| Abstrakt: |
Saffron is one of the most valuable and important agricultural products in Iran. Thus, it is necessary to consider the preferences of consumers to develop its market. Consumers have different needs and want. Companies can understand customers' preferences in each segment of the market correctly by benefit segmenting the saffron market. Therefore, the saffron market is divided into homogenous segments in this study by using crisp and fuzzy clustering algorithms. Then, consumer preferences, attitudes, and demographic characteristics are examined in each saffron market segment using the conjoint analysis results. The necessary data were collected from 400 respondents using a stratified sampling method from 13 districts of Mashhad, Iran. The results showed that the saffron market could be divided into six homogeneous segments, and the fuzzy Cmeans clustering algorithm performs better at finding clusters than k-means, k-medoids, fuzzy Gustafson-Kessel, and fuzzy Gath-Geva methods. According to the study's findings, in most market segments, the weight of saffron and the packaging type are the most important attributes influencing purchase decisions. Based on the results of this study, it is suggested that saffron companies consider consumer preferences in different market segments when supplying saffron products and formulating marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
