Factors Affecting Consumption of Different Forms of Medicinal Plants: The Case of Licorice

Abstract

Licorice is one of the widespread medicinal plants used in various forms in many countries. Medicinal plants have an important role in health nutrition. This industry is in the early stages of its life cycle, but consumers’ recent trends toward healthy and organic food products with low detrimental effects on human health and the environment have provided a greater opportunity for the promotion and marketing of these products. The purpose of this research was to evaluate factors affecting the marketability and consumption of various forms of licorice. In this study, we used the multinomial logit regression approach with a dataset derived from a survey of consumers of medicinal plant products in 2020 in the city of Mashhad, Iran. The results showed that consumers’ experience, having a reputable brand, packaging, gender, having a particular disease, consultation index, and cultural index had significant effects on consumers’ preferences for various forms of licorice. These results indicate that to increase the consumption of different forms of licorice, attention should be paid to creating reputable brands for the specific needs of different market segments.