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Top1. Introduction
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than half of the European countries do not consume proper amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Solomon states that consumer behavior is a series of actions when people choose, buy, use or dispose of goods, services, ideas or experiences to fulfill needs and desires (Solomon, 2013, p. 31). In fact, “consumer behavior is a field of study that focuses on consumer activities and analyzes simply ‘why people buy’” (Blackwell et al., 2001). Howard adds to that statement and defines the consumer behavior as the field of study of ‘how and why’ people purchase and consume (Howard, 1989).
Consumer behavior has been the prime field of study that attracts marketers’ main focus and attention. In fact people purchase products to satisfy different needs and desires, making buying decisions that not only affect them, but also their families, their environment and more significantly businesses that they purchase products from.
Therefore, understanding the behavior of the consumer is principal for a company that is active on the market; actually it is critical to comprehend the approach that people implement while making purchases and the reasons for it (Blythe, 2013). In effect, the better one understands the customer, the more one can apprehend his attitudes towards the product, the brand and the company.
The fresh packaged food sector is another industry that stands on several factors that influence the consumer’s decision-making. Additionally, this business plays an important role in maintaining a healthy diet; in fact, fresh-cut products help consumers to meet the goal of having daily equilibrated nutrition containing the recommended amounts of vitamins, minerals and fibers (Seiders, Kathleen, & Petty, 2004).
The fresh packaged food industry is constantly applying innovative practices and technology to upgrade the product quality, which has allowed the sector to expand and reach a value equal to 14% of global products in 2016 (Baselice et al., 2016).
In Tunisia, the fresh packaged food sector has increased significantly in the last ten years; the market share has increased to reach 26% of the total fresh food production (AIPAT, 2016).
Given these points, the question that arises is: What are the factors that influence the consumers’ buying behavior for fresh packaged food in Tunisia?
Therefore, the goal of this work, after answering the previous question, is to identify consumers’ perceptions of fresh packaged food and the evaluation of the product attributes.