729959 1.911604

3.773885 4.398089 4.861465 3.907496 4.529506

2.001551 1.802213 1.794439 2.017747 2.061438

3.861244 4.357257

2.068680 2.111120

4.563694 4.593600 4.589457

1.795108 2.074252 1.806429

Count

Cumulative count

Percentage

Cumulative percentage

7 41 148 229 158 36 11

7 48 196 425 583 619 630

1.11111 6.50794 23.49206 36.34921 25.07937 5.71429 1.74603

1.1111 7.6190 31.1111 67.4603 92.5397 98.2540 100.0000

Notes: N = 196; M = 4.428207; standardized alpha = 0.738305

The total mean value of all variables of the ‘‘modern’’ segment (4.42) is on the level of ‘‘traditionalists’’ and much higher than the ‘‘relaxed’’. The standardized alpha shows the highest value compared to all other segments (0 .738305). The segment called ‘‘modern’’ is represented more than the other segments by women aged 25-35, with one or no children and with a college or higher education, and highest income (over $ 800). It could be said that the women who belong to this segment do not like to spend much time on buying, preparing and cooking food. They gather information in advance; make a shopping list and plan carefully their buying time; they prefer shopping in specialized shops in order to shorten their buying time; plan cooking and rely on familiar dishes.

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Table VI. Variables which belong to the ‘‘modern’’ cluster and their mean values

Table VII. Deriving the size of the segment called ‘‘modern’’ by observing the means of all the variables which make up the segment

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This all shorten their time spent on buying and cooking, which is the main intention for this segment. The ‘‘concerned’’ segment comprises approximately –11 percent of the surveyed population. The variables that characterize this segment and their mean values are given in Table VIII. Table IX shows the mean values of the attitudes of families in this segment. The following statements are the most important to this segment: .

‘‘I try to avoid food products with additives’’.

.

‘‘I always try to get best quality for best price’’.

.

.

.

‘‘It is more important to choose food products for their nutritional value rather than for their taste’’. ‘‘I like to know what I am buying, so I often ask questions in stores where I shop for food’’. ‘‘I buy and use only those food products which I know well’’.

Variables I buy and use only those food products which I know well (S3) The recipes which I use for my cooking are indeed the best (S8) I make a point of using natural or ecological products (S9) I always buy organic food products if I have the opportunity (S16) I do not mind paying a premium for ecological products (S30) I like to know what I am buying, so I often ask questions in stores where I shop for food (S36) Table VIII. I try to avoid food products with additives (S49) Variables which belong It is more important to choose food products for their nutritional to the cluster value rather than for their taste (S50) ‘‘nutritionists’’ and their I always try to get best quality for best price (S64) mean values

Count

Cumulative count

Percentage

1.00 < =6< 2.00 4 4 0.63492 2.00 < =6< 3.00 17 21 2.69841 3.00 < =6< 4.00 81 102 12.85714 Table IX. 216 318 34.28571 Deriving the size of the 4.00 < =6< 5.00 segment called 5.00 < =6< 6.00 227 545 36.03175 ‘‘concerned’’ by 6.00 < =6< 7.00 70 615 11.11111 observing the means of Missing 15 630 2.38095 all variables which Notes: N = 70; M = 4.894427; standardized alpha = 0.662218 make up the segment

Mean

Standard deviation

4.845787 4.799682 4.634340

1.692077 1.482789 1.618906

4.596184 4.417197

1.883312 1.816412

5.085987 5.392000

2.695426 3.245549

5.054226 5.274760

1.699538 3.299634

Cumulative percentage 0.6349 3.3333 16.1905 50.4762 86.5079 97.6190 100.0000

The main characteristic of this segment is the consumer consciousness about the value of organic food and their determination to seek for it and readiness to pay its value. The total mean value of the segment is higher (M = 4.894427) than the mean value of the previous segments, which shows the abovementioned strength in attitude of the respondents towards the given statements. The value of standardized alpha is lower than those of ‘‘modern’’ and ‘‘traditionalists’’. This segment predominantly comprises older age groups (over 50 years of age), three to four members of the family, women with a college education and families with higher than average income. It is crucial to this segment that women are primarily concerned about nutritional value of the food they are buying and consuming; they are very conscious about the information on products’ labels and organic values of the food; they choose carefully and examine the quality of the products and are ready to pay for it. The ‘‘hedonists’’ comprise 17 percent of the surveyed population. Statements which characterize this segment are given in Table X. Table XI shows the mean values of the attitudes of families in this segment.

Variables To me, product information is of major importance. I need to know what the product contains (S1) I only buy and eat foods which are familiar to me (S5) I do not like spending too much time on cooking (S18) When cooking, I first and foremost consider the taste (S21) I prefer fresh products to canned or frozen products (S22) It is the women’s responsibility to keep the family healthy by serving a nutritious diet (S26) Nowadays the responsibility for shopping and cooking should lie with the husband as much as with the wife (S32) To me, the naturalness of the food that I buy is an important quality (S35) Over a meal one may have a pleasant chat with friends (S38) I do not buy food products that do not look completely fresh (S39) I prefer to buy meat and vegetables fresh rather than pre-packaged (S48) Being praised for my cooking adds a lot to my self-esteem (S51) When I serve a dinner to friends, the most important thing is that we are together (S55) I prefer to buy natural products, i.e. products without preservatives (S56) Eating to me is a meter of touching, smelling, tasting and seeing; all the senses are involved. It is very exciting sensation (S63)

Mean

Standard deviation

5.774245 4.972973 4.263158 5.542130 6.027113

2.642120 1.859106 1.956222 1.641487 2.474967

5.450637

3.357837

5.555024

1.714835

5.848726 5.146497 5.964968 6.151757 5.552716

4.839140 2.056042 1.592060 2.130383 2.953712

5.475279

1.555351

5.679426

1.520134

5.656051

3.214229

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Table X. Variables which belong to the ‘‘hedonists’’ cluster and their mean values

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The following statements are the most important for this segment: .

‘‘I prefer fresh products to canned or frozen products’’.

.

‘‘I do not buy food products that do not look completely fresh’’.

.

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‘‘To me, product information is of major importance. I need to know what the product contains’’.

.

‘‘To me, the naturalness of the food that I buy is an important quality’’.

.

‘‘When cooking, I first and foremost consider the taste’’.

Mostly older families comprise this segment, two members of the family with lower than average education and lower income. We could state that the main motive of this segment is to buy food and to enjoy the taste. The freshness of the food they buy is crucial for this segment; they enjoy buying, preparing and eating food with the family or with their friends; the women who belong to this segment spend a lot of their time shopping for food, choosing the ingredients which they and their families and friend will enjoy; the women of this segment draw great pride from their cooking capabilities and expect members of their families and friends to notice that. Conclusion By using a cluster analysis (joining-tree clustering) on the data which were gathered from 628 Croatian families, we distinguished five completely different segments in food-related lifestyles. We called these: (1) relaxed – 13 percent; (2) traditionalists – 27 percent; (3) modern – 32 percent; (4) concerned – 11 percent; and (5) hedonists – 17 percent.

1.00 < =6< 2.00 2.00 < =6< 3.00 3.00 < =6< 4.00 Table XI. 4.00 < =6< 5.00 Deriving the size of the 5.00 < =6< 6.00 ‘‘hedonists’’ segment by 6.00 < =6< 7.00 observing the means of Missing all variables which Notes: N = 196; M = make up the segment

Count

Cumulative count

Percentage

Cumulative percentage

0 2 22 137 343 106 20

0 2 24 161 504 610 630

0.00000 0.31746 3.49206 21.74603 54.44444 16.82540 3.17460

0.0000 0.3175 3.8095 25.5556 80.0000 96.8254 100.0000

5.378534; standardized alpha = 0.625477

These segments were drawn up using 69 questions connected with buying motives, quality aspects of food, process of buying food, cooking methods and consumption situations. Socio-economic variables are not clearly profiled for each segment, although some of those variables are more connected with one than with other segments. We expect these variables to become more profiled for different segments in the future. One of the important conditions for this to happen is the completion of the transition period of the Croatian economy and the stabilization of population migration, which was extremely high during the war and in the post-war period. These results show that the first hypothesis has been accepted and the second one to some point. The highest average mean value of all variables which characterize one segment was obtained by ‘‘hedonists’’ – 5.37 and ‘‘concerned’’ – 4.89, then ‘‘modern’’ – 4.42 and ‘‘traditional’’ – 4.42. The segment named ‘‘relaxed’’ has the lowest mean value of only 3.23. So, one can conclude that this segment is not as profiled and homogeneous as the other four segments. However, it is reasonable to expect that the segment of relaxed women will continue to exist in the future The two largest segments, ‘‘modern’’ (32 percent) and ‘‘traditionalists’’ (27 percent) , comprise 59 percent of the population. We expect the ‘‘modern’’ segment to grow and the ‘‘hedonist’’ one to become smaller. This is consistent with the trend in Croatia (and the modern world as well) that more women will work and will not have enough time to spend buying and preparing food. By the same line of thinking, the segment which is likely to grow is ‘‘concerned’’, since more people in the future will be more interested in what they eat and in how the food is prepared. However, we expect the segment of ‘‘traditionalists’’ to become smaller. Whether the size of established food-related lifestyle segments in Croatia will remain the same is a question for future research to investigate. The data we plan to gather in 2004 will show the trend and direction of change, but at least two more surveys should be organized before we have enough data to predict the trend of development and the pace of change which will take place in the future. One additional interesting part of future research will be a comparison of the segments of food-related lifestyles of Croatian families with those of European developed countries. Those two aims are left for future research. References Bartos, R. (1989), Marketing to Women Around the World, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, MA. Boste, A. (1984), ‘‘Interaction in psychographics segmentation: implications for advertising’’, Journal of Advertising, pp. 4-48. Brunsø, K. and Grunert, K.G. (1995), ‘‘Development and testing of a cross-culturally valid instrument: food-related life style’’, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 22, pp. 475-80.

