Preference for olive oil consumption in the Spanish local market

It is becoming ever more important for the olive oil industry in Spain to adopt a business strategy based on client orientation. In this sense, the objective of this paper is to identify the preferences of olive oil consumers and propose a series of business strategies for the producing sector. The methodology consisted in a survey of 404 olive oil consumers during the months of January and February 2013, whose preferences were determined through several multivariate techniques (conjoint analysis, consumer segmentation and a simulation of market share). The preferred olive oil is low priced, extra virgin and organic. The type of bottle does not appear to be relevant in the buying decision process, although it might be a factor in increasing market share. The current economic crisis has resulted in the emergence of two consumer segments; 67.1% of consumers selected the olive oil they buy on the basis of price and 32.9% were guided by the product’s specific attributes, which include, for example, organic production, which can be another differentiating element for producing companies

La neofobia alimentaria como instrumento para la segmentación de consumidores de vino

La innovación en el sector agroalimentario es un elemento clave para garantizar la producción de alimentos más sanos, nutritivos y sostenibles. Sin embargo, existen consumidores que se muestran reacios a aceptar estas innovaciones, especialmente cuando afectan a productos más tradicionales como es el caso del vino. Este trabajo analiza el nivel de neofobia de los consumidores de vino en España, evaluando tanto el rechazo que existe a probar nuevos vinos, como el rechazo que muestran hacia la utilización de nuevas tecnologías en la producción de alimentos. Los resultados demuestran que no existe una correlación directa entre estos dos tipos de neofobia. Mediante un clúster jerárquico, se han identificado cuatro segmentos diferentes de consumidores de vino, con diferentes percepciones frente a los dos tipos de neofobia analizados. El segmento de consumidores que muestra una mayor predisposición hacia la aceptación de nuevos vinos obtenidos, además, utilizando nuevas tecnologías, es el formado por los consumidores que presentan una mayor frecuencia de consumo, rentas más altas y un mayor nivel de estudios.Este estudio ha sido financiado por la Diputación de Albacete, la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha y el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional [2018/11744]

Actitudes y estilos de vida de los consumidores de alimentos ecológicos en el mercado de Madrid (España)

La producción de alimentos ecológicos en España se incrementa año tras año como respuesta a las demandas sociales en materia de alimentación y salud, sobre todo en lo que se refiere a los alimentos seguros, nutritivos y sostenibles. No obstante, ese incremento en la producción no va acompañado por un incremento similar en su consumo en España, por lo que gran parte de la producción se exportan a otros países, fundamentalmente de la Unión Europea. Para intentar incrementar su consumo, el presente trabajo identifica, en función del grado de conocimiento que tienen los consumidores sobre los alimentos ecológicos, sus motivos de compra y estilos de vida con el fin de dirigir distintas acciones comerciales por los agentes del sector. Para ello, se realizaron 415 encuestas en diciembre de 2017 y enero de 2018 en los alrededores de las principales zonas comerciales de Madrid capital. El muestreo se realizó de forma aleatoria y estratificada, por género y grupo de edad, para un nivel de error inferior al 5% y un nivel de confianza al 95,5%.Los autores desean agradecer la financiación concedida al Grupo de Investigación en "Economía Agroalimentaria y Forestal. Bioeconomía" por el Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Política Científica, Programa 541 A, del presupuesto para 2020 de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha y cofinanciada por el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional

Taking advantage of the use of supervised learning methods for characterization of sperm population structure related with freezability in the Iberian red deer

P. 1661-1672Using Iberian red deer as a model, this study presents a supervised learning method, the Support Vector Machines (SVM), to characterize sperm population structure related with freezability. Male freezability was assessed by evaluating motility, membrane status and mitochondrial membrane potential of sperm after a freezing-thawing procedure. The SVM model was generated using sperm motility information captured by computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) from thawed semen, belonging to six stags with marked differences on their freezability. A total of 1369 sperm tracks were recorded for seven kinematic parameters and assigned to four motility patterns based on them: weak motile, progressive, transitional and hyperactivated-like. Then, these data were split in two sets: the training set, used to train the SVM model, and the testing set, used to examine how the SVM method and three other unsupervised methods, a non-hierarchical, a hierarchical and a multistep clustering procedures, performed the sperm classification into subpopulations. The SVM was revealed as the most accurate method in the characterization of sperm subpopulations, showing all the sperm subpopulations obtained in this way high significant correlations with those sperm parameters used to characterize freezability of males. Given its superiority, the SVM method was used to characterize the sperm motile subpopulations in Iberian red deer. Sperm motile data from frozen–thawed semen belonging to 25 stags were recorded and loaded into the SVM model. The sperm population structure revealed that those males showing poor freezability were characterized by high percentages of sperm with a weak motility pattern. In opposite, males showing good freezability were characterized by higher percentages of sperm with a progressive and hyperactivated-like motility pattern and lower percentages of sperm with a weak motile pattern. We also identified a sperm subpopulation with a transitional motility pattern. This subpopulation increased as the freezability of males improved, and may be used as indicative of overall sperm motility.S

Consumer preferences for red wine in the Spanish market

Consumers are the core of wine marketing. Identifying their preferences, socioeconomic characteristics and behaviour is a key to designing actions for the wine sector which result in marketing opportunities for wine companies. To answer these questions 800 personal surveys were taken of wine consumers in Madrid and Barcelona. These two cities are characterized as large consumption and business centres and showcases for wine promotion in Spain. The conjoint analysis technique was used to identify wine consumers’ preferences and for their characterization, we used socioeconomic analysis and the identification of their ethnocentric tendencies (CETSCALE). The results show that the most highly-valued elements are price and type of wine, in that order. Consumers prefer wine which offers a good price-quality ratio. The origin of the wine does not seem to be an especially important element although wine consumers from Barcelona present more ethnocentric behaviour than those from Madrid, tending to consume wines produced in their own region

Preference for olive oil consumption in the Spanish local market

It is becoming ever more important for the olive oil industry in Spain to adopt a business strategy based on client orientation. In this sense, the objective of this paper is to identify the preferences of olive oil consumers and propose a series of business strategies for the producing sector. The methodology consisted in a survey of 404 olive oil consumers during the months of January and February 2013, whose preferences were determined through several multivariate techniques (conjoint analysis, consumer segmentation and a simulation of market share). The preferred olive oil is low priced, extra virgin and organic. The type of bottle does not appear to be relevant in the buying decision process, although it might be a factor in increasing market share. The current economic crisis has resulted in the emergence of two consumer segments; 67.1% of consumers selected the olive oil they buy on the basis of price and 32.9% were guided by the product’s specific attributes, which include, for example, organic production, which can be another differentiating element for producing companies