Assessing consumer response to Protected Designation of Origin labelling: a mixed multinomial logit approach

In this paper, we derive the distribution of willingness to pay for a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)-labelled food product, French Camembert cheese, using scanner data on purchases of Camembert brands in the French national market. Mixed multinomial logit models, where the parameter associated with each observed product attribute is allowed to vary randomly across consumers, are estimated using simulation techniques. The distribution of willingness to pay is expressed as a function of consumer income or age. Our results do not suggest that consumers value the quality signal provided by the PDO label. Indeed, at the same price, only a small proportion of consumers would prefer to buy a similar Camembert brand with a PDO label than without it. Moreover, brand appears to be more relevant information in the consumer's valuation of the available products.