Determination of consumers’ fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) purchasing preferences during the Covid-19 pandemic period: the case of Turkey

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the preference criteria for purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV) and for where FFV is sold according to thesocio-economic characteristic of consumers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Material and Methods: In order to meet the above objective, an online survey was conducted. A sample of 720 respondents was selected from the residents of all cities in Turkey using the snowball method, which is one of the non-probability sampling methods. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used to examine the statistical relationship between socio-economic characteristics and preference criteria.
Results: The most important criterion are respectively freshness, taste/smell and food safety for purchasing FFV products. Besides, when choosing the place to be purchased, the most important criteria are respectively freshness, hygiene of place and hygiene of staff. Women give more importance to freshness of pruducts compared to males (p<0.05). The importance given to the hygiene of the product and place increases as the education level increases (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results could provide valuable insights to farmers, retailers and wholesalers targeting FFV consumers. It is recommended that the priority of price should be replaced by the priority of freshness, safety and hygiene. Only in this way can all players in the FFV marketing chain offer a better functioning system.