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Engel, J.F., Blackwell, R.D. and Miniard, P.W. (1996), Consumer Behavior, 7th ed., The Dryden Press, Hinsdale, IL. Kahtle, L.R., Beatty, S.E. and Homer, P. (1986), ‘‘Alternative measurement approaches and consumer values’’, Journal of Consumer Research, December, pp. 407-9. Lastovicka, L.J. (1982), ‘‘On the validation of lifestyle traits: a review of illustration’’, Journal of Marketing Research, February, pp. 126-38. Morris, B. (1986), ‘‘Marketing firm slices US into 240,000 parts to spur clients sales’’, The Wall Street Journal, November 3, p. 1. Novak, T.P. and MacEvoy (1990), ‘‘On comparing alternative segmentation schemes’’, Journal of Consumer Research, June, pp. 105-9. Riche, M.F. (1989), ‘‘Psychographics for the 1990s’’, American Demographics, July pp. 25ff. Further reading Brunsø, K., Grunert, K.G. and Bredahl, L. (1996), ‘‘An analysis of national and cross-national consumer segments using the food-related lifestyle instrument in Denmark, France, Germany and Great Britain’’, Mapp Working Paper No. 35, The Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus, January. Burgess, S.M. (1992), ‘‘Personal values and consumer research’’, Research in Marketing, Vol. 11. Chisnall, P.M. (1995), Consumer Behavior, 3rd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Hawkins, I.D., Best, R.J. and Coney, A.K. (1995), Consumer Behaviour – Implications for Marketing Strategy, 6th ed., Irwin, Homewood, IL. Kucukemiroglu, O. (1999), ‘‘Market segmentation by using consumer lifestyle dimensions and ethnocentrism’’, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 33 No. 5. Lastovicka, L.J., Murry, J.P. and Joachimsthaler, E. (1990), ‘‘Evaluating the measurement validity of lifestyle typologies with qualitative measures and multiplicative factoring’’, Journal of Marketing Research, February, pp. 11-23. Lesser, J.A. and Hughes, M.A. (1986), ‘‘The generalizability of psychographic market segments across geographic locations’’, Journal of Marketing, January, pp. 18-27. Peter, J.P. and Olson, J.C. (1995), Consumer Behavior, 3rd ed., Irwin, Homewood, IL. Shufeldt, L., Oates, B. and Vaught, B. (1998), ‘‘Is lifestyle an important factor in the purchase of OTC drugs by the elderly?’’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 2. Stanner, S. (2001), ‘‘Conference review: nutrition and health in younger women’’, Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 31 No. 2. Wagner, A.K. and Novak, T.P. (1992), ‘‘Value-system segmentation: exploring the meaning of LOV’’, Journal of Consumer Research, June, pp. 119-32.

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Food marketing in the function of tourist product development

Food marketing and tourism

Marcel Meler Osijek School of Economics, University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia, and

Zdenko Cerovic´

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Tourism and Hospitality Management School, Opatija, University of Rijeka, Croatia Keywords Croatia, Food, Marketing, Tourism Abstract A tourist product should be observed as a total, i.e. integral, one, comprising material (goods) and immaterial (services) partial tourist products and partial tourist quasi-products (being the results of a primary tourist offer that is not a result of human labor). The main idea of food marketing in foodstuff production, if observed as partial tourist products, implies that a guest, i.e. a tourist product consumer, is not only offered food and beverage as partial tourist products but that he also gets satisfied quantitatively, qualitatively, esthetically, ethnologically, gastronomically and in any other sense, including the accompanying immaterial partial tourist products, i.e. services, which will be eventually manifested in an increase in the room-and-board and, especially, secondary expenditures. Since the whole problem is analyzed using the example of the Republic of Croatia, simultaneously proposed are corresponding solutions in the field of food marketing that would be in the function of tourist product development.

Introductory considerations Food has a strategic importance in each national economy. Simultaneously, it also has a great specific preponderance in the establishment of a quantitatively and qualitatively satisfactory tourism industry, and it seemingly has, and will continue to have, an indubitably great importance for the development of the Republic of Croatia’s tourism industry in the future. The Republic of Croatia’s foodstuff market is rather unstable. Present are the supply and demand inconsistencies, large price disparities, uncontrolled imports and exports and lack of a perennially designed developmental policy. In such circumstances, the need to introduce adequate systemic measures, i.e. the ones pertinent to the economic policy, emerges as an imperative on a macro level, while the realistic, not only formal, marketing implementations in a reproduction process of food production, finalization, and placement emerge as a necessity on a micro level. With respect to the aforementioned premises under the presupposition of an entire market reaffirmation as a fundamental management mechanism, food marketing should also finally become a significant factor in a more dynamic and stable food production development in the Republic of Croatia. Hereby, food marketing may be thought of as the connecting link – the bridge – between specialized food producers and consumers. It is both a physical distribution and an economic bridge designed to facilitate the movement and exchange of commodities from the farm to the fork (Kohls and Uhl, 1985).

British Food Journal Vol. 105 No. 3, 2003 pp. 175-192 # MCB UP Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/00070700310477121

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Taking one step further, food production, finalization, and placement may be directed towards the: . domestic market (concretely, that of the Republic of Croatia); . export market; and . tourist market. Emanating therefrom is obviously a conclusion that a revenue increase in food production in the Republic of Croatia is also principally achievable in the following ways, through: . an increase in food exports; . a decrease in food imports, i.e. by import substitution; . an increase in non-commodity food export by the agency of tourism industry. In the first case, a fundamental obstacle is construed by the agribusiness protectionism of individual countries, but also by a considerable lack of foodstuff export marketing. In the second case, the lack of food marketing could also be established as a limitation in addition to the technical/ technological reasons, but now within the national borders, on the domestic market. Therefore, the tourism industry and agribusiness should indubitably be the priority of the strategic directives of the Republic of Croatia’s economic development, for all other presuppositions that can render these two economic branches the ones that will significantly contribute to the economic revitalization, especially important in post-war conditions, are existent in addition to the potential ones. This is to be predominantly done because these two economic branches are closely interconnected and significantly greater effects are being achieved through their integrity and their output placements – tourist products – than in the case of classic industrial product exports. However, in order to be successful herein, it is necessary to invest considerable marketing efforts primarily into the tourism industry, to make the entire Republic of Croatia’s tourist product recognizable, more competitive and more clearly positioned on an increasingly demanding international tourist market. One should emphasize hereby that food production in the Republic of Croatia might achieve a (sustainable) competitive advantage thanks to the possession of almost all prerequisites for its output styled as the increasingly requested healthy food. Similarly, the Republic of Croatia’s tourism industry might achieve a (sustainable) competitive advantage thanks to the possession of almost all prerequisites for environment-friendly tourism. An illustrious Republic of Croatia’s future perspective is observable in a synergy of these two competitive advantages. Thus, the part of the Republic of Croatia’s economy and economic entities (in)directly participating in food production has to be reconstructed, being predominantly related to the productional structure adjusted to the domestic

market needs, including the tourist ones, and the needs of real and potential export markets. Empirically, it, at least conditionally, implies a downsizing in the production of major agricultural (primarily wheat and corn) and cash crops (primarily sunflower and rapeseed) in favor of hemp and soybean, and especially fruits and vegetables. It is equally necessary to try to increase the production of seed grain, flowers and medicinal herbs. Especially significant operations are to be conducted in stockbreeding, wherein we are to return to Europe, particularly to a widespread and cheaper pasture and stable-pasture breeding in cattle, sheep, and goat breeding. It is also necessary to strongly influence game breeding as well as freshwater and maritime pisciculture and seafood production. To achieve these objectives, it is necessary to primarily increase the agricultural merchantability, i.e. to increase its capacity to create market surpluses, which are predominantly obtainable through an increase in cultivated areas and foodstuff production, labor productivity, increased rationalization and better organization, modified productional structure, import substitution and elimination and economic entities’ marketing orientation in food production. Nonetheless, an aggravating circumstance is the fact that the foodstuff quantity, not the quality, is imposed in the situation of the Republic of Croatia’s post-war reconstruction, being also extremely significant in the food production segment. Thus, marketing efforts are extremely important exactly in the sense of a qualitative satisfaction of all consumer categories, including the tourist ones. In this way, marketing might, and has to, represent an integrative bond between food production and tourism industry, to achieve the maximal effects in both outstandingly important segments of the Republic of Croatia’s economy. One should emphasize that the calculations demonstrate that the food and beverage expenditures in global tourist turnover amount to one third of overall tourist expenditures. Naturally, if we speak of the population strata having a lower purchasing power, the percentage is significantly increased. However, with regard to the classic exports, the following are the fundamental economic effects achieved by foodstuff exports through the tourism industry: . Simplified foreign currency influx in tourism industry and other complementary activities. . Realization of higher foodstuff prices. . Sale of various foodstuffs non-exportable due to a poor quality, perishability, uncompetitiveness, and the like. . Sale of foodstuffs of a higher processing phase. . Increased foreign currency effects. . Suppression of all agrarian protectionism forms. . VAT, commercial margin, tourist rent, etc., imposition possibility.

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. .

. .

178 .

Absence of various discriminatory measures. Reduction of a part of expenditures (packing, transportation, conditioning, product handling, and the like). Absence of export contracting affairs. Possibility to valorize the natural and social attractions a tourism industry offers. Long-term business transaction stability, etc.

Some indicies of tourism industry development of the Republic of Croatia After a long period of modest results, the Croatian tourism industry once again has made significant strides. Political stabilization of this part of Europe has created the necessary conditions for the development of tourism and the growth of that important branch of the economy. In spite of continued financial struggles, present trends indicate a potential for growth and highlight the importance of tourism for the Croatian economy. This growth forecast is echoed by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), which predicts an annual growth rate of 8.4 percent in the next decade, being one of the highest in Europe and twice that of the world average. Croatia’s advantages as a tourist destination include[1]:: . unspoiled natural beauty; . cultural and historical heritage; . mild Mediterranean climate; . Central European location; and . long tourist tradition. All these factors are crucial in the promotion of Croatia’s image and the establishment of recognizable tourist attractions. According to the Croatian National Bank’s preliminary results, the international tourism revenues amounted to US$2.75 billion in 2000, as compared to US$2.5 billion in 1999. Croatia, until 1990 one of the most significant tourist destinations on the Mediterranean, is slowly regaining its international reputation. Croatia was the eighteenth country on the WTO’s list of the most visited tourist destinations in 1990, receiving 8.5 million tourists, 7 million thereof being the foreign ones, and having a total of 52.5 million tourist nights. According to the WTO’s statistics, Croatia is among 44 countries with more than 100,000 hotel beds (126,000 in hotels and 64,000 in tourist resorts). Hotels and tourist resorts account for 46 percent of all tourist nights in Croatia, and 51 percent of all tourists choose hotel and tourist resort accommodations. According to the categories, the majority of Croatian hotels fall into the three-star ones (52 percent), 36 percent have two stars, and only 3 percent are the four- or five-star hotels.

