The consumer food market in Italy: a dynamic representation through agent- based modeling

Abstract

The research aim was the construction of a simulation agent-based model, which reproduces the food market at consumer level in a local context. The model characterizes the behavior of two categories of agents: consumers and food retail shops. The intent of the model is to reproduce the current status of expenditure for food products in a certain territorial context and to investigate how the agents behavior adapts to the changes of the market conditions. The application case concerned the opening of a farmers markets, predicting the positioning of this novel store in the local context and the changes in the consumer habits.