Consumer behaviour in terms of preferences and opportunities for choice: unlike preferences, the opportunities
for choice are often directly observable so that, to the extent that variations inbehaviour can be traced to variations
in opportunities, they have a straightforward and objective explanation of observed phenomena (Deaton,
In marketing, however, the analysis of consumer behaviour is dealing primarily with preferences and how
preferences are formed in the mind of the consumer. Marketing approaches to consumer behaviour may be
distinguished as cognitive versus behavioural. From a cognitive perspective, can be defined consumer behaviour as
the activities that people engage in when selecting, purchasing, and using products and services to satisfy needs and
desires. Such activities involve mental and emotional processes, in addition to physical actions (Zanoli, Naspetti,
2002).
In order to understand why customers are interested in purchasing a product, it is necessary to understand the
nature of the finalised buying decisional process and, therefore, of what they want or try to achieve through the
purchase (Smith and Swinyard, 1999).
In this study I will focus on consumer motivation in the case of organic products. The study was essentially
aimed at analysing factors of motivating consumer to buy organic food. The paper opens with a detailed discussion
of the international literature surrounding the organic consumer and the factors that affect buying for organic
products.