Assessment of milk consumer preferences

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report a survey in random-selected supermarkets in Italy in order to identify the attitudes and perceptions of consumers toward milk and in particular toward donkey milk. Design/methodology/approach The analysis was conducted through Google Forms platform of docs.google interviews with a sample of 705 consumers who were given a questionnaire to collect information about their economic status and their attitudes toward milk and special milk consumption. Findings The results were analyzed in order to identify the socio-economic and behavioral characteristics of homogeneous groups of consumers. They consume milk mainly because it is not expensive and it is possible to easily buy it in the supermarket. They consume special milk mainly because of food allergies or intolerances. They would like to buy special milk at large-scale retail trade outlets; they underline difficulties in finding and purchasing it. They think that the price of special milk is very high. Originality/value The results showed that those who occasionally consume special milk choose it because it is more nourishing or for health reasons; there is also a significant association between the judgment on prices of special milk and the frequency of purchase. The estimation of a generalized linear model allowed to highlight that only age and the presence of health problems/intolerances are significant predictors of special milk consumption.