Download This PaperWho Chooses Functional Food?: Social-Demographic Effects in Japan
51 Pages Posted: 27 Apr 2020 Last revised: 24 Nov 2021
Date Written: November 15, 2021
Abstract
Functional foods have become popular in many countries. Japan has one of the biggest markets for functional globally. It has further established a unique policy that states that the government approves functional foods following scientific evidence. This policy is considered the most transparent functional food policy globally, owing to its requirement for approval and disclosure. The country has managed this functional food policy for approximately 30 years, so that consumers in Japan are familiar with these foods. However, there is no research on the functional products in Japan that is based on actual purchasing log data from both marketing and policy viewpoints. This study is also the first to investigate the social-demographic effects of the choice of functional food in Asian countries, using enormous purchasing log data covering many different food categories. We perform three types of analysis (logit regression for each food category, clustering of food categories, and logit regression for each functional attribute), to investigate the socio-demographic heterogeneity. First, it is found that there are various socio-demographic effects among food categories. Our results suggest that this study might differ from previous literature because of country differences. Second, we find some specific food categories whose functional market is unique from the results of the clustering of food categories. This result is helpful for food product firms and food retailers. Finally, the functional attribute subsample analysis implies that the food labeling policy can approach potential internal medicine patients, dental diseases, and bone diseases.
Keywords: Functional Food, Food-Marketing, Logit Regression, Cluster Analysis
JEL Classification: L66, Q13, Q18
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