Food Products in the Retail Market: Conceptual Boundaries and Classifications

Abstract

This study presents a literature review on the food products and their delimitations in the retail sector. Food categories are separated in the international literature in complex and multidimensional groups. We can see that some researchers divide food based on nutritional values and health issues, while others classify them in the international trade legislation based on fiscal and import regulation. The seasonality and taste are also categories considered for the division of food products. In this paper research will be conducted by analyzing various articles to determine the food classes in the retail industry. The main aspects to be addressed in our paper are the ones based on consumer perceptions when buying a food product in the market, more specifically in the retail shop. Hence the authors will analyze food categories in connection with their placement in the main retail shops, based on consumer buying behaviour. The principal groups in which the food products will be separated are based on freshness level, processed level, or the extent and function of industrial processing the food products have gone through, and finally, the type of packaging. Another important category the authors will address is the private label brand which has positioned itself on a separate classification. Results suggest that this kind of food classification is an important aspect to be used in retail food brands analysis and their positioning in consumers' minds.