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. 2020 Jul 29;17(15):5485.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17155485.

The Impact of COVID-19 Crisis upon the Consumer Buying Behavior of Fresh Vegetables Directly from Local Producers. Case Study: The Quarantined Area of Suceava County, Romania

Alina Butu  1 , Ioan Sebastian Brumă  2 , Lucian Tanasă  2 , Steliana Rodino  1   3 , Codrin Dinu Vasiliu  2 , Sebastian Doboș  2 , Marian Butu  1
Affiliations

The Impact of COVID-19 Crisis upon the Consumer Buying Behavior of Fresh Vegetables Directly from Local Producers. Case Study: The Quarantined Area of Suceava County, Romania

Alina Butu et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The present paper intends to address the impact of COVID-19 crisis upon the consumer buying behavior of fresh vegetables directly from local producers as observed 30 days later, after enforcing the state of emergency in Romania within a well-defined area, namely, the quarantined area of Suceava. The study relies on the interpretation of answers received from the quarantined area (N = 257) to a questionnaire applied online nationwide. The starting point of this paper is the analysis of the sociodemographic factors on the purchasing decision of fresh vegetables directly from local producers before declaring the state of emergency in Romania (16 March 2020). Further research has been conducted by interpreting the changes triggered by the COVID-19 crisis on the purchasing intention of such products before and after the end of the respective crisis. The aim of this scientific investigation relies on identifying the methods by which these behavioral changes can influence the digital transformation of short food supply chains.

Keywords: COVID-19; Romania; Suceava County; behavior; consumer; local producers; quarantine; short food supply chains.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The quarantined area of Suceava. Images processed by authors and reproduced with permission from Geo-spatial.org [36].
Figure 2
Figure 2
The narrative-argumentative sketch of the proposed research.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Biplot with multivariate correspondence depending on gender, marital status, age range, persons in household, education, and purchase decision of fresh vegetables directly from producers before March 16.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The distribution of answers concerning the purchasing decision of directly delivered fresh vegetables from producers, before and after March 16 and whether they will keep buying post COVID-19 crisis, related to the total number of respondents.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The clusters of those who have declared that they bought or did not buy fresh vegetables from local producers with direct delivery, before March 16, distributed according to age categories and statement that they bought or did not buy directly from producers after March 16.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The clusters of those who stated that they bought or did not buy fresh vegetables from local producers with direct delivery before the 16 of March, distributed according to age categories and statement that they will buy or not directly from local producers after the COVID-19 crisis.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The clusters of those who declared that they bought or did not buy directly delivered fresh vegetables from local producers after March 16, distributed according to age categories and statements that they will keep buying or not from local producers after the COVID-19 crisis.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The number of those who declared that they bought directly delivered fresh vegetables straight from local producers before and after March 16 and who will keep buying after the COVID-19 crisis, grouped by age categories.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The preferred purchase frequency according to age groups.
Figure 10
Figure 10
The order frequency on the clusters of the respondents who have stated that they bought fresh vegetables directly from producers before and after March 16 and that they will keep buying post COVID-19 crisis.
Figure 11
Figure 11
The distribution of answers according to favorite channels of information regarding fresh vegetables, depending on the respondents’ age groups.
Figure 12
Figure 12
The favorite channels for placing orders depending on age groups.
Figure 13
Figure 13
The preferred payment method of the consumers who ordered before and after March 16 and post COVID-19 crisis.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Biplot with multivariate correspondence depending on frequency, age groups, method of payment, and purchase decision of fresh vegetables directly from producers before and after March 16 and post COVID-19 crisis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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