The perception map of blue fish. An exploratory analysis of product attributes

Know how consumer chooses and perceives different seafood in the market is a fundamental information to develop appropriate marketing strategies and, in case, to draw plans in favour of fisheries operators. This work is aimed at revealing consumer perception of some attributes related to a particular fish group called "blue-fish". Survey’s target has been chosen observing some critical commercial issues related to this products, which is affordable and has a good nutritional and dietetic value, but it does not gain the expected market success. Contemporaneously, the blue-fish is the first group of seafood caught in Mediterranean Sea, representing one of the most important economic resource for Italian fishery sector and an element of territorial distinction. Especially, the research evaluates how consumers perceives the different blue-fish products and their competitors in the fish market, investigating both positive and negative nutritional, commercial and sensorial attributes. Through the correspondence analysis, it has been possible to create a perceptual map synthesizing the complexity of qualitative factors that explain the purchase/not purchase event of the different type of blue-fish products and to compare them with their main competitors. The choice of this analysis is due to the lack of information in the literature about conditions and motivations of blue-fish consumers/nonconsumers, so, the research has mostly explorative purposes and it may offer useful information for further studies.

Keywords: Blue-fish, consumer behaviour, seafood perceptual maps, seafood consumption

Jel codes: Q13, Q22, M31; P46

Anna Gaviglio, Alberto Pirani, Pedol Martina Licitra, Eugenio Demartini, La mappa di percezione del pesce azzurro. Un’analisi esplorativa degli attributi di prodotto in "ECONOMIA AGRO-ALIMENTARE" 1-2/2011, pp , DOI: 10.3280/ECAG2011-001004