The most recent data available, for the year 2000, shows 7.17 million tourists sojourned in the Republic of Croatia, 1.31 million being domestic and 5.83 million being foreign. They realized a total of 39.18 million tourist nights, 5.13 million thereof being domestic and 34.05 million being foreign. One should bear in mind that pre-war, 1987, these results were better by almost 50 percent when it came to the overall tourist stays and better by more than 70 percent when it came to the tourist night totals. It is worth emphasizing that the Republic of Croatia’s competitors score significantly greater results. Thus, Spain realizes an approximately 15 times larger number of tourist stays, Italy an 11 times larger number, Greece a 3.5 times larger number and Turkey a twice as large number, while Spain realizes a 13 times larger number of tourist nights, Italy an 11 times larger number, Greece a 3.5 times larger number and Turkey a twice as large number with regard to the tourist night totals realized in the Republic of Croatia. All these data sufficiently substantiate that the Republic of Croatia is still behind its competitors, but it does not imply that it does not have the prerequisites to equally respond to them. The average tourist stay in Croatia lasts for five days (four for the domestic tourists and six for the foreign tourists). With regard to the tourist night totals, foreign tourists account for 86.7 percent, while the domestic tourists account for merely 13.3 percent. The foreigners spent 56 percent more tourist nights in Croatia in the year 2000 than in 1999, while the domestic tourist nights decreased by 2 percent. The most common guests in terms of the number of tourist nights spent in Croatia are the Germans (22.6 percent), Slovenes (14.9 percent), Czechs (14.2 percent), Italians (13.1 percent) and Austrians (9.5 percent)[1]. According to the WTO, tourism-reaped revenue in 1999 amounted to US$455 billion out of a total of 664 million international tourist nights. Croatia occupied the 34th position on the WTO’s list in 1998 with 4.1 million foreign guests, while other Mediterranean countries generally finished in the top 20s. According to international tourist receipts, Croatia was the 36th country in 1998, with US$2.7 billion (in 1990, Croatia was the 30th country). Pursuant to the Croatian Tourist Association’s predictions, 8.5 million tourists will visit Croatia in the year 2003, 6.9 million of which will be foreign. The tourist nights in 2003 are expected to surpass 52.5 million, with the international tourist arrivals increasing at a 10 percent rate and the domestic tourism industry increasing by 5 percent annually. The revenue generated by the international tourism industry in 1999 amounted to 12.4 percent of the GNP, 31 percent of total exports, and 67 percent of total services exported. According to the preliminary 2000 data, the tourism industry accounted for 14.5 percent of Croatia’s GDP, 31.9 percent of total exports and 67.5 percent of total services exported. The tourism-generated per capita income amounted to US$548 in 1999 and US$570 in 2000, as compared to the following figures in other countries of the region: US$486 in Greece, US$526 in Italy, and US$121 in Turkey. The tourism industry in Croatia directly employs 38,000 people.

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Out of the overall GDP value per basic tourist expenditure, c. 30 percent is occupied by hotel and restaurant activities, c. 10 percent by trade, c. 15 percent by transportation and communications, c. 20 percent by agribusiness and foodprocessing industry, c. 5 percent by crude-oil derivatives production and c. 20 percent by all other activities. All the aforementioned facts clearly manifest that the Republic of Croatia justly expects significant results from its tourism industry in the future, whereby the agribusiness and tourism industry comprise an important part of a tourist product, so that their quantitative and even more qualitative contribution to the development of competitive advantage of Croatian tourist products and their high-quality positioning on the international tourist market is self-expected. Foodstuffs as a tourist product component For a tourist consumer, the satisfaction of nutritional needs is not any more a mere act, but increasingly a culinary-gastronomic ‘‘experience’’, more or less adjusted to the system of values established by the nutritional culture of an individual tourist consumer. Thus, the campaign to be launched by the subjects of a tourism industry offer is a diversification of foodstuff vending programs. Although it does not represent a major problem, since food preparation technology is a relatively simple process, we are witnesses to a relative vertical and even horizontal increase of Croatian food and beverage vending programs in catering and hotel facilities. It is also noticeable that, as a rule, the specialties of the Croatian national cuisine are very poorly represented. The culinary and gastronomically wellprepared national specialties or special store-sold food trademarks could also, in addition to corresponding promotional efforts, eventually effectuate their ‘‘export’’ to the foreign tables, equally increasing the foreigners’ interest in Croatian tourist destinations through a culinary-gastronomic aspect as well. The creation of new products in catering and hotel facilities does not necessitate major finances, but mostly a slightly greater touch of business spirit, invention, and creativity. However, it is worth emphasizing that the contemporary tourism industry that has transformed from the passive into the active one, i.e. in the tourism industry of experiences and adventures, also necessitates significant modifications in tourist product consumer’s nutritional habits. Increasingly domineering is the ‘‘ambulatory nutrition’’, the usage of confectioned, halfdressed, and ready-to-serve foodstuffs that require a minimal effort when prepared (in camps, on trips, and the like), as well as the application of special diets (diabetic, dietician, and macrobiotic). Thus, in addition to the classic highquality foodstuffs, the so-called ‘‘natural and biologically healthy’’ foodstuffs, macrobiotic products, medicinal herbs and condiments, as well as specific Croatian products capable of satisfying the presently significantly distinctive needs of consumers with high purchasing power, while having a preferably authentic trademark, should be the subject of tourist entities’ offer.

Additionally, it is necessary to use the foodstuffs of a higher biological value, such as the ones produced pursuant to the organic-biological agricultural principles, as well as the low-energy foodstuffs with a reduced share of fats or sugars (Hegedus˘ic´ and Colic´-Baric´, 1996). Equally, the data on the energetic and nutritive characteristics of the dishes offered should be entered in menus in catering and hotel facilities. However, it is insufficient. The catering and hotel facilities’ menus should also contain the dishes that are an actual nutritional trend, e.g. ‘‘eco’’ food, ‘‘ethno’’ food, fast food, slow food, exotic food and hit-food. Therefore, the contemporary tourist market necessitates a high-quality and relatively standardized aspect of foodstuff offer. In that direction, one should take steps towards the establishment of an ‘‘industrial’’ and qualitatively standardized foodstuff offer. Such a design of a certain number of dishes that would incorporate a sort of a CRO image as an exponent of the proper national cuisine (ethnic food) becomes unavoidable. Namely, one should bear in mind that the foreign tourist consumers are very demanding and simultaneously dainty, primarily thanks to their relatively greater purchasing power. A search for high-quality, highly diversified, healthy, natural and biologically specially selected food, preferably bearing a renowned trademark as a guarantee of quality, begins to prevail. In detail, in certain situations, especially in the segments predetermined by research, it would be necessary to more aggressively impose the Croatian culinary-gastronomic identity by proper foodstuffs, which naturally has to be also perennially strategically designed at a food producer’s micro level. Pursuant to these guidelines, the initiative should be logically assumed by food producers. With regard to the introduction of foodstuffs in production programs and their diversification, it is possible for the food producers to be divided in three groups: (1) inventive; (2) imitative; and (3) inert. Nonetheless, the research-developmental services in the Republic of Croatia’s economic entities, i.e. in food producers, generally have the research pertinent to the new product developments in primary production (new brands, etc.) in the focus of their observations, while the preliminary and sequential research of their marketability and profitability on the domestic and foreign markets is significantly neglected. On the other hand, what is significantly more interesting to us is the fact that the preliminary and sequential research pertinent to the marketability and profitability of new products in final production is also significantly neglected, while the work on the design of brands that could reap a competitive advantage and could be positioned exactly on a tourist market is especially neglected. To consider the latter problem in its entirety, we will also introduce the tourist product characteristics and components.

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Namely, in the tourism-industry theory, it is already customary to call the subject of a tourism-industry offer a ‘‘tourism-industry product’’, although that offer at first sight seems to be an exclusive service offer, for it frequently assumes the basic characteristics of a service (immateriality, inseparability from the vendor, storage incapability, short life cycle, etc.). Nevertheless, it is of course a fundamental mistake, if we think in a marketing spirit, to start our considerations from the offer and not from the demand standpoint, i.e. from the standpoint of a tourism-industry products’ consumer. If we take into consideration the aforesaid facts and if we place ourselves in the position of a tourism-industry products’ consumer, it can be seen that what he/she meets on the market comprises both the material and immaterial elements that satisfy the needs of the tourism-industry products’ consumers in an interactivity, i.e. in a union. Therefore, one may apply the concept of a total product (McCarthy, 1971) for the definition of products in the tourism industry, whereby the product is respected as a set of palpable and impalpable attributes (both material and immaterial) that satisfy one of the consumer’s needs. According to this concept, a product does not have to be a physical product at all, but it can be a service or a product-and-service combination. It ensues that the definition of a tourism-industry product as a total product represents positioning various direct and indirect offer elements in a harmonious and functional relationship. As a sort of a product emanating from the circumstances of a certain environment, for the tourism-industry product consumers, i.e. for their individualized segments, a partial tourism-industry quasi-product (especially a natural and social landmark) simultaneously represents a decisive motivating factor for a provisional environment change that, in combination with other partial material or immaterial tourism-industry products, provides for an integral tourism-industry product. Therefore, the tourism-industry product integration is effected by the incumbents of the tourism-industry offer but also by the tourism-industry product consumers. In the context of this paper, we are mostly interested in the material tourist product sector, since the greatest portion comprises exactly foodstuffs in their generic, semi-processed, or completely processed form, offered to a tourist product consumer with the aim of satisfying his/her needs for nutrition and potation at a tourist consumption spot. Logically, it also necessitates an aliquot portion of immaterial partial tourist products, i.e. services, e.g. preparation, cooking, serving, etc. Since the foodstuff consumption value in an overall tourist product structure absolutely increases (although it relatively decreases) due to an increase in tourist consumers’ national income so that the foreign consumers, as well as, in principle, the domestic tourist consumers, will therefore incessantly demand a quantitative (to a lesser extent) and qualitative (to a larger extent) increase of their own nutritional standard, the question is being raised whether the food production in the postwar Republic of Croatia will be capable of quantitatively and qualitatively satisfying the existent and future tourism industry needs,

