The Effect of Verbal and Iconic Messages in the Promotion of High-Quality Mountain Cheese: A Non-Hypothetical BDM Approach

Abstract

To ensure the sustainable development of mountain livestock farming, the adequate remuneration of high-quality dairy products is fundamental. In this sense, communication strategies aimed at promoting mountain products and ensure better positioning and higher market prices are fundamental. The present research seeks to expand the literature regarding consumers’ willingness to pay for mountain foods by using an online real auction experiment aimed at evaluating the premium price that consumers are willing to pay for summer over winter mountain cheese, depending on the information provided concerning the taste anticipation or animal welfare. The results showed an overall small premium price given to the higher quality summer cheese; this could be, partially, due to a generally low degree of consumer knowledge about mountain dairy farming. With reference to communication strategies, the results provide evidence about the effectiveness of the rational messages founded upon sensorial characteristics and the anticipated taste of cheese. In addition, this study explored that adding a logo had no main effect on the price premium participants were willing to pay. This may be due to the fact that logos and claims, having a lower information content, are more indicated to lead the choice of consumers with a higher level of awareness. In the conclusion section, policy and agribusiness implications of the findings are provided.

Consumer Liking and Value Perception of Mountain Cheese from Different Pasture Periods: Evidence for Mountain Systems Supporting Policies

“…Endrizzi et al (2021) reported liking scores ranging from 6.0 to 7.3 for mountain cheese produced in a similar context. Marescotti et al (2021) provided evidence about an overall, albeit small, premium price given to high-quality summer cheese and the effectiveness of promotional messages based on sensorial characteristics and the anticipated taste of cheese. Further studies could try to identify a precise value for texture and flavor for which consumers are willing to pay a price premium.…”

Fat quality, sensory properties and consumers preference towards different commercial labels for bovine milk from retail market

“…Particularly, milk from uplands has been evidenced to contain higher amounts of some beneficial FAs (n‐3 FAs, CLAs) (Coppa et al ., 2019; Cifuni et al ., 2022) and, at retail level, milk certified as Mountain Product (MP) was evidenced to provide a better profile than that of noncertified milk (Tabacco et al ., 2021). Even if mountain agri‐food products are highly esteemed due to their origin (local product, traditional farming and processing practices, use of high‐quality raw materials, healthier environment; Marescotti et al ., 2021), it has been reported that a significant portion of consumers is still unaware of the existence or the meaning of the MP brand (Mazzocchi & Sali, 2022). At the same time, some authors evidenced that the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) Haymilk has a distinct lipid composition, represented by higher amounts of n‐3 FAs, CLAs and trans isomers of C18:1 (Laguna‐Paredes et al ., 2018) when compared to non‐certified retail milk.…”

The impact of anchor characteristics on consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for food—an empirical study

“…And, while previous studies have found that consumers are willing to pay a premium for foods with labels such as “green” and “organic,” or are influenced by personal factors (e.g., personal consumption preferences, personal consumption levels, etc.) to purchase high-priced foods ( 12 ), however, it has not focused on the role of the anchor as an external cue. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore the impact of anchor characteristics on consumers’ willingness to purchase food at a premium, starting with the external environment as a key factor influencing consumers’ willingness to pay at a premium.…”