Study On Resident's Citrus Consumption Behavior In Wuhan

The citrus, as the second widely planted fruit in China, its planting areas and output have been rated the first throughout the world. The citrus industry, in which the most employed are engaged, plays a significant role in the development of rural economy, for citrus trees are the most widely cultivated fruit trees in southern China. For that reason, it has already become the main source for fanners to increase their income in main production areas in the south of China.In addition, it is the pillar industry for the development of regional economy and reconstruction of the new rural areas. Besides, it makes significant contributions to the development of national economy as well as the social development.However, with the planting areas and the output of citrus fruits in China, increasing rapidly, the average per person consumption quantity actually has been back and forth. In 2007, the average per person consumption of fresh citrus fruits in our country is 10.5kg, which is obviously insufficient compared to that of 17.7kg in the world and that of 60-100kg in developed countries. the purchasing power of domestic residents has dropped, varieties of domestic fruits has diversified day by day and alternatives of fruits has enriched and so on.At present, the consumption level is low and the relatively exuberant supply and demand in production areas is unbalanced, which has a negative influence on the development of citrus fruits industry. Therefore, it is imminent to establish a huge consumption market in order to sustain the citrus fruits industry and to enhance domestic consumption.Then, one crucial step is to fully understand consumption habits and psychology of residents, analyze characteristics of consumers' behavior, and find out factors that influence consumption behaviors. Only based on these can producers of the citrus fruits be able to have a clear goal and policies be properly proposed and implemented. Hence, it is definitely of significance to study characteristics of citrus consumers' behavior theoretically and practically. Based on numerous researches at home and abroad, this thesis applies the theories related to consumers' behavior theory, consumers 'decision theory and the life shape theory. It integrates rudiments of economies and agricultural economics and adopts AIO which is currently commonly applied in research of consumption behavior at home and abroad for reference. Then it designs questionnaires and proposes the hypothetical research based on consumption habits and specific circumstances of residents in our nation. It conducts questionnaire on consumption behavior of citrus fruits in view of different consumers of the three areas of Wuhan in Hubei Province. With regard to methodology, first, it carries on statistical analysis and summarizes basic consumption characteristics of consumers. Second, it carries on the principal components analysis and factor analysis for the life shape variables through varimax method. Based on factor scores, it carries on the cluster analysis. It divides consumers into different communities. Finally, it confirms the research hypothesis and summarizes consumption characteristics of different consumption communities.The conclusion indicates that the price is not the primary factor considered by consumers when they purchase the citrus fruits. By contrast, they attach more importance to the nutrition, freshness, taste and personal habits and so on. As to purchasing place, agricultural market fairs and individual stores are to be the primary target places. Besides, the marketing channel is quite low-end and the consumption way is unitary, information's ways are narrow and low-end. And consumers have little brand consciousness. The majority of consumers have not paid attention to the brands, but they hope that the quality of citrus fruits can be secured under the brand corona and they are willing to pay certain amount of brand premium. Consumers have short understandings about rich nutrition contained in the citrus fruits.The accesses to information of citrus fruits are quite unitary, fen from introduction by relatives, friends or neighbors. Consumers do not have initiative to gain knowledge about citrus fruits while the producers don't make enough advertisements. With the planting areas and output increasing rapidly, average per person consumption has not increased obviously. This research divides consumers of citrus fruits into three types, economical practical, experiencing fresh things and advocating quality. They differ remarkably in age, the education level, occupations, the purchasing frequency, purchasing places, and the brand consciousness, package attitude and price consensus, the payment on brand premium and information channels. In view of different types of consumption communities, producers should formulate corresponding marketing strategies to meet different consumer demands.