Societal Context and Its Impact on Demand for New Products: the case of grapefruit in South Korea

The average grapefruit consumers in South Korea first consumed the fruit within the past four years. Marketing growth and development have led to increased imports of grapefruit in South Korea. This study investigated factors influencing grapefruit consumption experiences and consumption patterns after initial consumption, focusing on social context, and further divided by physical and social context. Survey results showed that approximately 80% of consumers have consumed fresh grapefruit. Physical contexts such as living area and accessibility of fresh grapefruit were important for consumption experiences, but social facilitation such as having family and peers who like grapefruit were significantly related to repeated consumption. The popularity of grapefruit (boom) influenced not only grapefruit consumption experiences but repeated and returned consumption. Taking prescription medication was a barrier for trying grapefruit, and health conscious consumers were more likely to have stopped consuming grapefruit, which may raise a potential issue of grapefruit-medication interactions in the South Korean market in the future, as has happened in the U.S. and Japan.