Brakes to organic market enlargement in Spain: consumers’ and retailers’ attitudes and willingness to pay

In Spain, consumption of organic products has not kept pace with production. Up till now, foreign markets have been a natural destination for excess supply. However, world trade liberalization might cause important commercial problems to Spanish producers that could be partially solved by enlarging the domestic market. The goal of this paper is to assess the opportunity for such enlargement focusing on two main aspects: consumers’ and retailers’ attitudes and willingness to pay for organic products. Concerns about health, natural diets or environmental issues could stimulate consumption, while retailing dynamism and competition to gain new market segments might favour distribution. Both aspects are investigated through two surveys addressed to consumers and retailers in two Spanish towns. The results confirm that only a small proportion of consumers and distributors show attitudes that might favour demand expansion. The most sensitized segments are willing to pay more for organic products, but this premium is still very far from the prevailing gap between conventional and organic food products.     

An empirical comparison of methods for measuring consumers’ willingness to pay

A valid procedure for measuring consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) is crucial in designing optimal pricing policies or for estimating demand for new products. Understanding potential sources of differences in WTP estimates that emerge from value elicitation studies constitutes an important step in research on how managers should estimate consumers’ WTP. This research presents an empirical analysis of two potential sources of differences and discusses possible means of mitigating them. We find substantial and significant differences between the WTP reported by subjects when payment of the stated price is real or hypothetical. Notwithstanding the dichotomy between real and hypothetical WTP, we find significant differences among the WTP estimates of a broad range of value elicitation methods.     

Does Taste Beat Food Safety? Evidence From the “Pêra Rocha” Case in Portugal

Nowadays, fresh fruits such as pears are differentiated by cultivars, origins, and appearances, as well as by companies' production and processing methods. We may now observe many denominations of origin, retailers,' and private labels in order to signal the differentiation to the consumers, who are often willing to pay large price premiums for products with specific attributes. In this article, we used an experimental auction to assess how information on quality attributes affects consumers' willingness to pay for different types of pears. The main results show that information on the products' characteristics related to food safety instantly influences consumers' willingness to pay. However, it appears that in the end, sensory intrinsic attributes related to taste beat the guarantee of food safety in driving the buying behaviour.     

Does Nutrition Information Contribute to Grocery Shoppers’ Willingness to Pay?

An experimental auction and the eye-tracking technology are used to detect the relationship between consumers’ understanding of the nutrition information and their willingness to pay for food items. Additional attention is given to health-conscious individuals. Salad mix and apple juice are selected for the experiment. A Tobit model is used for the analysis. The results show that nutrition information has some effect on consumers’ purchasing decision. Shoppers are willing to pay less for fat and mineral information, but more for ingredient, protein, sodium, and carbohydrate information of salad mix. As for apple juice, shoppers care only for energy and other nutrient information, as well as the health claim “vitamin C naturally high.” Further, health-conscious individuals are more responsive to the nutrition claims, such as “high in fiber” (salad mix) and “vitamin C naturally high” (orange juice). A possible limitation of the conclusion exists due to the small sample size.     

消费者安全乳品支付意愿研究

消费者对食品安全支付意愿的大小是决定食品安全市场能否长期存在并不断发展壮大的关键因素.本文应用条件价值评估法,基于对内蒙古呼和浩特市、和林格尔县200名消费者的随机调查数据,对消费者乳品安全支付意愿进行研究.研究结果显示,与普通牛奶相比,呼和浩特市与和林格尔县的消费者愿意为安全液态奶多支付29.33％的价格.安全液态奶的价格、消费者的购买经验、质量安全信息需求、风险感知、家中老人数以及家庭月总收入等因素,对消费者购买安全液态奶意愿具有显著影响.因此,本文提出,为提高消费者安全食品支付意愿,政府应不断增加质量安全信息供给,提高政府管制的公众信任度,加大安全食品标识的宣传力度.     

苏北地区农业完全成本水价农户承受力调查——基于水源地生态补偿的视角

南水北调东线一期工程江苏段的主要目标是向苏北供水,缓解该地区的农业用水短缺问题.但现行农业水价未考虑水源区的机会成本损失,不利于调动水源区环境保护积极性.论文设计单边界CVM引导技术,估算了苏北农户以提高农业水价的方式对水源区生态补偿的支付意愿.研究发现,苏北农户生态补偿支付意愿为7.63元/亩,但在不同作物种植结构和...     

