“Made in France”: what effects on the buying intention and the willingness to pay?[« Fabrication française » : quels effets sur l’intention d’achat et le consentement à payer ?]

This research focuses on the effect of the indication of origin "Made in France" on the buying intention and willingness to pay for a FMCG according to two types of characteristics: those related to the brand (brand equity and brand origin) and those related to the individual (ethnocentrism and national identity). It relies for that on the theoretical framework of co-branding, considering that the indication "Made in France" is similar to a co-brand that interacts with the product brand. An experiment conducted with 293 French consumers shows that the buying intention of the product increases significantly with the presence of the indication "Made in France", which is not the case of the willingness to pay. This positive effect on buying intention is greater when: (1) the product is signed by a brand whose brand equity is weak rather than strong, (2) the consumer's ethnocentrism is high, and / or (3) the consumer is strongly attached to his/her French national identity. These results help to identify the conditions under which the strategy of indicating the national origin of the product can succeed.