especially with regard to the fact that the main consumption of these products is located in the domiciliary consumption domain. However, we are especially interested, here, in the foreign tourist product consumers’ expenditure, which entirely represents an additional expenditure and a foreign currency influx source, being differentiated from the domestic tourist product consumers’ expenditure, which might represent additional foodstuff consumption by only one of its parts. The following are the factors influencing the foodstuff volume and consumption structure as the tourist product components: . Number of domestic and foreign tourist consumers. . Alterations in tourist consumers’ socioeconomic structure. . Levels of real tourist consumers’ incomes. . Modifications in the modality of tourist consumers’ nutritional habits. . Possibility to substitute certain foodstuffs. . Level of a foodstuff share in an integral tourist product. . Integration degree of tourist products. . Foodstuff price and its price as a partial tourist product. . Average tourist consumers’ sojourn time out of their domicile. . Presentation and promotion, i.e. marketing of food products as partial tourist products. It should be emphasized that the tourist product expenditure is quantitatively increased and qualitatively structurally changed pursuant to an increase in the living standard level. This is specially manifested in the following directions: . Use of high-quality, and thus more expensive, tourist products. . Temporary sojourn in increasingly remote environments. . Temporary sojourn in the environments having more valuable partial tourist quasi-products. . Prolonged sojourn in temporarily changed environments. . Substitution of a stationary temporary sojourn into a mobile one. . Utilization of several integrated tourist products. . Increase in all tourist product consumption forms: domicile, extradomicile, and interposed. . Increase in temporal continuity, i.e. tourist product consumption frequency. Equally existent is an obvious difference in tourist consumers’ expenditure structure in individual countries observed as tourist destinations (Table I). Our intention is to determine the extent to which the purpose of traveling to a given Croatian destination is based on the desire to enjoy an excellent meal in a top-class restaurant or to buy fashionable goods.

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The structure of tourist expenditure reveals that the process and overall results achieved in the domain of room-and-board expenditures in Croatia are equal to those of Croatian competition abroad. This is not the case, however, with shopping, eating, entertainment and spending. Rather inferior in quality, catering facilities do not easily attract tourists’ attention. The quality of service can also be disappointing to most tourists, accustomed to higher standards at home. We can conclude that the catering offer (food and beverages), shopping and other services attract the tourists to a given tourist destination in Croatia. Spending on other tourist services, such as excursions, museums, sports and cultural events, recreation and entertainment is low. Therefore, it would be interesting to analyze a relation between the change in the number of tourists and the level of room-and-board and secondary expenditures. By virtue of quantitative methods, we might either confirm or reject the aforementioned hypothesis and reach a conclusion on the dependency of tourist expenditure and traveling purposes. There is a correlation between the cumulative number of tourists for the month of July from 1995 to 2000 (a sixyear period) in 20 Croatian tourist destinations and the foreign tourist expenditure relating to accommodation, secondary expenditures in catering facilities, retail shops, entertainment and sport facilities, etc. To this effect, a five-dimensional model is created: y ¼ x0 þ x1 þ x2 þ x3 þ x4 ; where: y = total number of tourists; x0 = non-variable model parameter; x1 = room-and-board expenditure; x2 = catering service expenditure; x3 = retail expenditure; x4 = other tourist service expenditure.

Croatia (DM) Room and board (hotels, motor camps, private accommodation) Catering services (food, beverages) Commercial services (shopping) Miscellaneous (fuel, other services) Total

Italy (DM)

Spain (DM)

France (DM)

29 31 30 33 Table I. 12 17 16 18 Structure of tourist 9 20 18 19 expenditures in Croatia 12 26 27 27 and rival countries (in 62 94 91 97 the year 2000 for Croatia, and in 1999 for Source: Data pertaining to Croatia taken from 20 destinations in July 2000 (third category, hotels, motor camps, and private accommodations), while these pertaining to Italy, Spain, Italy, Spain, and and France were compiled by Z.C. Data according to BHG (1999, p. 98) France)

Having tested the values of individual functional parameters, we have found that certain catering services (variable x2) are variables unaffiliated with this model. The same results apply to the other variables, although further testing was not administered. When we state that variable x2 does not belong to the model, we are in fact saying, ‘‘The visitors’ traveling purpose when it comes to Croatia is not variable x2, i.e. catering services’’. Given the fact that variable x2 does not belong to the model, it was necessary to apply a five-dimensional one that would consider the number of tourists on the one hand and the room-and-board and secondary expenditures on retail goods and other tourist services on the other hand. Functional dependency of the number of tourists and tourist demand for room-and-board services, retail, and other services are tested mathematically and statistically. This correlation can be expressed as follows: y ¼ 38;406 þ 29;604 x1
8;934 x2
5;715 x3 þ 9;136x4 : In our example, the meaning of this multiple linear correlation is that ‘‘the number of room/nights (the dependent variable y) would be significantly changed (in our case, by 38,406.000 room/nights) providing that the room-andboard expenditure is to increase by DM1 and if spending on retail goods and other services is to remain unchanged.’’ This again means that we would be free to raise the price of room-and-board services under the condition that the quality of these services is improved. In the above-mentioned multiple correlation, it is observable that the coefficients x2 and x3 are negative and amount to –8,934 x2 and –5,715 x3 respectively. It can be explained as follows: shopping is not a motivation to visit Croatia, and the visitors are not interested in Croatian retail offerings, because their basic traveling purposes are leisure and coastal entertainment. There is no motivation for foreign tourists to increase their expenditure, especially while dining at the top-class restaurants and purchasing expensive retail goods. Practice proves that tourists buy only the goods that are essential to them, and that they will not come to Croatia primarily to go shopping. The motivation for most tourists to come to Croatia is obviously rest and maritime relaxation, along with natural beauty and the entertainment available. Food is unmentioned as a motivation factor, which sufficiently confirms that the Republic of Croatia’s gastronomy is either unknown or does not have any importance for tourist consumers. Naturally, it would be therefore worth investigating separately what is the real sum of money the tourists, especially the foreign ones, spend on foodstuffs in the Republic of Croatia. Pursuant to the most recent research (Institut za Turizam, 2001) conducted in the Republic of Croatia by the Tourism Institute on the sample of 4,219 respondents interviewed in 73 destinations, the following selected results were obtained when it comes to nutrition (see Table II). At first sight, we can be satisfied by the fact that food and beverages were evaluated rather satisfactorily pursuant to the value-for-money criterion, for they were placed first according to the ‘‘above expectation’’ rank with regard to

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Table II. Value for money in a destination

Ranka

Elements of country’s tourism industry offer

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Food and beverages Overall stays Accommodation Sports offer Entertainment offer Cultural offer

Above expectation (%)

As expected (%)

Below expectation (%)

Total (%)

19.9 13.0 12.2 10.8 10.7 7.8

72.3 83.2 82.2 73.4 73.6 75.4

7.8 3.8 5.6 15.8 15.7 16.8

100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Note: a Ranked according to the ‘‘above expectation’’ criterion Source: Institut za Turizam (2001)

the other elements of a tourism industry offer. When it comes to food and beverages, the Italians’ and Poles’ expectations failed to be accomplished at most, while those of Czechs and Slovaks were satisfied above average. On the other hand, during a satisfaction degree evaluation pertinent to the elements of locality’s tourism industry offer, food quality in restaurants outside of an accommodation facility, as well as gastronomic offer abundance of the locality, were evaluated as mediocre (on a 1-5 scale, corresponding to 3), while food quality in an accommodation facility was evaluated lower (i.e. 2). Additionally, on a ranked list pertaining to the satisfaction degree and importance of individual offer elements (25 in total), food quality in restaurants of a nonaccommodation facility, ranked 14th with regard to its importance, was ranked 6th according to the satisfaction degree. The locality’s gastronomic offer abundance was ranked 17th according to its importance, being 9th according to the satisfaction degree. This implies that food does not represent a significant factor of the Republic of Croatia’s tourism industry offer to the interviewed tourists, their satisfaction degree being therefore larger than its importance (Institut za Turizam, 2001). It is disastrous, however, that c. 48 percent of respondents’ total bring their food and beverages with them. The most frequent reason therefore is a high foodstuff price in Croatia (75 percent of respondents adduced high prices as their reason for bringing the foodstuffs to Croatia), followed by a limited assortment (26 percent) and poorer foodstuff quality in Croatia (22 percent). Most frequently brought are non-alcoholic beverages (67 percent), coffee (61 percent), and meat (49 percent), followed by alcoholic beverages (42 percent), milk (37 percent), and tobacco (32 percent) (Institut za Turizam, 2001). According to the aforementioned figures, great and concrete marketing efforts are obviously necessary to be invested to equalize the foodstuffs, as the integral tourist product components, primarily with regard to their quality and price, with other elements of the Republic of Croatia’s tourism industry offer.

