Furthermore, "Tomato-Loyals" tend t

Furthermore, "Tomato-Loyals" tend to purchase only loose tomatoes, whereas members of the youngest segment identified by [3] Bertail and Caillavet (2008) in examining vegetable consumption, tomatoes included, tend to prefer buying other frozen vegetables and convenience foods and this is mainly due to the lack of free time. Despite this lack of free time, which all consumers experience nowadays, the preference of "Tomato-loyals" to buy only fresh tomatoes illustrates an underlying willingness to adopt a healthier diet, which can be achieved if they are targeted with appropriate social marketing and policy campaigns. The reason to compare these segments in this study with vegetable consumer segments identified in France is that France is ranked third in terms of obesity among the Mediterranean countries, following Greece and Malta. Therefore, given that limited information is available about vegetable consumer segments in Malta, examining the differences between Greek and French consumer segments can provide marketing and policy insights towards the adoption of healthy diets in Mediterranean countries.

6. Conclusions

The study contributes to the consumer segmentation literature as it has revealed the basic characteristics of tomato consumer segments. The findings can be employed both by food policy makers in designing interventions in food consumption to tackle obesity, and by food marketers in targeting the appropriate consumer segments when marketing tomato products in Greece and throughout Europe. The findings indicate that "Tomato-loyals" display the lowest consumption, the lowest degree of objective knowledge about the nutritional value of tomatoes, and a low level of purchase involvement. Therefore, health marketing and policy campaigns targeting consumers of this segment should aim to increase awareness of these consumers in relation to the nutritional value of tomatoes and,their relatively low price. The latter is very important considering the high price sensitivity of this segment. Marketing and policy campaigns should also promote consumption of other vegetables, as when tomato is off-season this segment reduces substantially the overall vegetable consumption (determined mainly from tomato intake). Subsequently, further actions should be taken to ensure the supply of tomatoes off-season, as this is important for "Tomato-loyals" who do not eat other vegetables. Health marketing and policy campaigns targeting "Tomato-loyals" should also aim to increase the level of organic tomato consumption of this segment, as "Tomato-loyals" display a low consumption of organic tomatoes despite their belief that organic tomatoes are healthier than conventional. Marketing and policy campaigns should therefore stress the nutritional and the environmental benefits from the consumption of organic products. It is worth stressing that "Tomato-loyals" is the youngest segment and younger consumers tend to be more sensitive towards environmental issues. We believe that an increase in organic tomato consumption may also lead to an increase in vegetable consumption in general. Health marketing and policy campaigns targeting "Sensorialists" and "Health-conscious" should focus on the quality characteristics and the nutritional value of tomatoes respectively. Therefore, these campaigns should promote the use of nutritional labels, which will provide the information that consumers sought. The display of nutrition labels providing that information should be compulsory for food companies, even for producers of loose tomatoes. This intervention might increase the consumption of tomatoes in Greece and throughout Europe as the campaigns will focus on the importance of this information in relation to citizen's health. This could contribute to the improvement of dietary habits and behaviour of Greek, or even European, consumers too. The intervention can be expanded by introducing compulsory shelf labels in food stores and in open markets, which could contribute to a significant increase in tomato consumption. The recommended health marketing and policy campaigns should target female consumers who are mainly responsible for the grocery shopping and influence consumption behaviour of all household members. Similar social marketing and policy campaigns can be applied to other European countries in general, and to other Mediterranean countries in particular, such as France and Spain, in order to address obesity problems and to reduce public health expenses. This is very important for many Mediterranean countries (e.g. Greece, Spain, Portugal), which are currently facing major financial problems.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Selain itu, "Tomat-Loyals" cenderung membeli hanya longgar tomat, sedangkan anggota segmen termuda yang diidentifikasi oleh Bertail [3] dan Caillavet (2008) dalam memeriksa konsumsi sayuran, tomat yang disertakan, cenderung lebih suka membeli sayuran beku dan makanan kenyamanan lain dan ini terutama karena kurangnya waktu luang. Meskipun kurangnya waktu luang, yang semua konsumen mengalami saat ini, preferensi "Tomat-loyals" untuk membeli hanya segar tomat menggambarkan keinginan mendasar untuk mengadopsi diet yang sehat, yang dapat dicapai jika mereka ditargetkan dengan tepat pemasaran sosial dan kebijakan kampanye. Alasan untuk membandingkan segmen tersebut dalam studi ini dengan segmen konsumen sayuran diidentifikasi di Perancis adalah bahwa Perancis adalah peringkat ketiga dalam hal obesitas antara negara-negara Mediterania, berikut Yunani dan Malta. Oleh karena itu, mengingat bahwa informasi terbatas tersedia tentang segmen konsumen sayuran di Malta, memeriksa perbedaan antara segmen konsumen Yunani dan Perancis dapat memberikan wawasan yang pemasaran dan kebijakan terhadap adopsi diet sehat di negara-negara Mediterania.6. kesimpulanThe study contributes to the consumer segmentation literature as it has revealed the basic characteristics of tomato consumer segments. The findings can be employed both by food policy makers in designing interventions in food consumption to tackle obesity, and by food marketers in targeting the appropriate consumer segments when marketing tomato products in Greece and throughout Europe. The findings indicate that "Tomato-loyals" display the lowest consumption, the lowest degree of objective knowledge about the nutritional value of tomatoes, and a low level of purchase involvement. Therefore, health marketing and policy campaigns targeting consumers of this segment should aim to increase awareness of these consumers in relation to the nutritional value of tomatoes and,their relatively low price. The latter is very important considering the high price sensitivity of this segment. Marketing and policy campaigns should also promote consumption of other vegetables, as when tomato is off-season this segment reduces substantially the overall vegetable consumption (determined mainly from tomato intake). Subsequently, further actions should be taken to ensure the supply of tomatoes off-season, as this is important for "Tomato-loyals" who do not eat other vegetables. Health marketing and policy campaigns targeting "Tomato-loyals" should also aim to increase the level of organic tomato consumption of this segment, as "Tomato-loyals" display a low consumption of organic tomatoes despite their belief that organic tomatoes are healthier than conventional. Marketing and policy campaigns should therefore stress the nutritional and the environmental benefits from the consumption of organic products. It is worth stressing that "Tomato-loyals" is the youngest segment and younger consumers tend to be more sensitive towards environmental issues. We believe that an increase in organic tomato consumption may also lead to an increase in vegetable consumption in general. Health marketing and policy campaigns targeting "Sensorialists" and "Health-conscious" should focus on the quality characteristics and the nutritional value of tomatoes respectively. Therefore, these campaigns should promote the use of nutritional labels, which will provide the information that consumers sought. The display of nutrition labels providing that information should be compulsory for food companies, even for producers of loose tomatoes. This intervention might increase the consumption of tomatoes in Greece and throughout Europe as the campaigns will focus on the importance of this information in relation to citizen's health. This could contribute to the improvement of dietary habits and behaviour of Greek, or even European, consumers too. The intervention can be expanded by introducing compulsory shelf labels in food stores and in open markets, which could contribute to a significant increase in tomato consumption. The recommended health marketing and policy campaigns should target female consumers who are mainly responsible for the grocery shopping and influence consumption behaviour of all household members. Similar social marketing and policy campaigns can be applied to other European countries in general, and to other Mediterranean countries in particular, such as France and Spain, in order to address obesity problems and to reduce public health expenses. This is very important for many Mediterranean countries (e.g. Greece, Spain, Portugal), which are currently facing major financial problems.