Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present the sources of information about food, the cost of collecting the information and the perception of messages by consumers in the light of the sustainable food consumption idea. We used primary materials from a direct, personal survey which were later analyzed with the use of Berelson’s content analysis method. We found that a consumer shows low interest in sourcing the information about sustainable food consumption. The most credible, from the consumer’s point of view, information about food, consumption and the food market, comes from reports and scientific papers, as well as from the consumers’ families or friends. Gathering information is connected with devoting time which we spend on finding the right content. The information connected to environmental issues was the most distinctive for the respondents; other categories of information concerned the waste of food, shopping planning, the direction of changes, personal health issues and the influence of food products on one’s health, as well as consumption in connection with recommendations concerning health (among others, in the scope of nutrition, recommendations and specialistic advices). The knowledge of the most credible sources of the information about food consumption, the frequency of acquiring such knowledge, the costs of gathering information and the perception of messages should be reflected in properly chosen communication channels for the promotion of sustainable food consumption. In the research over sustainable food consumption we should focus more on our information needs. The network approach and the perspective of active engagement of consumers in the process of creating innovations in food products give us a new approach for the market analysis, popularization of the idea of sustainable food consumption and let us change some deeply rooted habits and behaviors of consumers. As a result of such engagement, consumers will be more willing to cooperate and trust one another, and thanks to the feeling of social effectiveness, they will be more interested in the development of the sustainable food consumption model and food policy.

Abstract:

The progressive and unprecedented growth of the Earth’s population and the shrinking of the planet’s natural resources make it necessary to look at contemporary consumption from the point of sustainable development goals. The purpose of the paper is to characterise consumers’ attitude towards the idea of sustainable food consumption, which manifests itself in declared undertaking of sustainable behaviours both on the market and in households. The research employed the exploratory survey technique (direct survey) on a sample of 900 consumers from Poland and Slovakia. The most common declared sustainable behaviours include: avoiding overconsumption, monitoring healthy eating, as well as sorting and recycling of waste. On the other hand, the customers of both countries should be more strongly encouraged to reduce the consumption of water, electricity and natural gas when preparing meals. Less than half of all respondents declared such behaviour.

Abstract:

The purpose of the article is to present the concept of information value of food packaging, characterize determinants of information value and present the results of own research on the identification of key information on packaging affecting purchasing decisions of food consumers. Unit packaging constituting an inherent element of food products equipment should fulfill numerous, overlapping functions, which include: protection, transport andinformation — functional, as well as ecological and promotional. One of the priority functions of product packaging (not just food) is the informative function. It is assumed that the proper selection of information encoded on the packaging should inform the consumer exhaustively, reliably and comprehensively about the packed product, its composition, nutritional values or storage conditions. Analyzing the information included on food packaging, it can be stated that entities introducing these products onto the market still show a tendency to “excessively” label the packaging (as part of optional labeling). It is therefore reasonable to specify what information is analyzed by consumers in the purchasing process and what information constitutes the information value of unit packets from the point of view of individual consumers. The above will allow identifying key determinants of the information value of packaging and may constitute valuable information for entities introducing products to trade in the field of proper selection of characters and codes of unit packets on the food market.

Abstract:

The article presents the results of three studies conducted by the author concerning the preferences of retail outlet customers with regard to the days of the week on which they most frequently purchase general food and non-food merchandise. This issue has become relevant within the context of the enactment of the Act of 10 January 2018 on limiting trade on Sundays, holidays and certain other days. Previous customer shopping styles as regards weekly shopping schedules must have changed. The aim of the article is to identify consumers’ habits and their changes concerning the weekly shopping schedules before and after the Act implementation. The results are based on direct surveys conducted in 2014, 2016 and 2018 among customers in Podkarpackie Province. A descriptive analysis of the results is supported by the statistical test chi square usage. It may be concluded that both in relation to food and non-food merchandise, the implementation of the Act resulted in a decrease in the number of customers engaging in shopping on Sundays. In the case of food items, the shopping activity moved to Mondays and Tuesdays of the following week, the purpose being to resupply. No increase was identified in the number of customers purchasing food on Fridays or Saturdays preceding nontrading Sundays. The opposite was true for non-food merchandise, where non-trading Sundays resulted primarily in increased sales on Saturdays, with minor increases on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays as well. The differences in weekly shopping schedules observed between every edition of the study also proved to be more significant than those identified in the individual respondent classification groups used for the purpose of the article.

Abstract:

The paper presents the issues of wearable technology, their role and use in the current economy. Ubiquitous digital transformation and universal access to broadband Internet are the foundation for the creation of interoperable ecosystems, where wearable technology is responsible for communication often in the relationship between machine to machine and machine to human. The authors researched the level of knowledge about these devices and the degree of their use. It turned out that despite the knowledge of worn devices and relatively positive attitudes, the degree of their use is low. The article is theoretical and empirical.

Abstract:

Insurance companies are currently carrying out tasks related to building trust, image creation and giving distinctive features to intangible insurance services, which is associated with paying more attention to the packaging of the service than to the service itself. The packaging of the insurance service consists of people, the appearance of branches, the availability of insurance services and flexibility in customer service. For insurance companies, the knowledge of not only marketing practice, but also the knowledge about customer behaviours or factors affecting their loyalty is becoming important. The purpose of the article is to review the loyalty on the insurance services market in Poland and to examine the factors influencing it. The article discusses the methods of testing customer loyalty on the insurance services market.

On the other hand, based on the results of the survey, factors affecting customer that may affect customer loyalty satisfaction are presented.