Food consumer segmentations across five European countries: evidence for divergence or convergence?

This study attempts to develop consumer segments in the food sector in five European markets, ie. Germany, UK, Italy, France, and Spain, based on a wide spectrum of segmentation criteria. The approach is expected to help researchers and marketers understand consumer characteristics and to potentially identify transnational segments which may be addressed with a standardized international marketing programme. Based on latent class analysis employed on representative country samples of 800 consumers (in total more than 4000 responses), the objectives of this study are the following: (1) to develop consumer food segments based on a combination of domain-specific segmentation variables (e.g. benefit/psychographic/behavioral); (2) to enrich and validate consumer profiles by examining differences in socio-demographics and actual consumption pattern through multinominal regression; and (3) to identify similarities and differences between identical segments in different international markets. In doing so we respond to the many calls of bringing empirical evidence on consumer level to the field. Importantly, we also contribute to the (mainly normative) discussion regarding the choice of multi domestic, transnational, or standardized international marketing strategy.