农户信息服务支付意愿及其影响因素分析

基于对江苏、江西、内蒙、云南、安徽五省(区)756户农户的信息服务调查,运用支付意愿方法,得到上述地区农户的信息服务支付意愿,并通过Logistic回归模型对农户信息服务支付意愿的影响因素进行分析。研究结果表明,影响农户信息服务支付意愿的因素除了农户家庭和生产等一些常见的特征变量外,还有农户所在社区信息服务可及性等多方面的因素。基于这些实证研究结果,政府应增加投入,完善农村公共服务基础设施建设等。     

The country-of-origin lie: impact of foreign branding on customers’ willingness to buy and willingness to pay when the product’s actual origin is disclosed

If you think about the last television commercial for an Italian pasta brand you have seen, are you sure it is really Italian? In many cases, especially in the food sector, neither the company nor the product originate from the advertised country, meaning that the company is pursuing a foreign branding strategy and is trying to benefit from positive stereotypes customers have about the specific foreign country. By collecting both quantitative and qualitative data through a point-of-sale intercept survey, this article assesses the impact of alleged origins on customers’ willingness to buy (WTB) and willingness to pay (WTP) if the actual origin is disclosed. The sample consisted of 200 German customers who were asked to answer questions related to one of two hedonic products they had just bought. It is empirically shown that foreign branding has a positive impact on the brand’s performance. However, as soon as customers find out that they were misled with regard to the origin of the product, both their WTB and their WTP decrease. This study contributes to the knowledge on the role of products’ origins on customers’ WTB and WTP. In contrast to the vast majority of the studies in this field, the communicated origin of the product is based on a foreign branding strategy and not on the product’s actual origin. Consequently, it was possible to manipulate within-subject variables by disclosing the actual origin of the product. The results of our study suggest that foreign branding may be a successful strategy for companies to increase their customers’ WTB and WTP. At the same time, our results raise concerns about the suitability of foreign branding as a long-term marketing strategy, unless a company can successfully maintain its foreign image. Future research opportunities include the choice of consumers with a different cultural background, of other hedonic products or of utilitarian products.     

Canadian Consumer Willingness to Pay for Omega-3 Meat

This study analyzes Canadian consumer willingness to pay for omega-3 enhanced beef, pork, and chicken. Using a nationwide survey conducted by ACNielsen in 2006 and choice modeling framework, results indicate that smaller household, households with high incomes, and households that have previously purchased an omega-3 product are willing to pay a premium for omega-3 beef, pork and chicken. The results also suggest that consumers that have previously purchased an omega-3 product are willing to pay a higher premium for the respective omega-3 meats compared to households that have never purchased an omega-3 product. Also, premiums are highest for omega-3 beef, followed by omega-3 pork, and last, omega-3 chicken.     

Factors Influencing Young Consumers’ Acceptance of Genetically Modified Food in India

We analyzed the determinants of acceptance of genetically modified food (GMF) by using the probit model. In this study, we found that around 41% of the students are willing to buy GMF, and acceptance of GMF is less in female respondents than male respondents. The findings indicate that in India, benefit perception of GMF outweighed the risk perception. We also found that respondents’ trust in international organizations for truthful information has a positive and significant influence on acceptance of GMF.     

Consumer Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Bundled Fresh Produce Claims at Farmers’ Markets

This study uses a conditional logit with systematically varying parameters model to analyze consumer survey data collected at farmers’ markets in Utah. The purpose of this study is to examine consumption preferences and willingness to pay for differentiated fresh produce among farmers’ market shoppers in Utah. Three primary differentiating claims, namely conventionally grown of unknown origin, conventionally grown local (in-state), and organically grown of unknown origin, are investigated. Results indicate that consumer preferences and willingness to pay are higher for the conventionally grown local origin claim, emphasizing the importance of local origin labeling for directed marketed fresh produce. This claim was especially preferred among frequent farmers’ market shoppers and those who spend above average. Those who receive WIC and/or food stamp benefits show lower preferences for fresh produce. The shoppers are significantly sensitive to price increases. This study implies that marketing strategies and policy regulations aiming at promoting local, organic, labeling, and reinforcing repeated farmers’ market customers can positively impact purchasing preferences and willingness to pay for production-method-based and origin labeled products.     

稻作经营大户对有偿服务的支付意愿及影响因素

以调查数据为依据,通过Probit模型对稻作经营大户对农业有偿技术服务的支付意愿及其影响因素进行实证分析。研究表明支付意愿受到户主的文化程度、非农业劳动力比重、对农技部门提供服务的评价、生产资金来源等多方面因素的影响,提出加强农村基础教育投入、完善农业科技推广体系和农村信贷服务等相关政策建议。