PERCEPTION OF EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL CERTIFICATIONS: A COMMODITY MARKET PERSPECTIVE

Nowadays Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) and organic certifications constitute an effective form of differentiation and can represent an important cue that guide consumer’s Quality evaluation. This paper investigates, through K-means cluster analysis, consumer attitude toward these certifications in extra-virgin olive oil Italian market. The results showed three main clusters; the first includes PDO extra-virginolive oil (EVOO) consumers (27.2%), the second includes PDO and organic EVOO consumers (32.4%), while the third cluster comprises indifferent to certifications consumers (40.4%).