**3. Analysis of consumer preferences of olive oil**

What motivates consumers to prefer and purchase olive oil is not clear (Delgado and Guinard, 2011:214). As has been indicated before, some authors highlight, as the main motivators behind consumption, the oil's region of origin, focusing on the influence of PDO designation and the degree to which an oil typifies the characteristics of that particular region. This is especially true for those consumers who are experienced, local or familiar with a particular region of origin, whereas these factors do not seem to affect urban, less knowledgeable and less experienced consumers (Caporale *et al*., 2006).

Other authors focus on olive oil's health benefits and flavour (including its use to enhance the taste of recipes) as main motivators for olive oil consumption. Thus, olive oil is promoted as beneficial for health, and industrial strategies and advertising are often based on health claims (Duff, 1998) although, nowadays, EU regulation has imposed the use of 'nutritient profiles', which are already in use in the USA and Canada, and which are under development (Blery and Sfetsiou, 2008:1151). However, many critics argue that this aspect would mean that products such as olive oil should not carry health claims. At present, there is no harmonized legislation at EU level to ensure the scientific accuracy and

farmers' markets (43%), in contrast with the ways in which Mediterranean consumers most frequently buy their olive oil. Thus, Fotopoulos and Krystallis (2001) reported that 41% of Cretan consumers buy olive oil at the supermarket, while 38% buy in bulk directly from the producer or farm, and 21% make oil from their own olive orchards. Similar figures can be associated with other Mediterranean producing countries such as Italy or Spain. This habit is a consequence of the consumer experience, of belonging to producing countries and the role of olive oil in their intrinsic cultures. Thus, in buying olive oil at supermarkets or hypermarkets, consumers are not exposed to the sensory properties of the product, as they are at farmers' markets or direct from the producers or farms, and so their decisions are based on extrinsic factors such as packaging materials, bottle material and label design

This is probably the reason why US consumers prefer Italian oil more than Spanish oil. In our opinion, Italian oil possesses a lower quality than Spanish olive oil. However, Italian oil's marketing strategy, from a general point of view, is stronger than the strategies used by Spanish producers. In contrast, when consumers buy oil in bulk directly from the producer, as is the case with consumers belonging to producing countries, they experience the properties of the oil and can make purchasing decisions based on sensory factors. This is the case for consumers living in Mediterranean countries. Even, nowadays these 'experienced consumers' show a greater interest in organic olive oil, given the increasing interest of consumers in ecologically clean products for health and environmental reasons (Gavruchenko et al., 2003). Consumers' need for safer, good quality food has increased over the last years and thus, healthiness and nutritional value are the basic reasons given by consumers for purchasing organic olive oil. In this way, more consumers are willing to pay a higher price, since they take into account organic olive oil's contribution (Sandalidou et al., 2002:405). Nevertheless, Sandalidou *et al*. (2003) pointed out that there is a large number of people who still do not know what an organic product is. For this reason, these authors suggest that the systematic provision of information, mainly through advertising, is necessary, in order to enhance

What motivates consumers to prefer and purchase olive oil is not clear (Delgado and Guinard, 2011:214). As has been indicated before, some authors highlight, as the main motivators behind consumption, the oil's region of origin, focusing on the influence of PDO designation and the degree to which an oil typifies the characteristics of that particular region. This is especially true for those consumers who are experienced, local or familiar with a particular region of origin, whereas these factors do not seem to affect urban, less

Other authors focus on olive oil's health benefits and flavour (including its use to enhance the taste of recipes) as main motivators for olive oil consumption. Thus, olive oil is promoted as beneficial for health, and industrial strategies and advertising are often based on health claims (Duff, 1998) although, nowadays, EU regulation has imposed the use of 'nutritient profiles', which are already in use in the USA and Canada, and which are under development (Blery and Sfetsiou, 2008:1151). However, many critics argue that this aspect would mean that products such as olive oil should not carry health claims. At present, there is no harmonized legislation at EU level to ensure the scientific accuracy and

(Delgado and Guinard, 2011). This is the case of US consumers.

consumers' awareness of organic olive oil's features and nutritional content.

knowledgeable and less experienced consumers (Caporale *et al*., 2006).

**3. Analysis of consumer preferences of olive oil** 

appropriateness of such claims. Nevertheless, homogeneous regulation is expected to set clear parameters across Europe for health claims, and they will be allowed only if they are substantiated scientifically (Tamsin *et al.,* 2005). Given the increasing number of countries being integrated into the EU in the last few years, this seems to be even more important for the success of European olive oil production.

New olive oil consumers seem to be more interested in olive oil for two main reasons: health benefits and flavour (Santosa, 2010). Olive oil is claimed to be beneficial for health, as it is rich in vitamin E and it does not contain preservatives (Blery and Sfetsiou, 2008). Among health benefits, lowering the risk of coronary disease, preventing certain kinds of cancer and reducing inflammation have been highlighted (Medeiros and Hampton, 2007). For these reasons, Duff (1998) pointed out that the preference for olive oil is a result of health reasons because the replacement of saturated fats by olive oil results in a lowering of the rate of heart disease. Nevertheless, it is true that there other cheaper seed oils being used as substitutes (Bernabéu et al., 2009). In this respect, olive oil has a high price, although it depends on its origin and its quality (Bourdieu, 1984). For instance, virgin and extra-virgin olive oils are more expensive than standard olive oil. With regard to flavour, Santosa and Guinard (2011) recently reported that this is an important aspect in both the consumption and purchase motivations for olive oil, especially for extra-virgin olive oil, where sensory characteristics are even more important. According to Thompson *et al.* (1994), this is also a consequence of improving the taste of salads and meals.
