How do Consumer Groups` Preferences and Buying Behavior Differ by Their Living Zones? Lesson from Farmed Fish in a Developing Country

The global aquaculture production, particularly in Bangladesh, is steadily rising due to several product-market characteristics. However, consumers across the consumption zone consider more factors of farmed fish than those of the production zone. The study therefore aims to depict how consumer preferences vary by their living zones for two popular farmed fish; pangasius (Pangasianodoan hypophthalmus) and tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). For this purpose, 300 respondents from 7 districts in Bangladesh were interviewed. The results showed that consumers purchase little farmed fish more than the larger one e.g. 85% purchase ≤ 2kg of pangasius and 94% purchase ≤ 1 kg of tilapia. The estimated logit regression models revealed that pangasius preferences were largely important for availability, flavor, taste, education, income and household size whereas tilapia preferences were important for price, availability, presence of bones, flavor, freshness, age, and income of the respondents. The results were different if the product markets were divided into production and consumption zones for each of the species. Therefore, this study implies that the actors of the farmed fish should focus more on the pricing strategy and supply of the fish so that the consumer can easily make their purchase decision. Similarly, they can target different product market segments for generating more revenue from this business