Comment vendre les produits bio en supermarché? Le rôle du marketing mix

The market for organically produced goods has grown at a double-digit rate in the last two decades. Yet, while there is a growing literature on the economics of the organic food products industries, the marketing literature has provided only few insights into the commercialization of organic products. Most of the studies have concerned the consumers’ motives and demographic profiles with mixed findings. The present study examines the effects of marketing actions on the demand for organics in a grocery supermarket context. Using predictions from the literature on the effects of marketing-mix variables, we model and test the impact of five variables: (1) brand ownership (store vs. national brand), (2) price level, (3) feature advertising, (4) display activity, and (5) distribution breadth, and competitive effects from conventional products. We allow for heterogeneity across consumers and product categories. Contrary to prior studies, we estimate model parameters on actual purchase data from two markets over three years. We find that consumers are less likely to buy organic store brands, organic brands that are on promotion, and widely distributed. Price, which serves as a cue for the quality of organics, has an inverted U-shaped effect on the demand for organic products. Consumer (e.g. age, income) and category characteristics (e.g. concentration, expensiveness) moderate the effects of marketing mix variables.