The aim of the research is to determine the criteria of internal factors influencing the effectiveness of outdoor advertising. The eye-tracking experiment was conducted in Lithuania in 2016. Consumers’ visual attention toward specific criteria of internal factors influencing the effectiveness of outdoor advertising was measured. The chosen criteria were headline font size, the number of elements in the advertisement, and dominating elements in the advertisement (visual or textual). The main results of the research reveal that when the surface size of visual and textual outdoor advertising elements is the same, textual elements attract more visual attention than visual ones and that advertisements containing a large number of elements attract more visual attention than the ones containing a small number of elements. Moreover, when the font sizes of two headlines are both larger than the body text, but those headlines differ in font size one from another, there is no significant difference in consumers’ visual attention toward those headlines. Consequently, it is recommended to create outdoor advertisements with a large number of elements, where most of them are textual, in order to attract the consumers’ attention.

Pulses (Fabaceae) are an excellent source of nutrients with protein content equal to the protein of meats. Regularly choosing such meat alternatives as pulses can help minimize the amount of saturated fat and increase the amount of fibre in the diet. New pulse products could benefit vegetarians and people struggling with new diet changes. The aim of this study was to determine pulse consumption patterns of Latvian adults. An 11 question survey was developed on an online survey website www.visidati.lv to analyse consumer attitudes towards pulse consumption in Latvia. The questionnaire was completed by 780 respondents from September to December 2013. During the Baltics food industry fair ‘Riga Food 2013’ five question survey was carried out after vegetarian bean spread tasting. The questions were related to pulse consumption and preference; five questions survey consisted of overall preference and quality determination of the product. The results show that the majority of Latvian omnivore adults consume pulses about once a week or less; while pulse intake in vegetarian adults is significantly higher (p is less than 0.05). Latvian adults prefer green peas (Pisum sativum L.), navy and broad beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), lentils (Lens culinaris Medik.), chickpeas (Cicer arietinum L.) and maple peas (Pisum sativum L. var. arvense). Overall preference of vegetarian bean spread with sun-dried tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is ‘like very much’ (4.5 – 4.6) and most of the respondents would purchase this product if it was available in a store.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune enteropathy disease, triggered in genetically susceptible individuals by ingested gluten from wheat (Triticum), rye (Secale cereale), barley (Hordeum vulgare) and other closely related cereal grains. The only way of the effective daily treatment is a strict gluten-free diet. From the investigation of products available in the local market, it was found that Latvian producers do not offer gluten-free products. The aim of this research was to study a celiac patient’s attitude to gluten-free product quality and availability in the Latvian market and purchasing habits. The survey was designed using website www.visidati.lv, and a questionnaire was sent to people suffering from celiac disease. The respondents were asked to fill in the questionnaire from the beginning of December 2010 till the end of July 2011. The questionnaire was performed with 131 celiac patients, respondents were from all Latvian regions and they answered 15 questions. One of the most important questions was aimed to find out consumers’ opinion about quality of gluten-free products, consumption patterns of gluten-free products, and, moreover, their interest in products made in Latvia. Respondents were asked to name gluten-free products they mainly buy and give specific purchase locations, evaluate the quality of products and necessity for products produced in Latvia. The results of questionnaire show that the consumers are satisfied with the quality of gluten-free flour, flour blends and pasta, but are not satisfied with the quality of bread and confectionery available in the Latvian markets.

Sherbet with crunchy peanut chips could be classified as milk pomade. It is one of popular sweets in Latvia produced by Joint-stock Company Laima, which is one of the oldest producers of sweets in the Baltic States. Freshly made sherbet is soft and savoury but after several days’ storage at the open air gradually hardens, the product loses eye appeal, taste and becomes unmarketable. This problem limits the shelf life, so sherbet with crunchy peanut chips can be marketed only at the local market. The target of this study was to clarify the situation on the market in Latvia and to examine an issue of Latvian consumers’ awareness of milk pomade sweets – sherbet quality indicators, packaging and its presentation to consumers, as well as the sherbet market expandability. A questionnaire was developed – 800 respondents answered on the 14 questions – how well-recognized the milk pomade sweet – sherbet is, what the main features for this kind of sweets selection by consumers are, which quality indices are important for consumers. One of most important questions was to get know the consumers opinion about sweets, mainly sherbet possible packaging kind and the market turnover. Summarizing the questionnaire data, the response from consumers in Latvia was heartening – they like milk pomade candies. As a primary quality defect the hardness of sherbet was mentioned. Eliminating this main failing of quality, the demand of sherbet on the market could rise, as well the product marketing opportunities will grow.

Nowadays the demand for fast and easy-to-make meals is ever increasing. This type of food is an essential dietary component of a large section of people in developed countries. Given the economic importance of ready-to-eat meals there is a need for a better understanding of the factors that determine their consumption. The aim of this research was to determine consumer attitudes towards the introduction of ready-to-eat meal (MRE) sets in the Latvian market. A survey was performed to determine the Latvian citizens’ attitudes towards the introduction of this type of quick-tomake, ready-to-eat products into the market of Latvia. The survey included a total of 800 respondents who answered 14 questions which were related to the interest in MRE sets that can be prepared (warmed up etc.) in less than 10 minutes and taste like home-cooked food, and the types of MRE sets these consumers would like to purchase. The demand forecast for MRE sets in the Latvian market is rather high as 67% of the respondents expressed a desire to purchase these products; the development and implementation of MRE sets is topical. The results show that the highest rated MRE set the respondents, a total of 77.1%, expressed a desire to purchase, was chicken fillet with vegetables. No significant differences in terms of liking were observed between chicken fillet with vegetables and chicken fillet with rice, the second highest rated MRE set by 73.9% of the respondents (p is greater than 0.05).

