Ecolabels as a strategy of agro-food marketing: A case study of the EU organic ecolabel

Nowadays the society is struggling to achieve sustainable development while it tends to maximize economic growth. It is frustrating that economic growth is often seen as necessarily at odds with the environment. Ecolabels are one of the best instruments that prove the positive relationship between economic growth and environmental protection. The role of ecolabels as a sustainable tool is to address environmental challenges by acting as a catalyst that integrates diverse information for consumers who care about the environment. There is a wide academic and policy literature in support of sustainability, but when it comes to ecolabels there are fewer studies. This research was designed in order to fill this research gap. Within this context, the overall objective of this work is to study the consumers' behavior about ecolabels and especially the EU organic ecolabel. Firstly, a face to face interview with two experts was conducted in the Department of Organic Agriculture in the Regional Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in Badajoz, in order to extend the scope of knowledge with primary data about EU organic ecolabel. Secondly, a questionnaire was designed and a survey was carried out with a sample size of 419 participants in the Region of Extremadura. The reason for designing a questionnaire was to study consumers' behavior about ecolabels and especially EU organic ecolabel. Finally, in order to analyze the data collected from consumers, different statistical analyses -such as univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis- were applied. Specifically, the linear regression model, Probit model and ordered Probit model were developed, in order to obtain an insight into the factors that influence purchasing and proportion of food products that bear ecolabels. Additionally, factor analysis and latent class analysis was applied in order to determine homogeneous categories of consumers and to identify the differences between these groups. These analyses were based on various variables which provide a coherent framework to address consumers' behavior and their impact to improve the commercialization of food products with ecolabels. Findings have shown that EU organic ecolabel is one of the most recognized ecolabels by consumers. Even though most consumers were familiar with the concept of ecolabels, there was a marked absence of certainty about ecolabels that comes as the result of a general lack of information. Additionally, the intensity of purchasing products with ecolabels was not only influenced by the consumers' awareness, but also by their satisfaction with conventional products. Within this context, consumers who were satisfied with conventional products were less likely to purchase food products with ecolabels. To sum up, ecolabels are very unique and useful tools that can contribute to sustainable development. Their performance in the market can be improved by increasing consumers' awareness and the supply of food products with ecolabels. These two factors would be crucial to improve the commercialization of this type of products.