The Impact of Customer Education on the Perception of Made in Italy Products in the Agri-Food Sector

Abstract

While the global COVID-19 pandemic affected all the industries, the Italian agri-food sector positively performed over this period, supported by the exports, underlining the need for new international strategies to authentically engage consumers. This study aims to investigate the impact of customer education (CE) on the perceptions and evaluations of foreign consumers towards Made in Italy products as a part of the food experience in the agri-food sector. After a literature review, the paper illustrates the main topics of customer education, food experience and country-of-origin (COO) effect of Made in Italy. The purposes of the conceptual paper relate to the strategic use of country-of-origin effect by companies in order to promote products and services in foreign markets, and to the analysis of the impact of customer education within the food sector on the perception of Made in Italy products taking into account the new challenges of the current situation.