Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Imported Milk: Based on Shanghai, China

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the continuous large-scale growth of imported milk in China, in this research 310 consumers in Shanghai were used as a sample, and a choice experiment was conducted to study consumer preference and willingness to pay for imported milk. The following product attributes were included: nutrition claim, fat content, flavor, country of origin, and price. Our results show that, excepting price, consumers consider flavor the most important attribute, followed by nutrition claim, fat content, and country of origin. Consumers can be delineated into four segments based on consumer preference for the attributes of imported milk: “nutrition claim seekers” are willing to pay the highest price for imported milk with nutrition claims, “indifferent” consumers pay little attention to imported milk attributes, “flavor-oriented” consumers have a strong preference for strawberry-flavored imported milk, and “price-sensitive” consumers weigh the price when choosing imported milk.