BEHAVIOR OF CUSTOMERS IN THE PURCHASE OF BAKERY PRODUCTS WITH A FOCUS ON GLUTEN-FREE PRODUCTS IN THE GLOBAL WORLD

Food intolerance is becoming a global problem. A significant increase in the number of people with some form of food intolerance is evident globally, including the Czech Republic. The article focuses on mapping consumer preferences for the purchase of bakery products. At the same time, the views of specific groups of customers - Celiac are included. Behavior of consumers is evaluated based on two surveys. It is a survey mapping the possibility of purchasing food for gluten-free diet, which was carried out from October 2016 to January 2017 (1,524 respondents), and research mapping criteria for buying bakery products, which was implemented in January and February 2018 (302 respondents). The aim of the paper is to identify, based on the dependence of the selected characters, the characters that present a specific model of consumer behavior when buying bakery products in the Czech Republic. The most inadequate type of food, where most of the celiacs are missing the larger variety of the assortment, is fresh pastry. The needs of this specific growing group should be taken into account. Among the examined dependencies, for example, it was confirmed that consumption is dependent on age and education. Furthermore, it was confirmed that consumers prefer pre-pricing quality and least impact on sales in action. Comparison with the world issues, suggestions of options, recommendations that could lead to better meeting the customers' needs resulting from their preferences in the purchase of bakery products in the Czech Republic are part of the article.