Where is the place of food marketing? The fundamental foodstuff marketing idea, if observed as partial tourist products, implies that a guest, i.e. a tourist product consumer, is not only offered food and beverage as partial tourist products, but that he/she is also satisfied quantitatively, qualitatively, esthetically, ethnologically, gastronomically and in any other sense, including the accompanying immaterial partial tourist products, i.e. services, which will be eventually manifested in an increase in the room-and-board and, especially, secondary expenditures, predominantly if integrally observed from the aspect of a concrete spatially encompassed environment. That should eventually contribute to an increased production of individual partial tourist products, especially those whose production has not yet occupied a position corresponding to a payable demand, particularly that of the foreign tourist product consumers. Bearing in mind the exposed integral product concept, while respecting the fact that foodstuffs participate significantly in the creation of material partial tourist products, limiting the object observed we might also speak of a foodstuff mix as partial tourist products. Should we accept the aforementioned hypotheses, we might differentiate a product, product lines, and naturally a product mix, i.e. a sales program, e.g. when it comes to food as a partial product of a catering entity. Actually, pursuant to the aforementioned explanations, for such an entity a product mix represents its food and beverage assortment, so that each product within a product line represents a course on the menu, while the product lines represent their groups (appetizers, soups, main dishes, salads, desserts, and the like). If the problems are positioned as such, already signified is a starting point for the conduct of an adequate foodstuff policy, based on food marketing principles. It is worth emphasizing hereby that it is necessary to effectuate an optimal foodstuff adaptation to the needs of extra-domicile consumers, given a foodstuff in the role observed. In that sense, the catering entities have to primarily differentiate their products as follows: . In a technical-technological sense (using various technologies in preliminary preparation, processing, finalization and food and beverage preparation). . In an informative sense (elevating the overall nutritional culture). . In a distributional sense (differentiating the foodstuffs pursuant to the temporal, price-related, spatial, presentational, and other criteria). Thus, should the economic entities opt to strategically direct their marketing efforts to a tourist market, foodstuff differentiation thereupon is most probably manifested as an unavoidable fact that should be effectuated primarily depending on the following factors: . Type and category of an accommodation (catering) facility. . Tourist product’s integration degree.

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Tourist product consumers’ segmentation characteristics. Tourist product consumers’ demand specificities. Seasonal characteristics’ influence on tourist product consumers’ nutrition.

On the other hand, the integral tourist products’ quality is a quality function of individual partial products. One should aspire here to obtain an approximately equal internal and mutual partials’ quality. Namely, even one low-quality partial product (especially food) might influence tourist consumers’ dissatisfaction, which might automatically affect consumers’ dissatisfaction with an overall integrated tourist product, since the consumers comprehend the tourist products integrally. This might eventually cause an expenditure cancellation in an entity of the tourism industry offer or in a specific spatially encompassed environment, being in any case the most unwanted outcome when it comes to foreign consumers. Simultaneously, one should also account for the creation of a bad image of both the tourist products, entities in a tourism industry offer, and of a spatially encompassed environment as an accompanying phenomenon. Thus, although food, be it to a lesser extent, might be a motivational factor when it comes to tourist trends, it might also be a decisive factor in the abandonment of a tourist destination. Among others, a foodstuff quality improvement that would be a function of a tourism industry’s demand development pertinent to the existent foodstuffs may be effected through the following interventions: . Increasing the foodstuff nutrients. . Reducing, i.e. eliminating the foodstuff ballasts. . Qualitatively substituting certain foodstuff ingredients. . Quantitatively substituting certain foodstuff ingredients. . Modifying aroma, taste, color, consistency, and similar nutritional characteristics. . Improving visual components of foodstuffs. . Improving foodstuff manipulation, storage, and transportation. A foodstuff producer’s marketing program has to take into account primarily the optimization of an overall marketing mix, which, at least principally, presupposes the establishment of each individual marketing mix element at a level that will predominantly satisfy the tourist consumers. That implies that foodstuffs, as all other consumables, have to incorporate the specifics expected therefrom – from a high-quality level of various characteristics up to the package and other marketing mix elements, i.e. price, distribution, and promotion. With regard to foodstuff marketing, we are especially interested in its characteristics. When it comes to general foodstuff characteristics, we have in mind predominantly its usability as a permanent characteristic, determined by

the satisfaction of primary (existential, physiological) human needs. If a foodstuff’s usability is discussed, in addition to the calorific value, it also pertains to the nutritional one, manifested in an optimal biochemical structure (vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, mineral content, etc.), i.e. to their complex organic composition. Also, one should not neglect the foodstuff’s benign characteristics, bearing in mind especially an increasing contamination by chemical agents (pesticides, etc.), various preservatives, chemical compounds created in wrapping materials (cans, etc.), usage of artificial colorants and other ingredients, and eventually environmental pollution, though on rarer occasions, by the sale of unhealthy or perished products. In addition to a relatively alleviated food and beverage preparation, easy foodstuff usability is particularly reflected in such a container design (pertaining mostly to the products vended through a grocery network) that facilitates package handling and product consumption. Concerning protection and other legal norms, the following is the situation existing in the foodstuff industry: most protected are the products vended through a commercial network and a smaller part vended in catering facilities, having a brand or trademark as their main characteristic. On the other hand, a trademark being the topic of our consideration, it is impossible to introduce a trademark when it comes to a part of foodstuffs, so only a generic product name is used, possibly combined with a geographic-domiciliary attribute. We should simultaneously emphasize that the foodstuff brands in the Republic of Croatia still do not possess the preponderance deserved in a marketing sense, especially when it comes to the foreign tourist consumers, to whom a brand may facilitate their purchase and provide for a quality guarantee while creating a consumption loyalty. Simultaneously manifested is a problem of certain unpronounceable foodstuff brands, which even more aggravates the product’s market identification where alien nationals are concerned. The non-existence of foodstuff brands most frequently ensues from the fact that they are exclusively observed as homogeneous products although they can be converted in heterogeneous ones in most cases (e.g. mushrooms represent a homogeneous product, but as heterogeneous products, i.e. as the canned, in jars, semi-processed mushrooms, etc., they might represent the brand products). One might also purport that the gastronomically wellprepared national specialties, as well as Croatian beverages, especially wines, could be exported to foreign tables subsequent to their popularity in the catering industry (as demonstrated by certain Italian, French, or other specialties), which could increase the food exports and equally increase the foreigners’ interest in the Republic of Croatia (especially in a culinarygastronomic sense). The usability characteristics are primarily found in the main product features, so (in)completeness is very characteristic of certain foodstuffs, because some of them cannot be separately consumed (e.g. tubed tomato pure´e, spices, etc.). The foodstuff complementarity is especially interesting when composing them in dishes, cooked in catering facilities. Usage versatility is also

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characteristic of foodstuffs, mostly depending on the processing industry, as well as on the catering personnel’s culinary-gastronomic education. Concerning durability, foodstuffs are understandably and logically classified as single-consumption perishable products. Due to the specificities of seasonal production as well as their characteristic predisposition to perishability and change of organoleptic features, physical distribution, predominantly its part pertaining to the storage and transportation, has special importance for foodstuffs. With regard to the products observed, esthetic features predominantly relate to the esthetic and presentational dish outlook, i.e. its arrangement outlook (as well as container design pertaining to the store-vended products). The other esthetic features’ aspect is manifested in other sensory effects (palpation, taste, aroma, etc.), whose existence is indubitable and necessary in foodstuffs. The esthetic features therefore mainly belong to the group of foodstuff quality features, which again can be variously improved. The foodstuff perishability is manifested as a problem of spatial and temporal harmonization of foodstuff supplies. Temporal harmonization is conducted by the agency of a technological treatment, while the spatial one is done through the foodstuff transportation and storage modernization. The attractiveness and fashionableness as foodstuff features are not so characteristic, but they are present and manifested, e.g. in certain marine fish, shell, and crab species, etc. In addition to the development of foodstuffs, i.e. their characteristics in the abovementioned sense, food marketing also necessitates a definition of ancillary marketing mix elements, i.e. price, distribution, and promotion, as well as a strategy design on an objectively chosen tourist market, whose explication transcends this paper’s envisaged limits. Conclusion The tourism industry and agriculture should certainly be the priority strategic directives of the economic development of the Republic of Croatia, existent are all other presuppositions that surely can make these two economic branches the ones that will significantly contribute to an economic revitalization, especially important in post-war conditions. This is so, first of all, by the fact that these two economic branches are mutually very tightly connected, and significantly larger, effects than in a classic industrial products export and are achieved through their integrity and their output – tourism-industry productsplacement. Nevertheless, in order to be successful, it is necessary to invest significant marketing efforts in the tourism industry to make the tourism-industry product of the Republic of Croatia recognizable, more competitive, more solid, and more clearly positioned in its entirety on an increasingly demanding international tourist market. The aggregation process in the tourism industry is based on complementarity of individual activities and therefore on the realization of a synergic effect. That simultaneously means that the aggregation of activities in

a tourism industry aggregate in fact also represents a possible scope of the products of these activities as the components of tourism industry products. Nowadays, tourism industry development is faced with a series of challenges, ranging from the change of market characteristics to the change of processing mode with regard to multiple products and services. That structural-change process in the tourism industry is caused by numerous socioeconomic, technical-technological, and environmental changes in society. Therefore, the demands made for the tourism industry are causal-consecutive reasons of tourism industry’s inclusion in the complex globalization processes, which undoubtedly represent its most relevant market framework. In such circumstances, necessary are the adaptations of subjects of a hotel and tourism industry offer, being predominantly of a technical-technological nature, implying changes in organization and processing of both integral and partial tourism products. However, in spite of this, hotel and tourism industry subjects in the Republic of Croatia still have a passive relation, especially towards foreign tourist consumers, most frequently finding their basic reason in their external environment and very rarely in the internal weakness of their own. For example, the majority of hotel and tourism industry subjects do not dispose of purchase programs that would be satisfactorily competitive on an already globalized market. Since the hotel/tourist products principally have to possess competitive advantages with regard to the products on the competitive country’s tourist market, it is more probable that in that case an increased success will be achieved by the new and not by the existent or modified hoteltourist products. The Republic of Croatia obviously possesses significant potential for the development of the tourism industry, the healthy food production being probably one the more decisive ones in the future. However, as to effectively using the existent potential, it is necessary to practically implement food marketing in the economic, catering, and hotel entities’ marketing policy in food production, thus creating all important prerequisites for a qualitative and quantitative satisfaction of tourist consumers’ needs at the highest level possible. Note 1. Details have been taken from the Hrvatska Gospodarska Komora (Croatian Chamber of Commerce) Web site, available at: http://www.hgk.hr References BHG (1999), ‘‘Im Zeichen bayrischer Gastlichkeit’’ (‘‘As a token of Bavarian hospitality’’), Gescha¨ftsbericht, Munich, p. 98. Hegedus˘ic´, V. and Colic´-Baric, I. (1996), ‘‘Marketing ponude kvalitetne hrane u turizmu’’ (‘‘Marketing of a high-quality foodstuff offer in tourism industry’’), Proceedings of the International Congress Total Quality – Tourism & Hospitality – Management, Opatija, p. 81.

