Analysis of consumer perception as a lever for promoting local products: case of Moroccan dates

Abstract

In the era of trade globalisation, especially in the agri-food sector, which has led to mass consumption and industrialised products, the preservation of the territorial agri-food heritage of each country is becoming an increasingly important issue, This has aroused the interest of both researchers working on the economy of the territory and of all stakeholders, as it will not only improve the visibility and enhancement of local products, but will also achieve multidimensional objectives, both economic (competitiveness, development of the local economy, etc.), socio-territorial (economic development of the local economy, etc.), socio-territorial (territorial attachment, preservation of local knowledge, etc.) and agro-ecological (local supply, less processed consumption, etc.). In order to achieve these objectives, particularly in the Moroccan context, this article aims to analyse the perception of Moroccan consumers of Moroccan date products, from a sector which, although it has significant multidimensional potential, faces several challenges, particularly on the commercial and competitive levels. From a methodological point of view, the analysis of consumer perception was carried out with 560 respondents covering the different regions of Morocco, using a tripartite perception model (cognitive, affective, conative component), which revealed that consumer preferences were well understood, particularly in terms of variety, organoleptic characteristics (size, taste, etc.), purchase price, willingness to pay and preferred points of sale. From the responses collected and characterising the purchasing behavior and motivation in the broad sense, the priority areas on which it is necessary to act were identified, for a promotion of Moroccan dates.

Keywords: Consumer, Perception analysis, Promotion of local product, Dates, Morocco.

JEL Classification : Q01, Q18, Q5, R1, R58

Paper type: Empirical research