Marzia Ingrassia

Quality Factors Influencing Consumer Demand for Small Fruit by Focus Group and Sensory Test

ABSTRACT The market of berries is a niche of high value in Italy. Small fruit’s healthy properties are well known in the international market, but little is known about the reason for a low commercialization rate of fresh small fruit in Italy. The objective of this study was to assess consumer preferences in Italy for selected berry species. Moreover, the study aims to identify the relevant attributes of berries that affect the demand for this produce according to consumers and to compare these attributes. We assessed relevant attributes affecting the demand for fresh berries for different consumers’ profiles and compared berries’ attributes rankings. The results reveal high concordance between blackberries and raspberries; price is the attribute that constrains more purchases because it is deemed too high. Consumers prefer small fruit because of the rising interest in their nutraceutical value, and they have a higher willingness to pay because of this important attribute.

Wine label design as a strategic tool to attract consumers. A marketing study on Sicilian wine positioning

Negli ultimi anni il packaging e stato considerato dalle aziende vinicole uno tra i piu importanti strumenti del marketing. Infatti, grazie all’utilizzazione di immagini e testi, e possibile comunicare chiaramente al mercato messaggi coerenti con i prodotti, con i valori dell’azienda e con i target di consumatori di riferimento. In questo studio si e voluto conoscere quanto le etichette siano importanti per le cantine siciliane nelle scelte di posizionamento dei loro vini. Si e voluta, inoltre, misurare l’influenza che le etichette esercitano sui consumatori, indirizzando ed orientando le preferenze al momento dell’acquisto di un vino, senza tralasciare l’eventuale effetto attrattivo causato dal nome della cantina. Pertanto, e stata effettuata un’indagine campionaria per conoscere le opinioni dei consumatori su un campione di etichette di vini siciliani opportunamente selezionato, dopo aver classificato le etichette in quattro macro-categorie. In tal modo e stato possibile misurare la dipendenza statistica, rispettivamente, tra i prezzi edonici (attribuiti dai consumatori) e reali (di mercato) dei vini aventi quelle etichette, e le quattro cate- gorie di etichette considerate. Successivamente e stata anche misurata la concordanza statistica tra i due ordini lineari dei prezzi dei vini (edonici e di mercato). I confronti sono stati effettuati, sempre, in due diverse situazioni: prima eliminando il nome della cantina dalle etichette mostrate e poi lasciando che il consumatore potesse vederlo, volendo testare, in tal modo, l’influenza del brand name. Infine, per ciascuna categoria di etichettte, sono stati confrontati i prezzi edonici con i giudizi assegnati dai consumatori alle caratteristiche estetiche ed al design di ciascuna di esse. I risultati hanno messo in luce che le cantine siciliane hanno saputo ben centrare, nella scelta delle etichette per i loro vini, i target di consumatori prescelti, in coerenza con la mission ed i valori fondamentali dell’azienda. Le etichette, infatti, ben rappresentavano le caratteristiche qualitative dei vini a cui facevano riferimento, essendo risultate coerenti con il prezzo di mercato del vino e con i contenuti comunicati dall’azienda. Sono risultate alcune differenze di opinioni in base alla presenza o meno del nome della cantina nelle etichette.

Study of Consumer Preferences in Regard to the Blonde Orange Cv. Washington Navel “Arancia Di Ribera PDO”

ABSTRACT Consumers’ attitude and preferences in regard to food ingredients, country of origin, social corporate responsibility toward the environment, and work conditions have changed over the last 10 years. Consumers are getting more educated and therefore more sensitive around cultivation practices in agriculture and food processing, which increases concerns in regard to production practices in agriculture. Several studies have been conducted on consumers’ preferences about quality food, but not with regard to blonde oranges cv. Washington Navel cultivated in southern Italy. This quality fruit is a niche product that achieved the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) certification for high organoleptic properties and fine taste. In this study, by a survey of 400 Italian consumers, we discovered preferences in regard to the cv. Washington Navel PDO (Riberella) attributes and revealed variables that may influence consumers’ purchasing behavior. Cluster analysis, based on respondents’ rates on 20 attributes, revealed preference segmentation. Freshness, taste, and origin were the most important attributes for consumers, following visual appearance and quality/price ratio. In responding to the demands of consumers for quality fresh fruit, information about quality standards and about the Riberella PDO is poor. Therefore, there may be potential to develop specific policies and marketing strategies to product the position in the international market.

La comunicazione : un valido strumento per la competitività delle aziende vinicole

In the last few years, wine market was characterized by fast changes because of significant changes in consumers’ eating habits and lifestyles that, consequently, impacted wine consumption and demand. In this scenario, wine producers that want to win competitors must definitely be market-oriented. For wine producers, to be competitive means to focus on strategic business decisions, to keep the brand in the market, to increase new consumer segments and to move towards a diversified production that points to research and innovation, looking constantly for quality. Communication is nowadays one of the main strengths of competitiveness and especially strategically-market-oriented wine producers, are aware of it. This paper has the objective to know how much Sicilian wine producers believe and invest, efforts and money, in communication strategies in order to understand how the Sicilian wine communicates to consumers. For the survey it was used a stratified with proportional allocation sampling. A proper questionnaire, with mostly closed answers and only few open answers (with unique interpretation), was submitted to a sample of Sicilian wine producers. Through the use of hierarchical Cluster Analysis it has been possible to know directions of Sicilian wine producers towards investment in communication and to obtain Sicilian wine producers’ homogeneous groups according to investment expenses and type communication tools. Moreover it was possible to identify the measures of similarities and dissimilarities of expense items for communication and find the ones preferred by producers.