Irina Hanganu’s research while affiliated with University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca and other places

Romanian consumers started buying and consuming more organic food products. Their decision-making process is influenced by a variety of aspects and by their consumer profile. Companies need to adapt their marketing mix strategies based on this information. The current research aimed to identify correlations between the marketing mix elements and buying intention and get some insight into how Romanian organic product consumers are influenced by promotional instruments. A quantitative research was developed, supported by a structured questionnaire. Following a factor analysis of the promotion items, two dimensions emerged that were named by the authors “personalized promotion” and “classic advertising”. The marketing mix elements that were found to have the highest correlation with buying intention are perception of cost-benefit ratio (price) and personalized promotion techniques (promotion). Younger respondents (

Nowadays, life is an uninterrupted discovery. The consumers tend to have a healthier lifestyle, with a diet that has optimal nutritional values, to maintain their health, in harmony with the nature and the environment. Thus, marketing is selling dreams, impressions, perceptions, creating the opportunity to live through a unique experience, to help the customers write their own story, not just to satisfy them. The main objective of this research is to find ways to support promotion and sales of ecological producers in agriculture. Producers offer high quality products, with no artificial additives and contribute to the protection of the biodiversity and the environment, and implicitly of our health. The exploratory research represents the main purpose of this paper. Starting from the analysis of the literature review related with ecological agricultural market, the evolution of the customer’s behavior and the identification of the components of the promotional mix, an overview is established. The in depth interviews and the analysis of international models show that informing the producers regarding the consumer’s dynamic needs (product diversity and freshness, adaptability to the market demand, online orders, home delivery, the client feedback, the possibility to return goods, to process their own products etc.), openness to associations and collaborations on horizontal and vertical axes, communication and information campaigns, the multi-functionality of farms, proactive promoting, creating a cluster structure are among the key factors to improve sales and promotion.