Summary
The price gap between organic and conventional food might explain the low market share of organics in the Netherlands. A real-life experiment was carried out in 2006 in order to determine the price sensitivity of consumer demand for organics. Consumer prices of selected organic products were reduced by up to 40% below current market levels. The price elasticity of demand was low, because not all consumers perceived the price reductions. Moreover, the offer of organic varieties is limited, as is the consumer’s willingness to pay for the social attributes of organics.
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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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Bunte, F.H.J., van Galen, M.A., Kuiper, W.E. et al. Limits to Growth in Organic Sales. De Economist 158, 387–410 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-010-9152-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-010-9152-3