The role of labels referring to quality and country-of-origin in the consumers decision-making

Authors

  • Zoltán Szakály Debreceni Egyetem, Gazdálkodástudományi és Vidékfejlesztési Kar, Marketing és Kereskedelem Intézet és Vidékfejlesztési és Funkcionális Gazdálkodási Intézet, Vidékfejlesztési és Regionális Tanszék
  • Adelina Horvát Kaposvári Egyetem, Gazdaságtudományi Kar, Marketing és Kereskedelem Tanszék
  • Mihály Soós Debreceni Egyetem, Gazdálkodástudományi és Vidékfejlesztési Kar, Marketing és Kereskedelem Intézet és Vidékfejlesztési és Funkcionális Gazdálkodási Intézet, Vidékfejlesztési és Regionális Tanszék
  • Károly Pető Debreceni Egyetem, Gazdálkodástudományi és Vidékfejlesztési Kar, Marketing és Kereskedelem Intézet és Vidékfejlesztési és Funkcionális Gazdálkodási Intézet, Vidékfejlesztési és Regionális Tanszék
  • Viktória Szente Kaposvári Egyetem, Gazdaságtudományi Kar, Marketing és Kereskedelem Tanszék

Abstract

Within a comprehensive survey of Hungarian knowledge of, attitudes towards, and preferences among food labels and premium pricing, this study focused on customers’ reactions to quality and origin labels. 1000 participants from across the nation took the survey. The sample’s representativity was ensured by using quotas and multiple steps were taken to ensure total randomness in selection. It became obvious that consumers were looking for information about quality (rating its importance at 4.04 on a scale from 1 to 5) on the package, but data about origin (3.94) and production (3.89) were also important to them. The ability among respondents to spontaneously recall origin and quality markings was very limited: 35.5% of respondents could not name any such markings. The most well-known trademark was „Hungarian product” (30.5%), which was recognized by up to 90% of respondents after they were shown it. Many consumers were ready to pay a higher price for products bearing this trademark (31.7%). According to our results, information about quality is important for consumers, but they do not look for it deliberately, and only a few consumers ascribe a higher value to products with labels bearing it. Given this, marketers’ best hope is to increase the value of trademarks. There is a pressing need to increase consumers’ trust of trademarks via dissemination of reliable information; we must make consumers aware of the importance of these food products and motivate them to buy according labels’ honest information.

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Published

2014-02-15

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Articles