ABSTRACT

The general objective of this study was to analyse consumer purchase behaviour on frozen foods: a case of frozen fish in Abia state, Nigeria. Specifically, the study has its objectives as to: examme the socio-economic profile of the respondents in Abia state; describe the places of purchase of these fish; estimate the factors that influence the preference for these frozen foods in the study area; and make recommendations based on the findings. Purposive and random sampling technique was adopted in the study. In this case, six local government areas were chosen for the study. These comprises of three urban areas and three rural areas. The urban local government areas are Aba south, Aba north and Umuahia north local government areas, while Bende, Ikwuano and local government areas were the rural areas selected. Twenty households were then randomly selected from each of these local government areas. This brings a total number of the respondents to one hundred and twenty. Primary source of data was used for the study. This was actualized with questionnaire administered to the already selected respondents. Enumerator who had already been trained assisted in the distribution and collection of data. Objectives (i) and (ii), employed descriptive statistics such as frequency, means, percentages, etc, while objective (iii), employed binary logit model in the analysis. The socioeconomic profile of the respondents in the study area indicated that the mean age of the respondent was 20 years. The minimum age was approximately 37 year and 5 months, while the maximum age was 60 years. The mean number of years spent in school was 11 years 5 months having spent a minimum 016 years and a maximum of 16 years in school. They had acquired a minimum of 5yaers and 7 month, a maximum of 21 years and a mean of 1 year in the business or enterprise. The mean household size was 1 person, a minimum of 3yaers and a maximum of 7 persons. A minimum income of N40, 000.00 was earned monthly the respondents, a maximum income of N2l0, 000.00 and a mean income of N86, 840.00. The result also indicated that majority of the respondents which made up of 70 percent of the respondents buy from the open markets. Following, comprises of those who buy from grocery stores in the study area. These consumers comprised of about 23.33 percent. In the same vein, only about 6.67 percent of the respondents buy from cold rooms. The maximum likelihood estimates of the factors influencing the consumer preference for frozen fish in the study area also indicated that the coefficients of age, education, household size, taste, and price were statistically significant in explaining the factors that influence preference. There were all significant at one percent probability levels but with different signs