Search results

The purpose of this paper is to report a survey in random-selected supermarkets in Italy in order to identify the attitudes and perceptions of consumers toward milk and in particular toward donkey milk.

The analysis was conducted through Google Forms platform of docs.google interviews with a sample of 705 consumers who were given a questionnaire to collect information about their economic status and their attitudes toward milk and special milk consumption.

The results were analyzed in order to identify the socio-economic and behavioral characteristics of homogeneous groups of consumers. They consume milk mainly because it is not expensive and it is possible to easily buy it in the supermarket. They consume special milk mainly because of food allergies or intolerances. They would like to buy special milk at large-scale retail trade outlets; they underline difficulties in finding and purchasing it. They think that the price of special milk is very high.

The results showed that those who occasionally consume special milk choose it because it is more nourishing or for health reasons; there is also a significant association between the judgment on prices of special milk and the frequency of purchase. The estimation of a generalized linear model allowed to highlight that only age and the presence of health problems/intolerances are significant predictors of special milk consumption.

In the food chain the identification of household food wastes represents the most problematic aspect to analyze: both as regards the assessment of its qualitative and quantitative aspects and for the detection of measures to reduce or control its generation. In 2012, in fact, the analyzed area showed an inequality index for disposable income of 6.3, and a relative poverty risk index of 42.3. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In order to get deeper insights into consumers’ wasting behaviors, a survey on food waste generation in households was carried out in a province of Sicily (Italy). The questionnaire has been formulated taking into account the socio-demographic characteristics for the person who, in the family, usually makes the expenditure, in particular: gender, age, marital status, number of household members, education level, type (single, with or without children, married with or without children), worker and/or student if responsible for food shopping, the number of monthly meals, the kind of ready meal eaten (frozen, fresh, canned or freeze-dried), net monthly income for the family, etc. (adapted by Bae et al., 2010). The data collected from the statistical return of the consumers were drawn up to transform the same data into information of simpler and more concise interpretation.

The results of the survey are presented in this paper. They can help understand the reasons for discarding edible food and to identify the food groups that are most wasted.

The analysis of a larger land area or community allows most relevant conclusions. The research has an exploratory perspective since the sample strategy is not probabilistic.

The findings could be susceptible to support practical and social implications for the identification of measures and instruments aimed at reducing food waste and at increasing consumers’ awareness on that issue.

The study can stimulate sustainable consumption and consumer behavior especially in light of the current economic crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between consumers and organic wine purchases and how this production process can affect their willingness to pay a premium price. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to assess the role of organic attributes on the consumer’s choice, and how consumer socio-demographic characteristics influence the premium price for organic wine.

This survey represents the continuation of a paper already published by the same authors, which was aimed at identifying the factors that influence the preference and consumption of wine. The information about wine consumers was collected by the use of an ad hoc questionnaire, administered near very busy places, (supermarkets, main squares, theatres, universities and municipal offices) in a random way, within several municipalities in the province of Messina (Italy). The questionnaire, which was anonymous, was distributed directly with the face-to-face method. In total, 1,097 subjects compose the obtained sample. Among these, 459 subjects (42%) said they consumed organic wine, while the remaining 638 (58%) said they did not consume it. In this research, the non-parametric combination test is used, based on a permutation test, chosen for the several optimal properties which characterize it. Permutation tests represent an effective solution for problems concerning the testing of multidimensional hypotheses that are difficult to face in a parametric context.

The results obtained may have interesting implications for wineries in the prediction and choice of the company to convert traditional production into organic production, to meet new markets and new segments of consumers. In this direction, without any doubt, organic wines represent an opportunity for the wineries.

Although field experiments are extremely useful for testing behavioural hypotheses, they are often limited by the small sample.

