This study examines consumer interest in paying farmers and market staff to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to their homes. It also identifies the profiles of likely users based on observable predictor variables. Paying a fee for the service was explored rather than calculating precise monetary willingness to pay (WTP) estimates, offering a foundation for future research.
Responses were obtained from 1,054 Mid-Atlantic US consumers responsible for at least half of the household grocery purchases, participating in agritourism or purchasing food from direct marketers or local sources. This study applies the exhaustive chi-square automatic interaction detector (ECHAID), a decision tree-based classification method that extends the traditional automatic interaction detector (AID) technique. ECHAID systematically segments consumers into interpretable and actionable groups by identifying significant interactions among predictor variables, making it beneficial for market segmentation and consumer behavior analysis without requiring predefined assumptions about data distributions.
Seven segments had index scores above 100%, indicating a higher-than-average likelihood of being willing to pay for the service. Respondents in five segments used online order and delivery systems to acquire fresh fruits and vegetables. Notable differences included past purchases from on-farm markets, curbside grocery pickup usage, changes in fresh fruit or vegetable consumption and the presence of children in the household.
Despite the rise in third-party services for producers to manage and ship produce to local consumers, to date, no studies have yet provided insight into the socioeconomic and behaviors of likely users. Access to these data allows farmers to focus on potential customers rather than the mass market.
