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Abstract
PurposeUrban 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.Design/methodology/approachThis 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.FindingsThis 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.Research limitations/implicationsEven 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.Practical implicationsThe 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.Originality/valueThis 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.
Highlights
Product segmentation has been the subject of several marketing research studies due to large enterprises segmenting their products into different brands in order to satisfy the demand of consumers with different socio-economic characteristics (Desai, 2001; Onwezen and Bartels, 2011; Salazar-Ordon~ez et al, 2018)
In the case of olive oil, a large strand of literature focused on high-quality categories, such as Geographical Indications (GIs) and organic olive oil; several authors shed light in segmenting extra-virgin olive oil categories (Scarpa and Del Giudice, 2004; Dekhili et al, 2011; Roselli et al, 2017) but many aspects related to hierarchically-differentiated categories of olive oil have been underinvestigated or not explored at all
It is likely that as so many of these consumers are from a family of southern Italian descent, they attach importance to the local product, probably coming from their own family’s region of origin, as they tend to buy their Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) in tins directly from the producer
Summary
Product segmentation has been the subject of several marketing research studies due to large enterprises segmenting their products into different brands in order to satisfy the demand of consumers with different socio-economic characteristics (Desai, 2001; Onwezen and Bartels, 2011; Salazar-Ordon~ez et al, 2018). In the agro-food sector there have been a fair number of contributions on preference for product segmentation, first of all in the wine industry, since this product is highly differentiated. Several authors have identified different categories and quality levels (Cembalo et al, 2014; Di Vita et al, 2019a), but scant attention has been paid to other important agro-food product categories. In the case of olive oil, a large strand of literature focused on high-quality categories, such as GIs and organic olive oil; several authors shed light in segmenting extra-virgin olive oil categories (Scarpa and Del Giudice, 2004; Dekhili et al, 2011; Roselli et al, 2017) but many aspects related to hierarchically-differentiated categories of olive oil have been underinvestigated or not explored at all. It would be interesting to extend the analysis to olive oil, focusing on different quality level categories and comparing the main factors that affect olive oil preferences
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