Food for Thought: What Factors Influence the Meal Kit Purchase: A Study on the Important Attributes for the Decision-making Process of Meal Kit Customers

Abstract

Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, meal kits have experienced a growing, worldwide popularity resulting in a global multi-billion-dollar industry. However, due to its only recent growth, limited research, particularly in the field on consumer decision-making, has been conducted. This research aims to fill this gap for the Danish market by identifying relevant product attributes customers take into consideration in their purchase decision. Through this contribution, meal kit providers can tailor and market their product offering to a greater extend, facilitating both customer retention and acquisition efforts. The study draws on the attribute consumer behaviour model introduced by Lancaster as a theoretical foundation and investigates the research question through a combination of interviews with industry experts as well as focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and a survey. Three customer segments within the Danish meal kit market are analysed, to outline potential differences of how they perceive the importance of certain attributes. Moreover, the attribute importance is evaluated on multiple importance dimensions to enhance the validity of the findings. As a result of this investigation, it has been found that meal kit customers in the Danish market select their meal kit provider based on a variety of attributes such as ingredient quality; price; healthiness; sustainability; convenience; packaging but also public image and deliverability. Moreover, the findings highlight that different attributes vary in their importance across different segments. In particular, the importance of price, convenience and healthiness has been found to vary significantly across segments. Hence, this research provides marketers with insights into the diverging customer preferences in the Danish meal kit market on which basis they can modify and communicate their products more effectively.