Intercultural Challenges in Consumer Research in the Food Sector: The Case of Japanese Rice

Abstract

Within the study, we show that it is quite demanding to conduct consumer surveys abroad, in particular, if the targeted society differs in so many ways compared to the domestic market. This contribution presents results of a study analyzing consumer behavior in the Japanese rice market. The main focus was set on the evaluation of
preferences of Japanese consumers when buying rice. Amongst others, one core attribute was origin which is actually a prominent attribute in Western European food markets. To approximate the impact of relevant attributes influencing consumers’ purchasing decision (origin, brand, quality seals and price), we conducted a discrete choice experiment with Japanese consumers, mainly living in urban areas.