Consumer preference of fertilizer in West Java using multi-dimensional scaling approach

• Published in: AIP conference proceedings Vol. 1927; no. 1
• Main Authors: Utami, Hesty Nurul, Sadeli, Agriani Hermita, Perdana, Tomy, Renaldy, Eddy, H., Mahra Arari, P., Ajeng Sesy N., H., Fernianda Rahayu, Ginanjar, Tetep, Sanjaya, Sonny
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Melville American Institute of Physics 09.02.2018
• Subjects: Decomposition; Farming; Fertilizers; Hardening rate; Markets; Nutrients; Packaging design; Preferences; Scaling; Similarity; Soil fertility; Vitamins
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/1.5021205

There are various fertilizer products in the markets for farmers to be used for farming activities. Fertilizers are a supplements supply to soil nutrients, build up soil fertility in order to support plant nutrients and increase plants productivity. Fertilizers consists of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, micro vitamins and other complex nutrient in farming systems that commonly used in agricultural activities to improve quantity and quality of harvest. Recently, market demand for fertilizer has been increased dramatically; furthermore, fertilizer companies are required to develop strategies to know about consumer preferences towards several issues. Consumer preference depends on consumer needs selected by subject (individual) that is measured by utilization from several things that market offered and as final decision on purchase process. West Java is one of province as the main producer of agricultural products and automatically is one of the potential consumer’s fertilizers on farming activities. This research is a case study in nine districts in West Java province, i.e., Bandung, West Bandung, Bogor, Depok, Garut, Indramayu, Majalengka, Cirebon and Cianjur. The purpose of this research is to describe the attributes on consumer preference for fertilizers. The multi-dimensional scaling method is used as quantitative method to help visualize the level of similarity of individual cases on a dataset, to describe and mapping the information system and to accept the goal. The attributes in this research are availability, nutrients content, price, form of fertilizer, decomposition speed, easy to use, label, packaging type, color, design and size of packaging, hardening process and promotion. There are tendency towards two fertilizer brand have similarity on availability of products, price, speed of decomposition and hardening process.