The development of short food supply chain for locally produced honey

Abstract

Purpose The development of the short food supply chain (SFSC) is one of the issues of the current agri-food systems. Consumers are re-connecting the food they eat with the farming process and are increasingly asking for fresh, seasonal and traceable food products from known producer source. The purpose of this paper is to analyse consumers’ opinions towards the SFSC and willingness to pay (WTP) for local honeys in Mar del Plata, Argentina before and after a hedonic evaluation test. Design/methodology/approach In an incentive compatible approach, using real purchasing scenarios, two non-hypothetical discrete choice experiments were applied, accounting for the impact of the SFSC understanding and hedonic evaluation on consumers’ WTP. Findings Results showed that consumers’ WTP, a premium for local honey products, is conditioned to specific quality cues and the global sensory acceptance. Consumers with high level of agreement with the social and environmental roles of the SFSC were more quality demanding and exhibited higher WTP towards the locally produced honeys. The development of local market by re-connecting producers and consumers, allowing for in-site tasting, has a strong implication for the structure of the honey added-value chain due to the potential role that may play in satisfying consumers’ preference and needs. Originality/value The authors measured consumers’ opinions towards the SFSC and analyse their impact on consumer WTP for honey product by including real purchasing scenarios and hedonic evaluation test, to reduce the hypothetical bias of the traditional surveys. Questionnaires were completed in a controlled laboratory environment for with real product and real money.

Investigating the price effects of honey quality attributes in a European country: Evidence from a hedonic price approach

“…Our results can be compared with the consumer study of Sama et al (2019) who showed that the utility of the Spanish consumer increased when the honey was produced in Spain (regional/local) compared to honey that came from outside of Europe (e.g., China, America). The origin of honey was also an important attribute that determined its quality, according to the results of previous studies (Batt & Liu, 2012; Bissinger & Herrmann, 2021; Bissinger et al, 2019; Blanc et al, 2021; Brun et al, 2020; Cosmina et al, 2016; Jensen & Mørkbak, 2013; Kallas et al, 2017; Kos‐Skubic et al, 2017; Oravecz et al, 2020; Pocol & Bolboacă, 2013; Ribeiro et al, 2019; Šánová et al, 2017; Vapa‐Tankosić et al, 2020; Wu et al, 2015; Zulail et al, 2014). Of special interest was the fact that honey coming from the EU generated a slightly higher implicit price over honey produced in Spain.…”

“…From a consumer's point of view, previous research from the last 11 years suggests that various honey characteristics affect the decision to purchase and consumers' WTP (see the detailed review on honey consumer studies from 2010 and onwards in Appendix , Table A1). Recent, consumer studies show that honey produced in local origins affect preferences and the WTP of Danish (Jensen & Mørkbak, 2013), Italian (Blanc et al, 2021; Brun et al, 2020; Cosmina et al, 2016), German (Bissinger & Herrmann, 2021; Bissinger et al, 2019), Romanian (Pocol & Bolboacă, 2013), Slovenian (Kos‐Skubic et al, 2017), Serbian (Vapa‐Tankosić et al, 2020), Hungarian (Oravecz et al, 2020), Portuguese (Ribeiro et al, 2019), Argentinian (Kallas et al, 2017), American (Wu et al, 2015), Saudi Arabian (Zulail et al, 2014), and Australian (Batt & Liu, 2012) consumers. Besides origin, consumers in Italy and Slovenia attach a great value to honey with the European PDO quality certification (Di Vita et al, 2021; Kos‐Skubic et al, 2017).…”

Evaluating the purchasing behavior of organic food among Chinese consumers

“…The short food supply chain enables consumers to better understand the situation of food and food producers. As such, purchasing intentions of consumers are likely to improve because they are more convinced that food is produced more safely (Kallas et al , 2019). Customers can purchase food directly from the manufacturer is believed to improve communication, build trust and reduce uncertainty in quality attributes (Cappelli and Cini, 2020; Kallas et al , 2019).…”

“…As such, purchasing intentions of consumers are likely to improve because they are more convinced that food is produced more safely (Kallas et al , 2019). Customers can purchase food directly from the manufacturer is believed to improve communication, build trust and reduce uncertainty in quality attributes (Cappelli and Cini, 2020; Kallas et al , 2019). In this context, it is important to analyze the moderating role of consumers’ SFSCP in enhancing consumers’ PI-behavior gap.…”

Factors influencing Intention to Purchase Fraudulent Honey among Malaysian Consumers

“…Most scientific studies report the prevalence of honey adulteration and focus on the latest most advanced honey authenticity detection method (Fakhlaei et al, 2020;Se et al, 2019;Soares et al, 2017). From a commercial standpoint, there is an abundance of studies assessing consumers' honey preferences and honey's criteria affecting their purchase decision (Batt & Liu, 2012;Blanc et al, 2021;Kallas et al, 2019;Murphy et al, 2000). However, little is known about consumers' understanding and awareness about the issue of fraudulent honey, as such, insight on the level of consumer awareness about fraudulent honey and the effect of awareness on their intention to purchase fraudulent honey warrant further investigation.…”