Analysis of the commercial value of rabbit meat based on positioning of the different types of fresh meat

Abstract

In-depth knowledge of consumers' perceptions of value is considered a critical success factor in today’s competitive market. There is very little information about the perception that consumers have of rabbit meat compared to other types of meat (mainly beef and pork). To identify the consumer perception of rabbit meat in Spain, two marketing tools were used: positioning and image analysis. To this end, a survey was carried out in Spain mainland with an error of 3.53% and a confidence level of 95.5%. According to the positioning analysis, rabbit meat competed with turkey for the "low fat" and "healthy" attributes. Rabbit meat had in its favour that it was considered more “economical” than turkey. Commercially, rabbit meat did not compete with any other fresh meat and it was not associated with any other adjective. The image that consumers had of rabbit meat was that it is a clean, healthy and easy to find meat. Two clearly distinguished groups were also found: consumers who rated rabbit meat more positively and consumers that did so less positively. These two groups were defined by the variables “educational level”, “rabbit meat consumption by children under 18 residing in the home”, “geographical area” and “habitual residence”. For the variables “gender”, “age”, “number of people in the home” and “presence of children younger than 18 years in the home”, there were no significant differences. These results are very useful for the different value chain stakeholders, who can set different marketing strategies to improve rabbit meat consumption.