Rungsaran Wongprawmas

Willingness-to-Pay for Multiple Units of Eco-Friendly Wheat-Derived Products: Results From Open-Ended Choice Experiments

ABSTRACT A non-hypothetical open-ended choice experiment with a multi-unit elicitation format was conducted to elicit Italian consumer willingness-to-pay (WTP) and demand schedule for new wheat-derived products that were produced by adopting an ecologically friendly post-harvest technique (high heat-treated, HHT). A sample of 270 Italian consumers were surveyed in Bologna, Catania, and Palermo in June 2014. Data were analyzed using a double hurdle model. Results suggest Italian consumers are willing to pay premium prices for HHT flour, while they prefer to pay for HHT packed bread at the same price as a conventional one. Consumers’ WTP for the second, third, and more units are lower than their WTP for the first unit of product. While factors that influence consumers’ decision to buy these two new products are the same, factors that affect their desired product units differ among each products. In conclusion, Italian consumers’ preference for an eco-friendly label depends on the types of products.

Disponibilità a pagare per l’acquisto di alimenti funzionali: evidenze da un esperimento di scelta non-ipotetico

We conducted a non-hypothetical choice experiment through a second price sealed bid experimental auction (Vickrey auction) to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) to buy a new functional snack made with white lupine and citrus fiber, which are ingredients with high fiber content. A sample of 289 consumers were surveyed in Bologna and Catania in July 2015. The results confirm that consumers are willing to pay to buy functional foods, especially those who are looking for innovative products that are not influenced by the opinions of others in the buying decision. In addition, WTP did not depend exclusively on the functional properties but also on other characteristics such as appearance and taste of the snack.

Is Dry Aging for Pork Relevant to Consumers

ABSTRACT Introducing a new product is tricky because of potential problems with consumer acceptance. Dry aging is a technique that could make meat more tender, but at the expense of the color that would become darker. This technique is widely used for beef, but it could be useful in the pork industry since the increasing offer of lean meat has reduced its natural tenderness. We investigate Italian consumer preferences for dry aging applied to pork loin and the effect of information on consumer acceptance. A sample of 264 consumers was surveyed in June 2014 in Bologna, Italy, using a hypothetical rank-based conjoint analysis. Data were analyzed using a rank-ordered logit (ROL) approach. Results suggest that consumers preferred dry-aged pork loin to fresh pork loin. They also preferred products labeled with Italian origin and having low fat content. Factors affecting the intention to purchase dry-aged pork loin are age and information on dry aging.

Is innovation needed in the Old World wine market? The perception of Italian stakeholders

The wine market in Italy has been through several changes in the last decade. Actors in the supply chain need to find new strategies or tools in order to remain competitive in what has become a fiercely competitive sector. Innovation is one of the tools which have been successfully used in the New World wine market, hence innovation might also be a useful resource for actors in the Old World wine market, such as in Italy. The purpose of this paper is to explore stakeholders’ perception of such innovation, including how its usefulness in the Italian wine production and distribution chain is perceived.,Semi-structured interviews were carried out in Emilia-Romagna with a wide range of actors in the Italian wine chain and consumer focus groups and the resulting data were analyzed using the content-summarizing approach.,These stakeholders agreed that innovation is needed for production and processing as well as in quality control, but only on condition that it should maintain the quality and value of traditional wines. Innovative wine products tend to be unacceptable to consumers. Most stakeholders associate innovation with communication as producers and distributors seek innovative ways to convey information regarding the value of wines to final consumers.,The findings are qualitative and based on a small group of Italian wine industry players and consumers who operate mainly in a domestic context.,The paper provides industrialists with information useful in the search to find the right strategies to make them more competitive in the Italian wine market. It is crucial to find and adopt innovative approaches toward communication throughout the chain. Information appealing to tradition and sentiment could be highly effective ways to reach the consumer.,This is the first in-depth study of the perceptions of all stakeholders (from producers to consumers) regarding innovation in the Italian wine chain; of particular importance as the industry is currently in transition toward globalization.

Practitioners’ perceptions of the credibility of food quality assurance schemes: exploring the effect of country of origin

Food safety and quality certificates can be viewed as credence characteristics because different actors (e.g. intermediaries, processors, retailers, consumers) in the food supply chain are not able to observe the quality of the audits in situ. This becomes more critical in the international food trade as information asymmetries increase with time and distance and the credibility of the standard behind the certificate may decrease as a consequence. In this context, the aim of this study was to assess from a global perspective the effect of country image on the perceived credibility of food standards. Data were collected through an on-line survey during Spring 2010. In total, responses provided by 301 practitioners from developed and developing countries were analysed. Respondents were asked to evaluate the credibility of food standards from eight countries (Ghana, Italy, Australia, Mexico, China, UK, India and USA). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-test and Mann-Whitne...

Customers’ Preferences for Different Processed Tomato Categories in Food Service

ABSTRACT Hypothetical discrete choice experiments were conducted to elicit food-service professionals’ preferences and willingness-to-pay for different attributes of processed tomatoes. A sample of 110 food-service professionals were surveyed in Italy, Russia, Eastern Europe, and South Korea in 2012. Data were analyzed by using multinomial logit and random parameter logit models. Results suggest that food-service professionals preferred peeled tomatoes to chopped pulp, tomato purée, and tomato paste. However, their preferences were heterogeneous. They would pay a premium price for products labeled with Italian origin. Types of cuisine sold by practitioners, numbers of points of sale, and nationalities also influence practitioners’ WTP. Factors affecting their purchasing decision were freshness of product, followed by convenience, cooking time, price, origin of product, and brand. This study shows that the research method is suitable for evaluating the preferences of food-service professionals. The preferences of industry operators resemble those of consumers.