The originality of the research lies mainly in a deeper knowledge of organic wine consumption trends. The study carried out highlights how important it is to know which factors restrain consumers from buying wine so that companies can review their promotion and communication policies and, if possible, meet the needs of the market. The strength of this paper is the use of an adequate statistical instrument. This multivariate and multistrata procedure allows us to reach effective solutions concerning problems of multidimensional hypotheses verifying within the non-parametric permutation inference; it is used in different application fields that deal with the verifying of multidimensional hypotheses with a complexity that cannot be managed in a parametric context.

Apples have always been considered a healthy product able to provide curative properties to consumers. In Italy, there is a long tradition of apple consumption and production both as a fresh product and as processed food. However, as with many other products, the consumption of fruits and vegetables and, more specifically apples, has been drastically affected by the first lockdown in 2020. In this project, the authors investigate whether the change in consumption habits had long-lasting consequences beyond 2020 and what are the main eating motivations, food-related behavior and socio-demographic affecting the consumption of fruits and vegetables after the pandemic.

The authors ran two online surveys with 1,000 Italian consumers across a year (from October 2021 to December 2022). In the study, participants answered questions about their consumption habits and their eating motives. Out of 1,000 consumers, the authors included in the final analysis only the participants who answered both surveys, leaving a final sample of 651 consumers.

The results show that participants have allocated more budget to fruit and vegetables after the lockdown than before it. Moreover, consumers reported an average increase in the consumption of apples. However, the increase was more pronounced for people aged between 30 and 50 years old and identified as female. After showing the difference across time, a cluster analysis identified three main segments that differ in their eating motives, place of purchase and area of residence.

Overall, the results contribute to a better understanding of how the global pandemic is still affecting people's daily life. Moreover, the findings can be used to guide the marketing and communication strategies of companies in the food sector.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates changes in the consumption of fruits and vegetables, and, more specifically, apples, in Italy more than one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the study proposes a classification of consumers based on their habits in a time frame during which the COVID-19 wave was at its bottom which is not currently present in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to outline the standard profile of the typical wine consumer, by identifying some relevant features that can influence his/her purchasing choices. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to identify the pre-eminent attributes for wine consumers and the different levels of importance that consumers ascribe to the attributes identified at the time of purchase.

In order to collect the necessary data, an ad hoc questionnaire was utilized. The questionnaire, which was anonymous, was directly distributed with the face-to-face method. In total, 1,500 copies of the questionnaire had been prepared. The data collected were processed through the use of the binary logistic regression model and the ordinal logistic regression model. The first binary logistic regression model allows to evaluate the dependence of the dichotomous variable on some potential predictors. The ordinal logistic regression model, known in literature as a cumulative model of proportional quotas, is generally appropriate for situations in which the ordinal response variable has discrete categories.

The results returned by the elaboration of the binary logistic regression model refer to the influence of the variables sex, age, educational status and income on the “wine consumption” result, which is a dichotomous variable. The only variables found to be statistically significant are gender and educational status. The most significant variables that emerged from the implementation of the ordinary logistic regression model are gender, brand, choice based on price, place of production, harvest and certification. The analysis carried out has shown that with reference to wine as a product, it is essential to focus on several attributes, among which there are of course quality and brand.

Although field experiments are extremely useful for testing behavioral hypotheses, they are often limited by a small sample. Future research in this area might focus on the knowledge level of sustainable wine of the consumer. In relation to the knowledge of the characteristics of the wine, it is possible to estimate the willingness to pay a surplus for a wine produced with sustainable methods by the consumer and the possible level of price premium.

The originality of the research lies mainly in a deeper knowledge of wine consumption trends. This information is useful to better define the wine market and to allow, especially to small businesses, to establish effective marketing strategies in relation to the real preferences of consumers and the decision-making process of choice put in place by them. In order to achieve this, the influence of all the variables on the “satisfaction of wine consumption” result was evaluated. The strength of this paper is the use of an adequate statistical approach based on the use of models, typical of inferential statistics, to reach conclusions that can be extended to the entire population of wine growers.