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Institut za Turizam (2001), ‘‘The attitudes and tourist expenditures in Croatia’’, Tomas Summer, Institut za Turizam, Zagreb, pp. 43–7. Kohls, R.L. and Uhl, J.N. (1985), Marketing of Agricultural Products, Macmillan, New York, NY, p. 5. McCarthy, E.J. (1971), Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach, 4th ed., Homewood, Ill., Richard D. Irwin, Homewood, IL, p. 251. Further reading Cerovic´, Z. (2001), ‘‘Changes in the motivation and structure of tourist expenditure’’, in Grbac, B. and Martin, J. (Eds), Developing Market Based Resource Strategies for South East Europe, School of Economics, University of Rijeka and Boler School of Business, Rijeka, John Caroll University, Cleveland, OH, pp. 137- 41. Meler, M. and Ruz˘ic´, D. (1999), ‘‘Marketing identity of the tourist product of the Republic of Croatia’’, Tourism Management, Vol. 20 No. 5, October, pp. 635-43.

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A case study of the Croatian beer market structure and performances Ksenija Dumic˘ic´

The Croatian beer market: a case study 193

Department of Statistics, Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Sanda Renko Trade Department, Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia and

Natas˘ a Renko Marketing Department, Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Keywords Beer, Brands, Marketing, Croatia, Surveys, Brewing industry Abstract This paper considers the structure and performances of the Croatian beer market, as well as consumers’ attitudes and preferences. The results emphasise that the domestic brands with their quality and tradition, in spite of the imported beer brands’ influence, are the dominant brands on the Croatian beer market.

Introduction The future looks good for the beer industry because beer is the predominant alcoholic drink in most of the European countries and has a large share of alcoholic drinks in all markets (Vrontis, 1998). Also, beer has much potential as there are many different types of beers and more new consumers. When assessing the situation in the beer market in Croatia, we summarized different methodologies, approaches and findings of the studies of foreign authors (Howell, 2001; Beirne and Hein, 2001; Dawson, 2002; Prince, 2000; Scarpa, 2000; Weinstein, 1999; Vrontis, 1998; Vignali and Vrontis, 2000; Vrontis and Vignali, 1999) and compared some aspects of the current situation on the beer market in Croatia with those in the global market. But, first of all, we think that the historical background of the development of the beer industry in the Republic of Croatia has to be shown. A short review of the history of the beer industry in Croatia The early days of beer production direct us back to the fourteenth century when beer was produced in trade shops. However, as Maric´ and Nadvornik (1995) state, the real development of the Croatian brewing industry began in the eighteenth century. The first brewery in the Republic of Croatia was Daruvarska brewery, opened in 1840. Until the end of the nineteenth century, all other Croatian breweries were opened, and there were 23 breweries in the Republic of Croatia in 1880. After that period of prosperity,

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the number of breweries declined to 11, while the production of beer was still increasing. The production and sale of beer was completely slowed down during the First World War, and the Zagrebac˘ka brewery was the only brewery that was in business successfully. After the First World War, the beer production of 11 Croatian breweries continued to decline, due to higher beer excise duties and the introduction of beer taxation. During the Second World War, there had been only five of the Croatian breweries (Karlovac˘ka, Zagrebac˘ka, Osjec˘ka, Daruvarska and Otoc˘ka), and they were nationalized after the war. Moreover, the three newest breweries ( Jadranska, Panonska and Buzet) were established in the 1970s. At that time, Otoc˘ka brewery, began to operate as a constitutive part of Zagrebac˘ka brewery. Thus, there have been seven breweries in the Republic of Croatia, until the present day. During the war in Croatia in the 1990s, the production and sale of beer experienced periods of stagnation. However, the Croatian beer industry as well as the Croatian beer market continue to grow and to extend the volume of production. Some characteristics of the Croatian beer industry and the Croatian beer market The beer production in the Republic of Croatia consists of seven breweries: (1) Zagrebac˘ka brewery; (2) Karlovac˘ka brewery; (3) Panonska brewery; (4) Osijek brewery; (5) Jadranska brewery; (6) Daruvarska brewery; and (7) Buzet brewery. Among the breweries mentioned before, Karlovac˘ka brewery and Zagrebac˘ka brewery are the largest Croatian breweries with more than 60 percent market share. As you can see in Table I, the production and sale of beer had continued to grow after the war in the 1990s (from 3 percent to 6 percent per year), and it achieved the average annual production of beer of almost 4 million hectolitres in 2001. As beer showed a lot of potential and became the predominant alcoholic drink, there were many investments in modernization of the beer industry equipment, expansion of capacities, establishment of new breweries, etc. Although many domestic and foreign investors had expected strong and rapid growth of the Croatian beer market, their expectations were not realized. Today only the Zagrebac˘ka brewery shows growth, while other Croatian breweries

51 81 167 31 102 115 123 126 134 131 132 121

Buzet brewery

Total 2,656 2,284 2,657 2,454 3,099 3,167 3,302 3,637 3,830 3,690 3,854 3,870

Zagrebac˘ka brewery 691 660 802 756 907 960 984 1,152 1,308 1,396 1,557 1,669

Panonska brewery 221 195 242 273 351 362 369 413 398 392 417 396

Osijek brewery 419 251 234 266 302 293 298 310 358 352 362 327

Karlovac˘ka brewery 843 760 795 758 942 941 1,066 1,138 1,141 1,007 977 872

Jadranska brewery 248 196 197 173 240 257 246 285 277 248 238 332

Daruvarska brewery 183 141 220 197 255 239 216 213 214 164 171 153

Source: State Bureau of Statistics

Note: Amounts in thousands of hectolitres

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Year

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Table I. Beer production/sales in the Croatian breweries

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have experienced stagnating or falling beer production. The reasons for those circumstances include fluctuations in import-export policy (i.e. protection of domestic brands) as well as large differences between some Croatian regions that are reflected in: . the economic situation; . buying power; . marketing investments; and . market orientation. Until recently, as we can see in Table II, the Croatian beer industry was mostly oriented towards the export of beer. The highest level of export was directed to Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the highest level of import originated from Slovenia, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Austria. However, conditions for beer export became worse in 2001, due to high levels of taxation and duty on the export of beer. At the same time, the Republic of Croatia became a member of the World Trade Organization and the import of beer was liberalized. Thus, the level of exported of beer was decreasing, while the level of imported beer was increasing and Croatia began to import beer from 16 countries. The experts from the beer industry presume that this trend will continue further. Their assumptions were confirmed by two facts. The first one includes the actions of the Croatian Parliament, since the Croatian Government passed higher taxations and duties on beer. The second one relates to raw materials that are necessary for the production of beer (such as bottles, tins, box, labels, etc.), because they are mainly imported from foreign countries. As we are aware of the problems with malt, because its production was almost completely destroyed during the war in the 1990s, there is an obvious need to assess the current situation in the Croatian beer market as well as future trends. Thus we conducted a study designed to explore the relation and position of domestic brands and foreign brands of beer within the Croatian market. In order to achieve this purpose, we considered some variables, such as the: Import

Table II. Import/export of beer in Croatia

Year

’000hl

($)

’000hl

Export ($)

Balance ($)

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 220

220 208 178 144 164

13.743 11.415 10.309 7.676 7.382

396 439 512 390 231

19.198 18.121 19.337 14.009 8.150

5.455 6.706 9.028 6.333 768

Source: State Bureau of Statistics

. . . . .

awareness of the beer brands on the Croatian market; most often consumed beer brands in Croatia; favourite beer brands in Croatia; frequency of consumption of beer in Croatia; and awareness of beer advertising.

Survey research methodology The research was conducted in two phases. In order to obtain an insight into the structure of the Croatian beer industry, we first explored all available literature about beer and conducted a series of qualitative interviews with a few experts from the Croatian beer industry. The purpose of this first phase was to gain some background material about the position of beer in relation to the other beverages and to highlight the most important variables to be observed in the survey. The second phase consisted of the main survey research with the representative sample of 1,000 Croatian households including 1,000 respondents. Respondents present a representative nationwide sample of the adult population (15+ years) in Croatia. The research was conducted by using face-to-face interviews in three time stages: in June 1999, in March 2000 and in May 2001. We have to point out that the same sample and the same questionnaire were used during each of those time stages. The fieldwork and data entry was conducted by PULS Ltd., an independent Croatian market research agency. Statistical data analysis was done by the authors of the paper using SPSS 9.0. A random stratified sample was used, with the regions and the size of residence as stratification criteria. Thus, the territory of the Republic of Croatia was divided into six following regions: (1) Zagreb and surroundings; (2) North Croatia; (3) Slavonia; (4) Lika, Kordun, Banovina; (5) Istria, North Coast, Gorski Kotar; and (6) Dalmatia. The sampling points in each of those regions according to the size of the residence were: (1) extremely small cities (with up to 2,000 inhabitants); (2) small cities (with 2,000-10,000 inhabitants); (3) large towns (with 10,000-100,000 inhabitants); and (4) extremely large towns (more than 100,000 inhabitants).

