Traditional Foods at the Click of a Button: The Preference for the Online Purchase of Romanian Traditional Foods during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Traditional Foods at the Click of a Button: The Preference for the Online Purchase of Romanian Traditional Foods during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Iris Vermeir, Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag, Dacinia Crina Petrescu, Florin Laurentiu Crista, Ioan Banatean-Dunea

The 2020 quarantine demonstrated that online food purchase has become one of the main protagonists of the pandemic. The present study valued the Internet as a mediator between producers and consumers with the power to create new demand for Romanian traditional food during the COVID-19 crisis. Authors aimed at carrying out an exploratory research about the online purchase of traditional foods (TFs). Within this context, the study, firstly, outlines the meaning of traditional foods in the Romanian consumers’ minds and, secondly, it identifies the variables that can predict the preference for the online purchase of TFs during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was carried out to investigate the Romanian consumers’ perceptions (n = 223) of TFs and online purchase of TFs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Binary logistic regression tested the relationship between the preference for the online purchase of TFS (vs. in-store) and seven perceived characteristics of TFs. Results show that the preference for the online purchase of TFs during the COVID-19 pandemic can be predicted by five variables—“TFs taste”; “Effect of TFs consumption on health during the COVID-19 pandemic”; “Effect of online TFs purchase on health during the COVID-19 pandemic”; “How cheap/expensive is to buy TFS online during the COVID-19 pandemic”; and “Easiness to purchase TFS online during the COVID-19 pandemic”. It was concluded that TFs have to claim their place within this digitized landscape by finding the balance between old and new, between preferences for foods taste passed through generations and new life lifestyles at 5G speed.

2020

perceptions, covid-19, consumers, the Internet, Traditional foods

10.3390/su12239956

Biotemas

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

Environmental effects of industries and plants, Renewable energy sources, Environmental sciences