Consumer Willingness to Pay for Catechin-enriched Yogurt: Evidence from a Stated Choice Experiment

ABSTRACT\r\nIn recent years, food manufacturers have been devoting a large portion of their R&D budgets to the\r\ndevelopment of functional foods. Although functional foods exhibit a significant level of information\r\nasymmetry, consumers appear to be increasingly appreciative, recognizing their role in preventing or\r\nreducing health risks and/or improving other physiological functions.This paper quantifies thewillingness\r\nto pay of a representative sample of 600 Italian consumers for a hypothetical yogurt using a web-based\r\nstated choice experiment. The willingness to pay for two functional attributes (probiotics and catechin\r\nenrichment) was measured using the panel data version of a Random Parameters Logit model. The results\r\nshow that respondents are willing to pay a premium for a catechin-enriched yogurt (0.38 €/jar), which is\r\nwell above their willingness to pay for the probiotic attribute (0.21 €/jar). Averaging the individual values\r\nacross sample sub-groups indicates that the willingness to pay for catechin enrichment may be related\r\nto age, income, health status, lifestyle and education.