Have you ever tried organic food before? If yes, how often do you purchase organic food? According to a consumer survey, around 3% of the respondents purchase organic food every day, more than that in the previous year. Also, 16.4% of the have consumed activities on organic food once a week (Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre, 2019). Purchasing health food becomes more and more common nowadays. These enlarged the market. The growth of the health food market may create more opportunities, improve goods and services, and provide chances for marketing.
As the health food market’s scale is larger and larger, there are more farm and nearby industries occur. With more and more people willing to choose healthy food for their daily meal even it is more expensive than normal food, many businessmen started to enter this market. In 2019, there are 284 farms in Hong Kong (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, 2019). Besides, some new companies and organizations were set up because of the growth of the health food market. This creates job opportunities for people interested in farming. For example, restaurants, workshops, and online shops. Like Asaya Kitchen and Slowlife, there are many new restaurant selling dishes which are using organic ingredients. Besides, the Federation of Vegetable Marketing Co-operative Societies, LTD is an organization for Hong Kong farmers, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department states that “the FVMCS had set up the Community Growers Group (CGG) Office in November 2004 aimed at assisting farmers in organic certification application, providing farmers with quality organic seedlings and promoting local organic produce through agri-tourism and direct sales.” This means farmers have also developed some tours to attract visitors which can give more opportunities to them to widen their business. These show the widening of the health food market’s scale brings changes for Hongkongers. The trend of eating healthy foods creates commercial possibilities.
Secondly, the quality of goods and services can be controlled. Since the health food market has grown, some non-governmental organizations （NGO ） and government takes different actions to supervise the products and companies. For NGO, Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre is the first independent registered Organic certification organization, its certification has proved by the International Federal of Organic Agriculture Movement and ISO17065 in 2012 and 2015. These certifications can help consumers to classify real organic food and control the quality of goods. Also, it forces farmers to pay attention to the goods’ quality to meet the standard of the organization. For the government, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department will test the soil and water in organic farms and will visit organic farms. These actions may make sure the farms will not be polluted or not fulfill the requirements of farming the health food. Before the growth of the health food market, there are fewer resources from the government and society. However, since the scale of the market become larger, more policies are developed which are control the goods and services better.
Finally, the company can have promotion through the growth of the health food market. More and more people prefer organic food than non-organic products, it causes restaurants can use organic food as a selling point. As the Department for Agriculture and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) states that “Organic food is the product of a farming system which avoids the use of man-made fertilizers, pesticides; growth regulators and livestock feed additives.”, eating healthy food means having a healthy and environmental-friendly lifestyle. It may become a trend. Shops that use healthy food as a raw material may become popular.
To sum up, the growth of the health food market may good for the business environment. More commercial possibilities will occur, the quality of products will be improved, and the advertising effect may be provided.