Given the intensive competition in almost all the business sectors, customer loyalty research is gaining its popularity among marketers as well as among scholars. The aim of this research was to determine the differences in loyalty to grocery retailer between urban and rural consumers. In order to reveal the differences, questionnaire research was provided and differences between Lithuanian urban and rural customer loyalties were determined. The research results indicated the existence of statistically significant differences between the loyalties of Lithuanian urban and rural regarding their mostly visited grocery retailers in terms of their attitudes and repeat patronage behaviour. Moreover, based on the neo-behaviouristic approach, considering attitudinal and behavioural measures, all kinds of loyalties were observed stronger in the urban areas of Lithuania. The assumption was made that there might be an effect of limited-choice condition. Affected by the latter condition, rural citizens tend to seek for variety more than the urban ones. Consequently, considering the rural citizens’ evaluations, it can be stated that their loyalty is undermanaged, resulting in a very low amounts of truly loyal customers. Therefore, for the grocery retailers it was recommended to revise their customer loyalty schemes based on the point of residence of their consumers. In such a way the higher possibility of meeting consumer needs might be achieved.

Non-bank crediting has become popular in Latvia as well as in other European countries due to various economic and social factors. Since the banks in recent years have introduced much stricter lending conditions, non-bank crediting sector has experienced a significant increase not only in Latvia but also in other European and world countries. Non-bank crediting market actively began to develop through a wide promotion of consumer credits in the major mass media; thus, creating human interest in the availability of fast and easy processable credits. Non-bank credit companies without customer deposits have transformed the present credit market, since a number of new players entered the market testing new business and crediting models and providing solutions to credit-challenged customers. The research aim is to study the non-bank consumer crediting trends in Latvia and it employs a monographic descriptive method as well as the methods of analysis and synthesis and graphics. The research results demonstrate that the popularity of non-bank credits is still growing among consumers, since the total amounts of non-bank credits disbursed for the first time have increased by EUR 116.61 million or 33.18% for the period 2012-2015 with distance credits being the most demanded credit type accounting for approximately 40% of all non-bank credits. Non-bank credit market is saturated and there is a fierce competition between non-bank crediting companies in terms of interest rates, crediting conditions and other factors.

In a landscape of increasing customer/firm interactions in digital space, content marketing, which aims to generate prospects and sales to foster customers’ brand engagement, brand awareness and trust, is on the rise. Notwithstanding, despite significant marketing specialist interest, scientific content marketing research is not widely developed. Therefore, it encourages the need for new studies in the content marketing field. This paper introduces theoretical and practical aspects of content marketing decisions for the creation of desired customer value in the tourism sector. The aim of the presented research is to determine which combinations of content marketing decisions could create the desired value for the customer in the tourism sector. Understanding the content marketing decisions that create the desired value for customers could lead to a proper implementation of content marketing in the tourism sector. The presented results of q-sort study indicate twelve different combinations of content marketing decisions which could be used by tourism organizations in order to create desired value for their customer. Thus, it means that increasement of desired customer value can be made in the light of content marketing usage. The paper ends with insights, conclusions, limitations and future research possibilities.

This study is based on the authors’ research started in 2017 that resulted in the development of theoretical strategic and tactical models for the construction of a prototype for automated assessment of tourism economic impact in specific regions, including regions of national parks (NP), as well as for other studies. The aim of the research was testing the performance of the prototype in a research e-environment using the travellers’ survey data obtained in a study in 2019 on the national parks’ target groups (visitor behaviour) during the Gauja National Park (GNP) Travellers’ Days. The prototype was based on the open-source platform Drupal, MySQL used as a database management system (DMS). Drupal united with the Jupyter Notebook platform. The methodological substantiation of the test study is based on aspects of consumer behaviour. A quantitative study with details of qualitative research has been performed. Simple data sampling was used in the data acquisition, but in the analysis – induction, deduction approach, synthesis, data sorting and segmentation, determination of mean values and their expression in proportion; a comparative analysis was performed and conclusions characterizing the sample were made. After completing the prototype performance testing, the authors’ main findings indicate that the prototype’s performance efficiency in terms of time consumption is 23.3 times higher than equivalent work in MS Excel. The prototype has yielded quantitative results from the calculations, and that allows the formulation of the GNP’s Travellers’ Days visitor profile, which is characterized by a sample of the surveys.

The changes taking place in economics, its internationalisation, development of information and progress of science and technique determine the necessity to raise the country's economic competitiveness, as the result of it the level of life will rise. It is relevant for Latvia to be aware of its advantages and potential competitiveness in order to carry out appropriate macroeconomic policy and favour the introduction of appropriate macroeconomic as well as social policy. The main advantage for providing more rapid development is the fact that Latvia is a small country, able to adopt flexibly, the demand of economic environment where it is easier to achieve a compromise with society. As well as the fact that it is characteristic for the population of Latvia to have a constant tendency towards better life. The way in which Latvia will be able to use its comparative advantages in context of EU market will determine the progress of the national economy including agriculture. At the moment, several problems, which are to be solved, have already appeared in agriculture. The more rapid introduction of technologies of information communication (ICT) in agriculture could be one of the ways to solve the problem. It would provide the development for both economic and social spheres motivating exchange of information, expanding of the market, increasing of production quality, improving work organisation in enterprises, and providing more possibilities for education. To carry out the questioning of students of the Latvia University of Agriculture in the course of study in order to find out the level of ICT application among students, as well as to obtain information about ICT application in the process of education.