Marketing cooperatives are gaining popularity in the supply chain management of fruits and vegetables (F&V) due to consumers’ increasing desire to purchase cooperative products as well as producers’ willingness to reinforce their bargaining power in the market. The main purpose of this empirical study is to investigate the most important factors that motivate Greek producers to participate in marketing cooperatives, as well as those motives that discourage them. The prefecture of Imathia, in the northern part of Greece, was chosen because it is characterized by a high involvement of cooperatives, wholesalers and retailers in F&V trading. A structured questionnaire was answered by 61 producers of Imathia in 2020. The results indicate that producers recognize that they ensure safer financial transactions and direct distribution of their fresh agricultural produce via marketing cooperatives. Moreover, the study showed that there is a statistically significant difference in the motives of participation in a marketing cooperative that has bargaining power and direct distribution of fresh agricultural produce between the three categories of education level. However, producers appeared to agree that (1) the great divergence in members’ reasons for participation in a marketing cooperative and (2) the inability to take collective decisions by the general assembly are the most important disincentives for participation in marketing cooperatives.

European agri-food-chains are characterized by strong interconnections among all partners, their complexity, their resilience in a period of uncertainty, and their shared commitment to continue to strive for food safety and quality. The regulatory role of Greek collective organizations thus empowers their members and enables small farmers to achieve the above agri-food-chain goals. A large number of academic articles on collective organizations focus on economic analysis of their performance, but there is little research on the impact of regulation on consumer behavior. The objective of this study is (a) to analyze the Greek market of fruit and vegetable cooperatives, (b) to identify consumers’ opinions with regard to the regulatory role of Greek collective organizations in the fruit and vegetable supply chain, and (c) to assess whether consumers and producers benefit from the cooperative movement.

This is the first empirical study which has segmented consumers based on cooperative product concepts and perceived the barriers in purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables. From this research, we analyzed specific factors of satisfaction and beliefs on cooperative movement, through segmentation with hierarchical cluster analysis. An empirical study was conducted via personal interviews with a questionnaire on a sample of 400 Helenian food consumers. In such a way, we identified three consumer segments: (1) Moderately Satisfied (C1), (2) Dissatisfied (C2), (3) Satisfied (C3). The Satisfied consumers are characterized with the highest mean of satisfaction for “Taste-Safety” in purchasing cooperative fresh fruits and vegetables compared to the other segments. Also, they are the unique consumers of other clusters, who believe that cooperative producers enjoy fair prices for their agricultural products. The moderately satisfied consumers are more satisfied with the quality control which exercised by agricultural cooperatives and they are prone to being influenced by similar products of the competition market. The Dissatisfied consumers appear to be very low satisfied with price-availability of cooperative fresh fruits and vegetables and they are available to pay the “proper” price for cooperative fruits and vegetables, if and only if agricultural cooperatives change their commercial policy for better quality and safety. This empirical study fills the research gap in cooperative products regarding: (a) specific factors of satisfaction, (b) demographic characteristics of sample and (c) beliefs for agricultural cooperatives.

The role of agricultural cooperatives in Greece is changing with consumers demanding to know more about the provenance and production of fresh food. This mixed methods study examines how branding promotes customer trust in the Thessaloniki region of Greece. Of the 400 people surveyed, 37.8% of those who did not buy from cooperatives could not identify the cooperative brands, which poses a significant challenge to the growth of cooperatives. Two key factors underpinned perceptions of cooperatives: how loyal consumers were to the brand and how much they cared about the community. Loyalty is linked to trusting the enterprise and its products, while a sense of being locally invested reflects concern for fair prices for producers and helping the local economy. The dominant finding was that agricultural cooperatives are deemed important for the overall betterment of the food system, which extends their identity beyond mere commercial organizations. By understanding consumers’ perceptions, cooperatives can shape how they convey their unique values through their branding and marketing. This study provides valuable insights into the role of agricultural cooperatives in the food system in Greece and how they can improve their branding and marketing to succeed in a competitive market.