Using Retail Scanner Data to Assess the Demand for Value-based Ground Meat Products in Canada

We apply a set of weekly Nielsen retail scanner data for the period 2006-2007 to estimate consumer demand of value-based ground meat products in the Canadian retail market. Our demand system results indicate that price responses are stronger for organic than for extra lean meat products. Additionally, while rising disposable incomes may shift consumers’ attention and purchases towards extra lean ground meat products, this result does not hold for organic ground beef. Our findings strongly suggest that ground meat demand is affected by traditional meat consumption patterns. Our analysis inform retail managers meat producers about potential market opportunities and expected consumer responses to changing economic determinants of popular retail ground meat demand.