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Recently, several regional protected geographical indications (PGI) have been introduced in Italy for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) with the aim of coping with the substantial failure of protected designations of origin (PDO). This study aims to identify which characteristics consumers expect, in order to anticipate the market success.

In this study, a survey has been used on a sample of consumers from Sicily, one of the first regions which recently developed a regional PGI for EVOO. Data have been analyzed with a rank-ordered logit model.

Results yielded that consumers would accept this new product and their expectations correspond to a product with attributes such as: green color, not filtered, not with a sweet taste and with a known brand. A possible target can be represented by young men.

The results obtained anticipate whether this product would be accepted and provides direct indications for producers who wish to enter the market with a PGI EVOO.

This work focuses on consumer behavior toward products that are specifically certified with a recently introduced PGI label, and they still are not so common on the market.

Investigate the behaviour and the habits of the consumers from central-southern Italy in relation to extra olive oil consumption, focussing on the impact of protected designation of origin (PDO) and EU–organic certification on purchase intention and quality perception.

A specific questionnaire was submitted to 160 consumers; a subsample of ten experts, ten semi-experts and ten habitual consumers of olive oil tested, through a blind test first and a normal one then, three Italian samples: an extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) without certification, an organic EVOO and a PDO EVOO, which were characterised also from a chemical-physical point of view. The answers provided during the tastings were statistically analysed and compared.

People interviewed prefer local olive oils; they are positively influenced by PDO/organic certification, while price is not a decisive factor on the purchasing choices. According to tasting panel results: experts gave consistent answers preferring organic olive oil, semi-experts are positively influenced by the PDO brand contrary to what they claimed; non-experts would buy EVOO, although they are positively influenced by the PDO brand and negatively by the organic certification.

Only knowledge and experience can aid consumers make consistent and aware choices. Information campaigns could help them to distinguish products, correctly identify food attributes and overcome their scepticism towards quality of organic products.

Few works investigated the impact of quality and sustainability labelling on perception of olive oils, valuing the consistency between answers provided before and after sensory assessments.

This research investigates the effectiveness of the four health claims that the European Union (EU) authorized for extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) in terms of perceived text clarity, text interestingness, message credibility and information diagnosticity, along with the claims' effect on product attractiveness and consumers' purchase intention.

An experimental study with 185 participants investigated consumer response to the four claims. A one-way MANOVA analyzed differences in the aforementioned variables, while a sequential mediation model assessed the relationship among perceived text clarity of the EVOO health claims, information diagnosticity, product attractiveness and purchase intention.

The four EU-authorized health claims differ in terms of perceived text clarity, message credibility, information diagnosticity and product attractiveness. Specifically, the health claim on EVOO polyphenols scored lower than the other three health claims on the aforementioned dependent variables. Importantly, clearer health claims are perceived as more useful and may increase product attractiveness and consumers' purchase intention.

The research sheds light on the effectiveness of EVOO health claims. Since the use of such health claims is not a common practice in the EVOO market, a deeper understanding of consumers' perception and attitude toward them could inspire better guidelines and suggestions for claim usage and improvement.

This paper aims to describe and understand the offer of premium private labels (PPLs) in Italy, with a case study on the extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).

The empirical study on EVOO in Italy was aimed to investigate the drivers of the offer of PPLs and its effects on assortment policies. The study was carried out in three Italian provinces, using a cross-sectional design with data collected through direct observation. A two-step data analysis was performed. First, descriptive statistics were used to preliminary appraise hypotheses on the rationale underlying the offer of PPL, and then, the drivers of PPL policy were studied using a logistic regression model.

The estimated model indicates that in the case of EVOO the probability of offering a PPL is higher for stronger with a stronger competitive position (with respect to other stores), and increases with the size of the category assortment (Total Assortment Width) and with the share of the PL products offered by the store (PL Assortment Index). It also increases if the average price (Total Average Price) and the average price of the standard private label (SPL Average Price) improve; by contrast, it decreases if the national brand (NB) share in the assortment (NB Assortment Index) augments.

Overall, the study confirms that the multi-tiered PL strategy is one of the current competitive strategies of top retailers, centred more on a differentiation than on a low cost/price policy. Such a differentiation policy may have various effects in terms of channel structure and social welfare depending on the underlying corporate and consumer goals and beliefs and on the existing institutional framework.

This is the first study to investigate the PPL market in Italy using original data and taking into account policies actually carried out at the individual store level. A further element of novelty is the attention given to the welfare effects of multi-tier strategies. This paper suggests that these latter may have various effects in terms of channel structure and social welfare depending on the underlying corporate and consumer goals and beliefs and on the existing institutional framework.

There is a range around reference prices, the so-called latitude of price acceptance, where consumers seem insensitive to changes into prices, with these ranges being wider for buyers of private brands. This paper analyses objective price gap between two product alternatives as a main driver of consumer behaviour. Therefore, the authors shed light on whether the price gap conditions consumer-switching behaviour and at what point the price gap triggers a switching pattern.

Shopping data on two product alternatives of olive oil were obtained from a household scanner panel of Spanish consumers (607 households) with weekly price tracking, and multilevel regression models were performed.

The results suggest that the price gap has a fundamental effect on the consumers' choice. In this case, up to 1 euro/litre the demand seems almost inelastic; beyond that price gap, the demand for the finer product plummets.

This study focussed on olive oil products. The research needs to be extended other food products.

