Origin cues are important for consumer choices: Study

The study, published in Food Quality and Preference​, investigated food and packaging cues to explore the importance of origin attributes in the choice of olive oil by 245 consumers in two countries: Tunisia and France.

The researchers, from University of Strasbourg and Montpellier SupAgro, France, found that French consumers tend to choose olive oil based on ‘official’ origin signals, while Tunisian consumers mainly use origin and sensory cues.

“The results emphasize the importance of origin cues in consumer choice and identify three latent segments in both countries: ‘official cues’, ‘sensory cues’ and ‘origin cues’,”​ said the authors, led by Sihem Dekhili.

Dekhili and colleagues said that the new study “is a first step towards a better understanding of the importance of origin cues in consumers’ choices.”​

“From a theoretical and managerial perspective, this subject is of great importance and more research is needed,”​ they added.

Food habits​

Dekhili and colleagues noted that the internationalisation of markets “has led to a standardization of products all over the world.”​

“While this is true for the food sector, cultural differences in food habits and practices remain … Consumers in different countries, or different cultures within the same country, thus evaluate and purchase goods based on product attributes that may be particular to their culture,”​ said the researchers.

“Understanding the importance of these product attributes can help managers and marketers develop marketing strategies specific to consumers’ cultural expectations and demands,”​ they added.

They noted that olive oil is an example of a product for which consumption is marked by local culture; “it is emblematic of the diet and culture of the Mediterranean region,”​ they noted.

Consumers often use extrinsic cues like the price, brand, labels, production methods and country or region of origin to drive purchase decisions.

Dekhili and co-workers noted that France “has a long tradition”​ of using regional origin labels (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée​). Such labels are used mainly for wine or cheese; however the concept has also been extended to the French olive sector.

Study details​

The new study evaluated the importance of origin cues as choice criteria for olive oil, and explored whether cultural differences in choice were highlighted.

“We used the ‘best-worst scaling’ method to compare the samples in France and Tunisia,”​ said the researchers.

The results indicated that product origin attributes (country of origin, region of origin, olive variety) were important determinants in consumer choice for both countries.

However the researchers did note that nationality or culture “appears to influence consumers’ perceptions of the importance of country versus region of production.”

“In France, olive oils from different countries are commonly found in supermarkets; therefore, French consumers place greater importance on the country cue than the region … Tunisians place more importance on the region and olive variety since Tunisia does not import olive oil. Since they only consume Tunisian olive oils, Tunisians use these local differentiation criteria,” ​said Dekhili and colleagues.

They added that it would be interesting in future research to determine if combining the two criteria can add value to a product.

“A useful topic for further research would be to conduct a discrete choice experiment using some of the most and least important factors from this research to test whether … choices are driven to some degree by unconscious decisions,”​ said the authors.

Source: Food Quality and Preference​
Published online ahead of print, doi: 0.1016/j.foodqual.2011.06.005​
“How consumers choose olive oil: The importance of origin cues”​
Authors: S. Dekhili, L. Sirieix, E. Cohen