Abstract:
Commercially cultivated vegetables reach to consumers via numerous marketing channels.
Several marketing levels are existed in them such as wholesale marketing and retail marketing.
The problem that was going to explore by this study is the effect of different factors on
consumers’ buying decision of fresh vegetables at retail level. The selected district for the study
was Ratnapura. It has a good representation of various socio economical levels. The population
of the district was 1,140,000 in 2017. According to Yamane formula, under 95% confidence level
the sample size calculated as 400. Convenient sampling technique occupied to select the
respondents. The evaluating method was a Likert scale. The scale was from 5 -1 with responses
ranged from 5=“extremely important” to 1=“not at all important”. Respondents had to select one
response for every statement. The mean values and standard deviations of statements were
calculated by SPSS 19 software. The mean values are ranged from 4.38 to 1.90.The highest mean
values were belonged to the most effective factors to decide consumers’ buying decision. They
were freshness (4.38), free from chemical residuals (4.32), free from pest disease attacks and
physical damages (4.05) and good sanitary level of the market (4.08) Arrangements to attract
children (1.9) was the least effected Availability of minimally processed and pre packed
vegetables (2.11), presence of additional services (2.44), facilities to use credit cards (2.48),
personal attention to consumers (2.72) were belonged to least important factors. By these
results concluded freshness and other factors supportive to keep a better sanitary level of
vegetables were highly affected for buying decision of fresh vegetables at retail level while some
modern techniques are not much affected. These results are considerably noteworthy for
marketers in vegetable marketing channels. They can invest their money in an additionally
effective way to maximize their profits while providing better service for the consumers.
