The attitude of consumers towards "Made in Italy" products. An empirical analysis among Italian customers

The paper is part of a broader research project studying consumer's attitude towards "Made in Italy" products through empirical investigation. The research questions addressed are: 1) Does recognition in terms of the qualitative characterization of "Made in Italy" products exist? And if so, 2) are people willing to pay, in quantitative terms, a premium price for such products? From a theoretical standpoint, the research seeks to fill a gap in the literature, since studies combining the "made in" characteristic with measured "willingness to pay" are neither conventional nor numerous. The specific purpose of this contribution is to analyze the relationship between the purchase of "Made in Italy" products, recognition of the quality and willingness to pay a premium price on the part of Italian consumers, reporting the results of an empirical research. The survey involved a total of 315 Italian consumers while three commodity sectors were analysed: food, fashion and mechanical automation. The results confirm that there is a propensity to purchase "Made in Italy" products which does not seem to be a matter of irrational consumer behaviour. "Made in Italy" is confirmed as a conceptual category consolidated in the minds of consumers, since there is clear recognition of these products in terms of qualitative characterization. These and other results of the research (which need to be confirmed and extended with further empirical investigations) should prove relevant both to the literature and as indications for public policies and the strategies of companies operating in the sectors examined. For the literature this research can be useful because there is no complete overview of quantitative data on the premium price. It can also serve for public policies because quantification of the premium price can influence the choices and strategies of companies. This study shows a significant willingness to pay a premium price for the three sectors analyzed, although the premium price is not homogeneous: while the measures range mostly between 10 and 30%, higher values appear for products in the food sector.