Behavior of Swedes towards Milk Substitute Products

Sammanfattning: These days, milk substitute products are getting more popular and exist together with milk on the market. These substitute products are appreciated by consumers due to animal welfare, environmental or health related reasons. The purpose of the investigation was to make assumptions about the future situation of farmers and which demographic, personal, sociological, cultural and psychological determinants have an impact on Swedish consumers purchasing substitute products. The proposed methodology to reveal the impact of those factors was a qualitative research. Ten semi-structured interviews with residents of Västra Götaland, aimed to gain a deeper and better understanding of the reasons for consumption of milk substitute products, were conducted in total. The existing theory and scientific articles about demographic, personal, sociological, cultural and psychological determinants of consumer behavior, in terms of food choice and consumption, were used to create an interview guide and also to compare the collected primary data in the end. Participants were asked questions regarding their demography, lifestyle, awareness and perception of milk substitute products and other reasons for their consumption of milk substitutes. The findings revealed that demographic factors such as age and gender seemed to have an impact on the consumer behavior. Moreover, personal and psychological factors were revealed to have a significant impact on the consumption behavior. In particular lifestyle, perception, attitudes and motivations, knowledge and learning had a significant influence on Swedish consumers and their food consumption behavior. Regarding sociological factors it was discovered that friends had a significant influence on food consumption. Cultural determinants were also important to consider. However, they did not have a significant influence on the participants. The findings also revealed that health and animal welfare were the main reasons for changing the consumption. Interestingly, no participant started to consume these products due to environmental reasons in the beginning. The strong competition of milk and milk substitute products on the market is most likely to continue. The future situation for farmers will look different and might get more critical as milk consumption in Sweden could change. This small scale research does not make it possible to generalize the revealed findings. Nevertheless, this qualitative investigation provided the basis for future research in the field of consumer behavior towards substitute products.