ARE YOU LOOKING FOR BETTER QUALITY, CHEAPER, LOCAL FOOD DIRECTLY FROM THE PRODUCERS? VISIT THE FARMERS' MARKET The perception of visitors to the farmers' market in Bratislava

Alternative food networks continue to get more and more attention from consumers who have been traditionally oriented on conventional retail environments. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the perceptions of consumers shopping at the Piac Markt farmers‘ market in Bratislava (Slovakia). Data was collected through a questionnaire (n=268) and perceptions were analysed using the Mann-Whitney U test in association with their classification by attendance (regular vs occasional) and by their attitudes towards shopping (hedonists vs utilitarians). The results show that there are statistically significant differences between the perceptions of regular and only occasional farmers’ market visitors, while no statistically significant differences were found in the perceptions between hedonists and utilitarians. It seems that the different perceptions of farmers’ market visitors depend more on the frequency of their visits rather than on their attitudes towards shopping. These findings provide a new perspective on research into consumer shopping behaviour in alternative food networks.