Turkish consumers' attitudes towards frozen foods

This study analyzed the purchasing behaviours of consumers and non-consumers of frozen food products in Izmir province, which is one of the three largest provinces of Turkey. A total of 271 randomly selected consumers were determined with proportional sampling method. Cluster analysis was performed to group both the participants who buy and the participants who do not buy frozen products into homogenous clusters. Cluster analysis considered gender, age, education, marital status, longest place of residency, working status, number of family members, personal income level and factor scores of attitude variables, which were reduced using factor analysis. Both the study participants who buy and do not buy frozen products in Izmir province were divided into three different clusters. "Time saving" and "ease of preparation" were among the highly effective reasons offered by the consumers - included in all three groups buying frozen products - in purchasing frozen food. It was found that frozen food consumers mostly preferred to purchase frozen pizza, millefeuille, potatoes, meat and meat products. Since various vegetables and fruits are available in Turkey at any time of the year, the consumers did not prefer to purchase frozen vegetables and fruit. It was found that study participants - who buy and do not buy frozen products - prefer to prepare vegetable group products by freezing them in their homes. Consumers with a higher personal income level had a higher demand for frozen products. It was concluded that advertising and services offered for the needs, desires and expectations of this group would be more appropriate to stimulate the frozen food sector.