Is there a promising market ‘in between’organic and conventional food? Analysisof consumer preferences

Various products incorporating single aspects of organic production systems such as lower inputs of pesticides, foodadditives or concentrated animal feed are found on the food market (referred to as low-input products hereafter). In our study,we analyzed how consumers react to low-input products in a purchase simulation with certified organic, conventional andlow-input products. In the purchase simulations, each participant was asked to make three consecutive purchase decisions,one each for milk, yogurt and apples. The results of a cluster analysis revealed one cluster with a high preference for organicproducts and three clusters that featured considerable shares of low-input purchases. The latter clusters, however, were notcharacterized by a clear preference for low-input products. Rather, they bought mixed baskets of goods, i.e., low-inputproducts in combination with either organic or conventional products. The low-input products in the categories milk, yogurtand apples did thus not necessarily attract the same groups of people. Interestingly, we found that most consumers who choselow-input products in the simulations usually buy those particular products in conventional quality. We conclude that in ourstudy, we found a heterogeneous group of low-input buyers. For the organic sector, communicating the various aspects oforganic production might be a promising strategy for gaining new customers. The low-input products in the purchasesimulation only featured one special attribute, whereas organic products incorporate several