University students and sustainable groceries in Helsinki

Abstract

The purpose of the thesis is to explore the consumer behaviors of young adults towards sustainable products in the segment of food and beverages, or in other word, sustainable groceries, in the Helsinki region. In order to achieve this aim, the research attempted to an-swer 3 research questions. Question 1: What are the needs that motivate consumers to buy sustainable groceries? Question 2: What attitude do young consumers have for sustainable groceries? Question 3: What criteria do young consumers use to evaluate sustainable gro-ceries when making a buying decision? By investigating the knowledge of consumer be-havior theory, specifically 3 critical areas of motivations, attitude and decision making; and sustainability concept, the research succeeded in determining the connection between these 2 areas. The study was conducted with Qualitative strategy, in which Interview was chosen to be the data collection method. There were 8 interviews implemented in the study. The interviewees were chosen based on their age (18-25) and their living location (capital re-gion). The convenience sampling method was used in order to collect the sampling popula-tion due to an available access to this targeted group. Every interviews were recorded under the permissions of participants. All interviewees were kept anonymous for ethical purpose. The interviews were then transcribed for the purpose of making analysis. The results after analyzing process are that Physiological, Safety and Ego are 3 needs that motivate young consumers to buy sustainable groceries. However, there is a motivational conflict for sus-tainable groceries consumers in which the consumers want to have the benefits of sustaina-ble groceries but at the same time want to avoid the high prices of these products. For the attitude, young consumers have a positive attitude for this product category. When it comes to making the buying decision, it is shown that young consumers prioritize health and price aspects in a grocery product; consider environment as the most important sustainability component and use Lexicographic rule to choose a grocery among other sustainable alterna-tives. Due to limitations of aspects such as the age group and geographical location of the studied population, there are possibilities for other future researches to fill in.