Investigating factors behind consumers' attitudes towards imported powdered milk for pregnant women in Ho Chi Minh city
Abstract
The Vietnam dairy industry is a potential sector that shows unceasing growth over the past ten years; particularly milk powder segment. Foreign manufacturers have many opportunities to penetrate and invest in this market. However, they must face with some barriers such as melamine scandal, competition of local producers, and price war which lead to unpredictable evaluation from consumers. Therefore, the dissertation provides an overview of dairy market in Vietnam, milk powder segment situation, and investigates factors affecting consumer attitudes on imported mama milk powder sector in Ho Chi Minh City. In the empirical study, a questionnaire survey is conducted to collect data with respect to consumer attitudes in Vietnam. The quantitative research scope (n = 234) is limited in the Vietnam market, particularly in Ho Chi Minh City, which has the most dairy consumption across the country. The primary data from questionnaires was analyzed by SPSS technique in statistic manner. The results generated that there are three factors which are country of origin, consumer ethnocentrism and group reference significantly influencing consumer attitudes toward foreign mama milk powder. To be more specific, consumers have positive attitude toward mama powdered milk from international brand and their evaluations would be affected by other opinions. Over and above that, consumer ethnocentrism was found that it has strongest correlation with consumer attitudes in terms of negative direction. Demography and product attributes also tested; however, they do not have any relationship with consumer attitudes. Key words: consumer attitudes; imported milk; Ho Chi Minh City