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Towns/cities, as well as the household addresses were selected according to a random procedure (random starting points) for each residence. The sampling point included ten respondents approximately. The sample was large enough to ensure a very high level of statistic reliability of results. With n = 1,000, considering normal approximation, the maximum margin of error for an estimate of a proportion with 95 percent confidence interval is +3.2 percent. Findings The frequency of consumption of beer in Croatia Table III illustrates the consumption of beer in Croatia. Respondents were classified according to the frequency of their consumption of beer, and we had four distinct groups: (1) regular beer consumers (those who drink beer a few times a week or once a day); (2) moderate beer consumers (those who drink beer almost every day or a few times a week); (3) periodical beer consumers (those who drink beer a few times a month or less than once a month); and (4) non-consumers (those who do not drink beer at all). Table III highlights the level of frequency of the consumption of beer in Croatia. We can see that the consumption oscillated, because respondents’ evaluations could not be judged as objective due to the time period of the research. In other words, respondents showed the highest level of frequency of consumption of beer in the summer. The results of the research conducted in June 1999 showed 12 percent of regular beer consumers, in comparison with the research conducted in March 2000 (5 percent of regular beer consumers). We have to point out that high levels of the consumption of beer in 2001 resulted from higher levels of temperature than a few decades ago. The number of non-consumers was constant. The awareness of beer brands on the Croatian market The awareness of beer brands was defined on the basis of spontaneous reminding of, first, the first-mentioned beer brand and, second, all remembered beer brands. Table IV and Figure 1 highlight what the first mentioned beer

Types of consumers Table III. The frequency of consumption of beer in Croatia

Regular Moderate Periodical Non-consumers

1999 (%)

2000 (%)

2001 (%)

12 24 34 30

5 22 43 30

14 22 34 30

1999 (%)

2000 (%)

2001 (%)

Domestic brands Oz˘ujsko Karlovac˘ko Osjec˘ko

28 25 10

27 20 7

36 19 5

Imported brands Kaltenberg Stella Artois Heineken Tuborg

5 4 4 4

7 7 5 4

7 7 5 5

Beer brands

Note: The other beer brands (domestic and imported) for the purpose of this study are of minor interest and therefore omitted

The Croatian beer market: a case study 199

Table IV. Highest awareness – the first mentioned beer brand

Figure 1. Highest awareness – the first mentioned brand

brands among domestic brand and imported brands were. The highest level of awareness of the beer brands had domestic brands (Oz˘ujsko beer and Karlovac˘ko beer), suggesting that tradition still plays important role in the Croatian beer market. Table V and Figure 2 (the all mentioned beer brands) exhibit that domestic beer brands still hold the leading position. Increased awareness of imported brands should be noticed. The most often consumed beer brands in Croatia The studies of foreign authors emphasize imports as the hottest area in the beer industry today, because more than twice the space in the beer market is devoted to imports (Howell, 2001; Dawson, 2002; Scarpa, 2000; Prince, 2000, etc.). The reason for this situation could be consumers’ perception of imported beer brands as the higher quality beer and in many cases a heavier flavour profile beer. However, this research highlights (Table VI and Figure 3) domestic brands as the most often consumed brands of beer.

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Table V. Highest awareness – the first mentioned brands

1999 (%)

2000 (%)

2001 (%)

Domestic brands Oz˘ujsko Karlovac˘ko Osjez˘ko

78 81 34

82 80 34

89 86 41

Imported brands Kaltenberg Stella Artois Heineken Tuborg

26 45 33 40

37 49 48 62

37 66 59 65

Note: The other beer brands (domestic and imported) for the purpose of this study are of minor interest and therefore omitted

Figure 2. Overall most aware

1999 (%)

2000 (%)

2001 (%)

Domestic brands Oz˘ujsko Karlovac˘ko Osjez˘ko

28 23 7

15 18 6

40 19 4

Imported brands Stella Artois Tuborg Heineken Kaltenberg

7 5 3 5

7 6 3 7

8 3 3 4

Beer brands

Table VI. The most often consumed brands of beer in Croatia

Note: The other beer brands (domestic and imported for the purpose of this study are of minor interest and therefore omitted

The Croatian beer market: a case study 201 Figure 3. The most often consumed brands of beer in Croatia

The favourite beer brands in Croatia The global trends have included the continuation of strong growth of the popularity of the imported beer brands. As many studies have indicated, consumers accepted the imported beer brands, which have the perception of higher quality (Scarpa, 2000; Howell, 2001; Dawson, 2002; etc.). However, this trend is not characteristic for the population of the Republic of Croatia. Table VII and Figure 4 highlight that domestic beer brands are the favourite ones (according to the evaluation of respondents). The highest mark was given to Oz˘ ujsko beer. Also, we can see that the imported beer brands were evaluated high, particularly Stella Artois. Awareness of beer advertising The general findings derived from this question indicate the relatively high level of perception of the imported beer brands. This could be explained by a higher marketing budget of foreign beer producers in comparison with domestic beer producers. Table VIII and Figure 5 highlight Stella Artois as the foreign competitor, with the most successful TV commercials among other imported beer brands. 1999 (%)

2000 (%)

2001 (%)

Domestic brands Oz˘ujsko Karlovac˘ko Osjez˘ko

17 16 6

14 11 6

32 15 3

Imported brands Stella Artois Tuborg Heineken Kaltenberg

11 8 8 5

11 9 13 3

11 7 8 3

Beer brands

Table VII. The favourite beer brands in Croatia

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1999 (%)

2000 (%)

2001 (%)

Domestic brands Oz˘ujsko Karlovac˘ko

35 51

36 45

52 55

Imported brands Stella Artois Tuborg Heineken Kaltenberg

35 10 3 8

36 22 4 8

35 32 22 15

Beer brands

Table VIII. Awareness of beer advertising

Figure 5. Awareness of beer advertising

Conclusions This paper has shown that despite the beer trends in some countries, particularly in the USA and Europe, the Croatian beer market did not experience a high consumption level of imported beer brands. Although imported beer brands are prominent worldwide today, their consumption has not become well established in Croatia yet.

In the past, Croatian consumers could make a choice between two to four domestic beer brands. Today, the situation in the Croatian beer market has changed with the expansion of imported beer brands and with the increasingly sophisticated tastes of beer consumers. Discussing the results of this research, we can conclude that the Croatian beer market could be described as follows: . There are domestic beer brands with established quality and tradition (domestic beer brand Oz˘ujsko beer is the dominant leader in the Croatian beer market). . There are imported beer brands which have the marketing power and wide distribution. . Although the studies of foreign authors (Dawson, 2002; Scarpa, 2000; Prince, 2000, etc.) emphasize the shift toward higher-priced brands, we are not aware of such a tendencies in Croatia yet. References Bernie, M. and Hein, K. (2001), ‘‘Premiums rule at shrinking party’’, Vol. 42 No. 23, pp. S31-S33. Dawson, H. (2002), ‘‘The good, the bad and the FABs’’, Beverage World, Vol. 121 No. 1711, pp. 30-8. Howell, D. (2001), ‘‘Mass tips glass to spike in new breed beer and wine’’, Dsn Retailing Today, Vol. 40 No. 16, pp. 29-30. Maric´, V. and Nadvornik, Z. (1995), ‘‘Pivo-tekuc´a hrana’’, Prehrambeno-tehnolos˘ki inz˘enjering, Zagreb. Prince, G.W. (2000), ‘‘Resident aliens’’, Beverage World, Vol. 119 No. 1689, p. 76. Scarpa, J. (2000), ‘‘Foreign service’’, Restaurant Business, Vol. 99 No. 15, pp. 57-8. Vignali, C. and Vrontis, D. (2000), ‘‘Survey research in the UK beer industry’’, British Food Journal, Vol. 102 No. 5/6, pp. 371-80. Vrontis, D. (1998), ‘‘Strategic assessment: the importance of branding in the European beer market’’, British Food Journal, Vol. 100 No. 2, pp. 76-84. Vrontis, D. and Vignali, C. (1999), ‘‘Bass plc: an assessment, evaluation and recommendations for their strategic approach in entering beer markets’’, International Marketing Review, Vol. 16 No. 4/5, pp. 391-405. Weinstein, S. (1999), ‘‘Let the good times roll’’, Progressive Grocer, Vol. 78 No. 3, pp. 45-53.

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Farmers’ wine fair: a case study Damir Kovac˘ic´ and Marija Radman

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Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia Keywords Croatia, Wine and spirits, Farming, Consumer behaviour, Image Abstract The goal of this research is to empirically test one of the direct selling models – the farmers’ fair. We examined how the fairs can influence general recognition and improve the image of wines produced on family farms in Croatia, and how they affect the sales and number of the buyers at the family farms. Two surveys were carried out, one with fair’s visitors (n = 678) and the other with wine producers (n = 47). The research results confirmed usefulness of the organisation of the family farm wine fair on the Croatian market. The recognition of the family farm wine has increased and the image of these wines has improved on the local market. By participating at the wine fair the wine producers have enlarged the buyers tree and the wine sales at the farm.

Introduction Croatian agricultural production, especially that of the family farms, is not price-competitive on the global market[1]. Direct selling, with adequate marketing activity, is one of the opportunities to increase its competitiveness (Kovac˘ic´, 1999). Direct selling is not sufficiently developed in Croatia. The existing direct selling channels, such as delivery selling of potatoes, cabbages, onions or apples do not satisfy the needs of the contemporary consumer and often do not comply with the legal framework. A particular problem is lack of empirical experience with modern direct selling channel methods (Kovac˘ic´, 1994). The goal of this research is to empirically test one of the direct selling models – the farmers’ fair. We examined how the fairs influence general recognition and improve the image of wines produced on family farms in Croatia, and how they affect the sales and numbers of the buyers at the family farms. The first part of the article concerns the theoretical notion of direct selling, its possibilities and restraints, focusing particularly on farmers’ fairs as one of the direct selling channels. Further, the results of the pilot project, the Zagreb family farm wine fair, are discussed, and overall conclusions given.

British Food Journal Vol. 105 No. 3, 2003 pp. 204-210 # MCB UP Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/00070700310477149

Direct selling Direct selling is any form of farmers’ sales of agro-food products to the end consumer that does not involve a middleman. The development of today’s selling channels has relied on the traditional direct selling channels, which have been improved in order to satisfy the consumers’ needs and to comply with restrictive laws. Additionally, some new ways of direct selling have been developed (Kovac˘ic´, 1994). According to the market location, direct selling is divided into:

. . . . . . .

back-door sales; self-pick or pick-your-own; selling on a stall sited adjacent to the road; selling door-to-door; selling from delivery vehicles; selling in farm shops (in farm yard or some other place); and selling on weekly fairs, other farmers’ market or fair (Mahler, 1990, 1991)[2].

