E-Learning as a Food Marketing Tool

While the field of Customer-Focused E-Learning opens up novel opportunities for food marketers and is already corporate practice for a number of years, scientific considerations are still rare. This research sheds light on the potential of Customer-Focused E-Learning for the food sector with the help of a written, standardized online survey using quota guidelines representative for consumers in Germany. Exploratory data mining in form of a cluster analysis, examined the data of 505 respondents, proposed a market segmentation that showed the main cluster of interest alone, the digital culinary learners, covers 30% of the German population, while two more potentially interesting clusters raise it up the potential market to 44% of the overall German population, a promising size for the food industry. Furthermore, recommendations of action were derived, addressing promising media formats, learning needs, educational goals, topics, provider, purchase criteria, points of sales and food-related lifestyles that need to be addressed when implementing Customer-Focused E-Learning for food.