Study on the Selection Determinants on Consumers Purchasing Agricultural Products via Direct Market

Purpose - This study was carried out to analyze the influential factors of how consumers methodize purchasing agricultural products via direct market. It further utilizes the Discrete Choice Model to analyze consumer decision specifically with regards to individual markets and store attributes. Research design and methodology - This study will use the multinomial logit model to interpret the influential factors behind selecting a specific market to purchase from. This study establishes ‘online direct-purchase’ as the base category with ‘direct farm markets’, ‘local foods direct markets’, ‘produce boxes (CSA)’ as substitutes. Results - Firstly, the variety of products, price and freshness had a positive influence on choosing ‘direct farm markets’ while convenience of payment and transportation had a negative influence. Second, freshness and store attributes had a positive influence on choosing ‘local foods direct markets’ but product price and packaging, location accessibility had a negative influence. And although product creditability had a positive influence on purchasing ‘produce boxes (CSA)’, product price had a negative influence. Conclusions - Accordingly, there is a need for the South Korean government to encourage the adoption of mobile payment through smartphone applications in direct farm markets to vitalize direct agricultural purchasing. However, this does need to be approached cautiously as price has a conflicting affect for each method of purchase.