MaxDiff approaches for PDO “Calanda” peaches (Spain)

Peaches with PDO Calanda are one of the 20 fruits with PDO existing in Spain. The aim of this work is to understand how consumers make their choices based on the most important peaches’ attributes and levels. In this work, 4 attributes with 3 levels in each attribute have been considered (price: 1.5 €/kg, 2.5 €/kg and 3.5 €/kg; origin: PDO Calanda, non PDO Calanda and non Calanda; packaging: bulk, conventional packaging and active packaging; and fruit size: small, medium and big). Four Best-Worst (BW) exploded models have been utilised, two of them with scale factors. All those models have been compared to two traditional Discrete Choice (DC) models. Results show that traditional DC models have better performance than the other models and the best model is when consumers select the best option. Within the exploded models, the choice sequence decisions starting from worst options are better than those which start from best option. Consumers prefer PDO Calanda peaches over other types and the positive difference in their Willingness to Pay (WTP) are more or less the same between peaches from Calanda with PDO and without PDO as it is between the latter and peaches coming from other origins.