Local or Imported Product: Assessment of Purchasing Preferences of Consumers on Food Markets—The Case of Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Ukraine

The aim of the study is to identify and assess the factors affecting consumer choices on the market of food products, considering problems of the country of product origin. While preparing the study we used results of surveys conducted among purchasers of food products from Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and Lithuania. The research was carried out in 2016 in a group of 1364 students using CAWI and PAPI methods. As a result of the research and analyzes carried out it was shown that, the various types of product evaluation criteria had different meaning in the decision-making process for surveyed young food buyers from Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Ukraine. Statistically the biggest differences between respondents from individual countries concerned the assessment of such factors as: country of product origin, ecological brands and quality certificates. The smallest differences in the opinions of the surveyed buyers could be observed in the case of such product criteria as: taste, product prices and the freshness of food products.