Consumer Attitudes and Preferences toward Cross-Cultural Ready-To-Eat (RTE) Food

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the consumer attitudes and preferences toward cross-cultural ready-to-eat (RTE) food between Thailand and Japan. Interview, descriptive statistics, t-test, and conjoint analysis were applied in this research. The results revealed that Thai and Japanese participants had negative attitudes toward taste and freshness of cross-cultural RTE food. Moreover, these two factors were the primarily concerned factors when they made a decision to purchase RTE food. The image of Thai/Japanese RTE food could be represented by the characteristic and the famous name of food. Besides, the results from conjoint analysis showed that Thai consumers preferred the adapted taste between Japanese and Thai flavors. The design of food packaging should be the clear container lid with the label so that consumers can see the food inside. On the contrary, Japanese consumers preferred an authentic Thai taste and the design should be the colorful picture on the food container lid.