Producers, consumers and the state participate in direct selling. This kind of trade is interesting for the producers because they can achieve higher prices and revenues. From the consumers’ point of view, properly organised direct farm sales undoubtedly satisfy their demand for fresh and good-quality farm products, providing value for money, direct contact and the trust in producers, and purchase in rural surroundings (Barker, 1989). The state, more precisely its institutions, stimulate direct selling by helping family farms on one hand and not straining its own budget on the other (Kovac˘ic´ et al., 2000; Kovac˘ic´ , 1994). The importance and share of direct selling in total selling depend on the type of product sold and the types of sales markets. Successful direct selling asks for some requirements to be met. These requirements vary depending on the direct selling method and the product, and they generally include type and volume of production, farm location, production capacities, investment opportunities, personal abilities and initiatives, market knowledge and know-how (Pottembaum, 1988). The main obstacles to direct selling in Croatia include the existing legal framework, administrative restraints, and lack of the marketing skills in family farm producers and the extension service (Kovac˘ic´ et al., 2000). The Croatian agro-food market will be faced with two parallel processes; the liberalisation of the domestic market will bring an increase in the product supply quantity, quality and assortments. However, such development will also increase the possibilities for the food-related scandals. On the other hand, the increase in purchasing power of the Croatian consumers should be expected, along with consequential opening of new opportunities for direct selling of the agro-food products. In order to benefit from this opportunity, the Croatian farmers need to improve the preparation of their products for sale, standardise the quality of the products, and particularly define and implement the marketing activities aimed at getting and maintaining preference of their consumers (Kovac˘ic´ et al., 2000). Farmers’ fair concept Farmers’ fair is a selling exhibition organised occasionally, usually during the fruit maturation period or harvest season, or during some religious or traditional holidays. The farmers’ fair is intended for the sale of a single

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product or a range of the different products. The number of producers (from a few dozen to even 100 or more) and buyers that participate in the farmers’ fairs is much higher than their participation in the farmers’ market. The farmers’ fairs are usually accompanied by additional entertainment programmes. The organisation of the farmers’ fairs asks for more intensive involvement and comparatively higher investment then the farmers’ market organisation (Pottembaum, 1988). Farmers’ wine fair The farmers’ fair model was tested on a direct marketing wine fair. The first exhibition took place from 6-8 April 2001 and the second eight months later from 7-9 December 2001. A total of 55 producers from almost all wine regions of Croatia participated in the first fair, and 141 different wines were presented. The second wine fair attracted 50 producers and 150 different wines were exhibited. The majority of exhibits were quality and high-quality wines, with some sparkling, desert and table wines. The first fair was visited by approximately 5,000 people and the second by about 7,000 people. All important media advertised these exhibitions. To examine the success of the fair, the producers and visitors survey was conducted. The following facts were used to determine the fair success criteria: . Wine production in Croatia, especially production at family farms, is both cost- and price-uncompetitive. One way of increasing the competitiveness of this production is the direct selling of the wine on farms, which would be possible only if the wines were recognised and hasa good image. . The majority of the domestic consumers are not familiar with the wines on offer at the family farms (Djukic´, 2000). . Wines from some Croatian regions have a negative image on the domestic market, which consequentially reflects on the image of the wine from the family farms of that region. Even when such image does not correspond with the actual value of wines’ supply, it diminishes their competitiveness (Djukic´, 2000). The easiest way to change the consumers’ attitude is their good personal experience with a wine. The fair sale, where the potential buyers can see and taste numerous wines, is an ideal opportunity for the improvement of the family farm wine image. . The improvement of wine recognition and image should result in increased sales of the family farm wines. Further, the producers that exhibit at the fair could increase their customer base and sales at the farm. The research was mostly conducted during the second fair, but the impact of the first fair on the number of the buyers and the wine selling rates at the farms were measured.

Research results The following criteria were used to measure the success of the exhibition:

Farmers’ wine fair

(1) the increase in the family farm wines recognition; (2) the improvement in image of those wines; and (3) the increases in numbers of buyers and sales at the farms. Further, the visitors’ and exhibitors’ satisfaction with the fair was measured. Two surveys were carried out, one with visitors and the other with wine producers. Visitors’ survey Sample characteristics After choosing a convenient sample we developed some face-to-face interviews with fair visitors. Out of 678 respondents, 67 per cent were male. The mean age of the respondents was 38.4 years (from 12-82). An equal percentage of the respondents had the high school diploma or university degree (49 per cent each), and only 2 per cent of them had primary education only. The sample comprised more than 28 per cent students, 20 per cent civil servants, 13 per cent of both entrepreneurs and pensioners. More than 64 per cent of the respondents earn less than e540 per month and only 12.5 per cent have income higher than e810. The average wine consumption of the respondents amounts to 4.7l per month (about 56l per year), which is much higher than the Croatian average (21.19l) (Kolega and Bozic, 2001). More than half of all respondents consume wine one to three times per week. The wine is usually consumed at home (77.7 per cent of respondents), and just a small number of respondents usually drink wine in restaurants and similar places. More than 60 per cent of the respondents buy wine often or very often, usually in supermarkets (47 per cent) and wine cellars (32 per cent). Only 18 per cent of the respondents buy wine at family farms. The recognition and image of family farm wines The main purpose of the selling fair is to increase the recognition and to improve the image of the family farm wines. Most of the respondents (69 per cent) were not familiar with the supply of the family farm wines. Only 13 per cent of them said that they are well informed about this supply. The male respondents, older respondents, those with higher education and with higher income are more familiar with family farm wines. It is evident that the wine fair was a good occasion to present these wines to the consumers. The influence of the fair on the family farm wine image was measured on the same sample. About 45 per cent of the surveyed visitors had a better attitude toward family farm wine after visiting the fair.

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Although these results cannot be generalised for the whole population, the ‘‘word of mouth recommendation’’ effect should not be forgotten. Research on wine (Keown and Casey, 1995) showed the importance of this effect. Further, our research does not deal with the influence of the media that advertised the fair on the recognition increase and development of the positive image of the family farm wines. Visitor satisfaction One of the criteria used to measure the success of the exhibition was the satisfaction of the visitors with the fair. More than 85 per cent of them liked the exhibition, only a small number stated that they neither liked nor disliked the fair, and just 2 per cent of the respondents were not satisfied with the exhibition. Purchases at the fair and further buying intentions More than 80 per cent of the respondents plan to buy family farm wine in future, and 62 per cent wish to visit producers at their farms in order to buy wine. An additional positive indicator is the buying behaviour at the fair. About two-thirds of the respondents bought some wine at the fair. Exhibitors’ survey Sample characteristics Of the total number of wine producers exhibiting at the fair, 47 (94 per cent) were interviewed. More than half (57 per cent) came from Zagreb area (therefore close to the fair location), and the others were from other Croatian wine regions. Most of the wine producers achieve significant wine sale rates at the farm, on average 28 per cent of total sales. The producers from the Zagreb area sell more wine at the farm (30 per cent of total sales) than those from other regions (26 per cent). About 90 per cent of the surveyed wine producers have permanent buyers who buy at their farms. The development of the buyer trees and sales at the farm The main direct influence of the wine producers fair is the increase of the buyer trees and the sales at the farm. The number of buyers and the wine sales at the farms before and after the first fair were compared. The buyer trees have enlarged for the majority of the wine producers, with an average of seven new buyers per farm. More than half of the examined producers increased the wine sales at the farm after the first wine fair. The producers from the Zagreb region had the sales increase of 25 per cent and others only 9 per cent. Since most of the wine producers had other promotional activities between the two wine fairs, the sales increase has not been exclusively caused by participation at the first wine fair. Satisfaction of exhibitors The fair’s success was also measured by the exhibitors’ satisfaction with the event. Of the surveyed producers, four-fifths found the exhibition successful or

very successful. The direct contact with wine buyers, resulting in better promotion of their wines, is the main value of the fair. Further, according to the survey respondents, the fair confirmed itself as good opportunity for wine producers to meet each other and to compare the quality of their products. Most of the wine producers think that their participation in the fair will help their future business. Almost all respondents plan to participate in the next wine fair. Conclusions The presented research confirmed the usefulness of the family farm wine fair: . The recognition of the family farm wine has increased. . The image of the family farm wines has improved. . Fair visitors were satisfied with the organised exhibition. . By participating at the wine fair the wine producers have enlarged the buyer trees and wine sales at the farms. . The fair exhibitors consider the participation at the fair useful for their future business and plan to participate in the future fairs. The wine fair sale should also be organised in other Croatian regions, and not only in Zagreb. Organising such exhibitions during the tourist season would be particularly interesting. The fair sale should also be organised for other agrofood products in Croatia. Notes 1. The average size of the family farms in Croatia is 2.96ha. The size of the family farms with income earned only from agriculture is somewhat higher, between 5ha and 10ha. 2. Some authors refer to Internet sales as a kind of direct sale (Haas, 1997). However, the exchange will take place on one of the earlier mentioned places. For this reason we consider the order form just as a communication device between producers and buyers and not as a form of the direct sale. References Barker, J. (1989), Agricultural Marketing, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford. Djukic´, J. (2000), Moguc´nost Uvod-enja Marke Vina Portugizac na Zagrebac´ko Trz˘is˘te, Agronomski Fakultet, Diplomski rad, Zagreb. Haas, R. (1997), The Austrian Country Market: Experiences With Marketing Regional Products and Services on The WWW, Agrarmarketing Aktuell, Institut fu¨r Agraro¨konomik, Vienna. Keown, C. and Casey, M. (1995), ‘‘Purchasing behaviour in the Northern Ireland wine market’’, British Food Journal, Vol. 97 No. 1, pp. 17-20. Kolega, A. and Bozic, M. (2001), Hrvatsko Poljodjelsko Trziste, Trznistvo, Zagreb. Kovac˘ic´, D. (1994), Izravno trz˘nis˘tvo mlijeka u Hrvatskoj, Doktorska disertacija, Zagreb. Kovac˘ic´, D. (1999), Hrvatska poljoprivreda za 21. stoljec´e, Zbornik: Hrvatsko gospodarstvo za 21. stoljec´e, Matica Hrvatska, Zagreb

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Kovac˘ic´, D., Kolega, A. and Radman, M. (2000), ‘‘Direct selling applied to strawberries’’, Proceedings of the XIVth International Symposium on Horticultural Economics, Acta Horcticulturae, No. 536, pp. 513-20. Mahler, M. (1990), Direktabasatz am Beispiel des beirischen Ab-Hof-Verkaufs, Agrarwirtschaft, Jargang 39, Heft 9, Frankfurt am Main. Mahler, M. (1991), Marketing fu¨r Ab-Hof-Verkauf bayerischer Agrarprodukte, Wissenschaftverlag Vauk Kiel KG, Kiel. Pottembaum, P. (1988), Handbuch Direktvermarktung – Neue Wege fu¨r den Absatz landwirtschaftlicher Produkte, Munster – Hiltrup, Munich.