Estrategias de innovación en el etiquetado de empresas emprendedoras y sostenibles y su efecto en la aceptación por parte del consumidor

The agri-food sector has undergone several changes in recent decades, including globalization, which forces producers to innovate and develop new products to meet the needs of increasingly demanding consumers who are aware of their needs and preferences. In this way, companies can improve their competitiveness and maintain or increase their market share. One of the innovations in the food sector is innovation in product labeling. It's an innovation in marketing that can transfer information about the product and convince the consumer. Sustainability is one of the most prevalent trends and challenges consumer concerns. The main objective of this study is to analyze consumer interest for sustainable labeling of food products in general, and semi-skimmed milk in particular. In addition, the intention to purchase and the willingness of consumers to pay for different types of sustainable labeling are estimated and the characteristics of potential consumers are identified. The question will be whether this interest is affected or not according to the information provided to the consumer. At the same time, it will be determined whether sensory aspects of milk are affected by the presence of different types of sustainable labeling. The necessary information was collected during the personal surveys followed by a tasting of semi-skimmed milk with different sustainable labeling on a sample of proximity of 119 people from the Public University of Navarre. Only half of the sample receives information on the labels studied (animal welfare label, local product label, carbon footprint label and organic product label). The results show that respondents give importance to healthier lifestyles, adopt a more balanced diet and pay particular attention to product labels. Positive attitudes towards testing novel foods and foods from different cultures have been noted. In general, the respondents are concerned about the environment and show a high degree of agreement with the claims of the scale of concern for the environment. In regard to sustainable labeling, organic and local product labels are the most popular, carbon footprint and animal welfare labels are relatively unknown. Respondents are willing to buy more local products, followed by animal welfare and organic labels. The label with the lowest willingness to purchase is the carbon footprint label. Compared to the willingness to pay, the labels of local and organic products are the ones with a higher price premium (around 23 per cent). Significant differences in willingness to pay were noted between consumers who received information on labels and those who did not. For the four labels, the willingness to pay was higher for those who received information. This means that the information has a direct effect on the price that the consumer is willing to pay for a product with sustainable labeling. With regard to the tasting results, the labels of local products and organic products are those that obtain the best ratings in almost all the components of the tasting (smell, color, texture, taste, persistence of flavor and overall assessment). Significant differences were observed among consumers in the assessment of milk color in the different labels, with the exception of the carbon footprint label, depending on whether or not they receive information. The cluster analysis results in two groups of potential consumers of semi-skimmed milk with sustainable labeling. Group 1 shows positive attitudes towards the predetermined factors, accounts for 37 per cent of the sample and has been called "conscious segment". The second segment corresponding to 67 per cent of the sample has negative attitudes towards the predetermined factors and is called "unconscious segment". The preference analysis allows deducing that the most important attribute is the price; the smaller it is, the more valued it is. Distinctive and origin attributes have intermediate values, the local origin is more valuable to consumers. The “distinctive” attribute is the least valued, organic and animal welfare labelling are the best considered.