Factors affecting consumer preferences and willingness to pay for artichoke products

A non-hypothetical experimental auction, combined with blind sensory tasting, was conducted to elicit consumer preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for fresh and processed artichoke products under two treatments: tasting and health information.
The results show that the health treatment positively affected consumers’ valuation for the artichoke products.
Even though the tasting treatment did not affect individual’s bid prices, a significant discount in WTP was found when interacting with the fresh varieties.
In general, consumers are willing to pay price premiums for fresh, large, green, and glass-container artichoke products in comparison with canned, small, and purple cultivars.
In addition, the covariates for the socio-economic characteristics show that consumers who expressed price premiums were individuals aged 55 years or more, with higher income levels and larger households.
Finally, taste, freshness, and nutrition were considered the top three factors influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions for artichoke products.

IX International Symposium on Artichoke, Cardoon and Their Wild Relatives

M.S. Segovia, M.A. Palma, D.I. Leskovar

tasting, health behavior, valuation, auction, fresh produce

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1147.38