Willingness to Pay for Food Labelling Schemes in Vietnam: A Choice Experiment on Water Spinach.

The growing concern for food safety and quality motivates governments and private sectors to improve consumers' confidence in food systems, such as through adopting certifications and traceability systems. The recent emergence of diverse food labelling schemes and the turbulence in food systems in emerging countries have sparked questions about consumers' valuation of such labels. Nonetheless, little is known on how the familiarity with, trust in and knowledge of these food labelling schemes affect consumers' willingness to pay for labelling schemes in emerging market contexts. This study aims to address these literature gaps by investigating consumers' valuation of existing certifications, branding and traceability labelling schemes in Vietnam. A face-to-face survey was conducted, including a discrete choice experiment on water spinach in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The findings indicated that Vietnamese consumers are generally willing to pay price premia for food labelling schemes, such as VietGAP certification, EU and USDA organic certifications, private branding and traceable Quick Response (QR) coding. While familiarity and understanding had no significant impact on Vietnamese consumers' valuation, trust was found to be a critical factor shaping willingness to pay for products bearing VietGAP label. Policy implications and marketing strategies for organic certifications and traceability schemes in Vietnam are discussed.

Consumer attitudes, knowledge, and consumption of organic yogurt.

The segment of organic products occupies an increasingly important place in dairy assortments. The European Union (EU) introduced a new EU organic logo in 2010 with the aim of harmonizing its organic sector and boosting consumer trust in organic food. This study focuses on organic yogurt and investigates consumer awareness and knowledge of the new EU logo. Consumers evaluate organic yogurt as superior compared with conventional yogurt on healthiness, environmental friendliness, quality, and safety. More frequent buyers of organic yogurt have a stronger belief that organic yogurt is superior. The willingness-to-pay for organic yogurt ranged from a premium of 15% for nonbuyers to 40% for habitual buyers, indicating the market potential for this product. A structural equations model reveals the positive association between knowledge, attitudes, and the frequency of purchasing and consuming organic yogurt. Nevertheless, consumer awareness of the EU organic logo remains rather low, which suggests a need for more effective information campaigns and marketing actions.