The authors contribute to the literature by documenting how the price context measured in terms of a price gap is a relevant stimulus in consumer choices, with a focus on the change in price sensitivity between product alternatives when competing brands are not involved but private brands are.

The price of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is highly subjected to variability. In this way, the consumer is not able to perceive a price of reference. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this topic, trying to define a range suitable for the selling of EVOO.

A mathematical model is applied to the three price levels (i.e. production, intermediate and selling). It studies the relationship among main variables: purchase cost of olives, the production cost of olive oil, the yield of olives obtained by the technological process and the profit margin. To define the input data, 25 producers of olives and 25 owners of olive oil mills are involved.

The production of EVOO depends strictly on the production of olives, which typically is subdivided in a year of “high production” and in a year of “low production.” The price of EVOO is subjected to a great variability; however, it is possible to propose a range that varies from €7.0 per liter to €8.7 per liter.

The level of acidity influences significantly the quality of olive oil, and this model has the limit to not analyze the variation of the price in function of this parameter.

This study is the first to propose a pricing model to evaluate EVOO. The literature section supports this assumption.

This study aims to investigate consumer acceptance for a set of innovations that can be applied to the production process of extra-virgin olive oil. The final purpose is to verify whether, and to what extent, consumer acceptance of innovations varies depending on the type of technology used and the profile of consumers.

A cross-sectional consumer survey has been carried out in Italy. A structured questionnaire was administered to a national representative sample of individuals who are responsible for grocery shopping (N = 1,003). Consumer acceptance for a set of ten innovations has been measured. Statistical differences between the various measures have been analysed through pairwise comparisons using Wilcoxon's signed-rank test, and subsequent effect sizes have been estimated. A cluster analysis has been also performed to distinguish consumer segments with different response patterns.

The results showed that the type of technology affects significantly the level of consumer acceptance of the tested innovations. In addition, high heterogeneity has been detected among consumer responses, and this leads to identify three consumer segments with different response patterns.

The study is focused on extra-virgin olive oil, which is one of the most important traditional food product in Mediterranean countries. This is the first study where several innovations for extra-virgin olive oil were jointly tested and compared for acceptance through a survey on a nation-wide representative sample of consumers.

Geographical indication (GI) labels aim to improving farmers' and processors' income. This article studies how characteristics related to GI groups and their reputation (e.g. the producer group size, longevity and production decisions) are related to prices at the origin, final (consumption) prices and marketing margins.

The authors use 8 years of annual data for the Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) GI market encompassing 46 GI EVOOs. Estimated parameters characterizing the relationship between the GI's group features and prices (at origin and at consumption) are obtained via Three-Stage Least Squares (3SLS).

Results show that the number of GI operators is related to consumption prices, while is weakly related to prices at the origin. GIs' age is not associated with higher consumption prices, while origin prices are lower for older GIs compared to younger ones. Higher farmers' olive/oil conversion rate is associated with lower origin and consumption prices, whereas the extent of vertical integration is related to higher prices at the origin and a higher share of the marketing margins going to producers.

To the best of their knowledge, the authors offer the first empirical evidence on how structural characteristics and production decisions of a GI group relate to prices and marketing margins.

The third age can be a period of major food consumption changes. Either voluntary or imposed by health issues, they may be accompanied by alterations in sensory acuity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how lifelong food habits and health-age issues affect food choice at a later age, with the aim of developing strategies to direct aged people toward healthier food habits.

A survey, aimed to investigate differences between current and past food habits, was carried out in a group of 170 Italian older adults. Questions focused on the composition of the main meal, asking participants to describe its actual structure and to highlight differences in previous years’ food habits. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was planned, during which participants were asked to help formulating innovative pasta sauces with healthy ingredients.

This survey clearly illustrated gender-related differences: women were characterized by a higher consumption of vegetables, while men revealed a more frequent use of wine, pasta and meat. The DCE technique suited older adults’ abilities and enabled the development of innovative sauces, indicating a clear preference for extra virgin olive oil, as compared to cream or butter. Gender-related differences were confirmed: women mainly chose a vegetarian sauce, while men expressed an inclination for red meat.

This is the first report of a successful application of the DCE technique to investigate older adults’ dietary choices. The outspoken preference for olive oil as fat in sauce composition is a positive finding for future actions aimed at directing older adults toward healthier food habits.

Urban metropolitan consumers react to the different qualitative categorizations of the product thus creating homogeneous market segments. The aim of this paper is to identify specific market segments which allow for the definition of homogeneous olive oil consumer targets.

This study was based on the stated preferences of consumers and emphasizes the role that different quality scales of olive oil have in the eye of the consumer. The data, collected through a questionnaire, were analysed by means of inferential and multivariate statistics techniques, that is, the study specifically entailed a factorial and cluster analysis.

This paper explores olive oil market segments broken down by the different quality levels of existing products, thus trying to identify main consumer preferences. Our outcomes suggest the existence of three main quality classes of olive oil consumer: basic, popular and premium.

Even though we gathered data and information from a broad sample, the study does not fully reflect the average Italian population since we based our study on a convenience sample of northern Italian consumers. A more extended sample is needed to test our hypothesis in other regional areas.

The outcomes derived from this study provide useful insights both for marketers and olive oil producers by allowing more efficient strategic decisions in terms of product segmentation.

This study, aimed at matching olive oil market segments and consumer preferences, shows the existence of three well-defined quality classes of olive oil consumer: basic, popular and premium. In addition, this study ascertains for the first time how the attitude towards local products is positively influenced by family origin as a result of an inter-generational attitude.