The Hierarchical Utility of Credence Attributes of Orange Marmalade: What do ConsumerS Look for in a Multi-Claim Food Product?

Abstract

This study provides further evidence of the role that multi-claims have on consumers’ choices, assessing the effects that nutritional, organic, and Geographical Indication attributes have on the consumption of marmalade. Moreover, it analyses whether these claims have a substitution or complementary effect on consumers’ demand. For this purpose, a conjoint experiment was adopted as a marketing analysis tool to detect consumers’ attitudes towards different attributes of orange marmalade. The analysis of the overall sample provided insights into the role of the considered attributes, that is, price, fibre claim, Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and organic certifications, in product differentiation and, consequently, the consumers’ interest in the characteristics of orange marmalade. Conjoint analysis was followed by a clustering investigation using Ward’s method to gather more information on the importance of the selected attributes and to group consumers according to their socio-demographic characteristics. The results highlighted the prominent role of price and organic attributes. On the other hand, PDO certification and the nutritional claim provided low positive utility, and they emerged as irrelevant factors in the consumers’ choices of marmalade. The findings provide useful marketing implications for producers to help them design new product characteristics and to better market jam and marmalade.