Testing consumers' acceptance for an extra-virgin olive oil with a naturally increased content in polyphenols: The case of ultrasounds extraction

Innovation is fundamental for all agri-food companies to increase competitiveness. Being extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) a traditional food product (TFP), the main obstacle to innovation is its traditional nature. This study evaluated consumers' acceptance for an EVOO with a naturally increased content of poliphenols, as it has been extracted through ultrasounds. This product has been compared with a set of emerging innovations that may be introduced in the next future. To this end, a choice experiment was carried out bent on the estimation of a Latent Class Model (LCM). A nationally-representative sample of EVOO consumers were involved in a web-based interview. The LCM analysis highlighted three segments of consumers: (1) innovative; (2) traditionalist; (3) cautious. Results showed that there is cluster of consumers willing to accept this innovation, therefore its introduction on the market appears to be possibly successful.