Il fenomeno dei prodotti biologici a marchio privato nella Grande Distribuzione Organizzata

Private labels, a focal point in the relationship between industry and dis-tribution, are becoming increasingly important in the modern distribution system. To speak about private label, in many cases, means talking about the advantages that they offer to the distribution''s chains and to the food producers. But it cannot be neglected that the whole operation is founded on the pleasure that the consumers allot to these products. Today two out of three consumers believe that the distributors'' mark products are a good alternative to the other brands in terms of a quality/price relationship; this datum is also confirmed in Italy where 72 consumers out of 100 choose private labels. The introduction on the food market of those products has been recently adopted also for foods produced through certified production processes as organic agriculture. In fact, in Italy ten of the big distribution chains have opted for the introduction of a private label in the organic food sector. The present work addresses, the private label demand in the organic food products sector. In particular, the relationship between consumers and distribution chains was taken into consideration. The geographic and the territorial background for the survey was the Milan''s metropolitan area. The first step of the study has been the statistical determination of the vari-ables that can explain the purchase of the private label organic food prod-ucts. The second step involved the investigation on the role of previous variables in the distribution chain global strategy and it has been verified which of them can generate consumer loyalty. With the purpose of select-ing, analyzing and discussing the most important causes of the private label purchase process, the variables have been studied with a logistic model. The study reveals the fact that regarding the single independent variables, consumer choice is the result of a joint loyalty: to the brand (Brand loyalty) and to the store (Store loyalty). When the private label is perceived as a guarantee of organic food quality, purchase propensity will be higher (in other words, the probability of becoming a loyal consumer will increase). Instead, the "age" variable is inversely correlated to the private label prod-ucts purchase, so that, young consumers'' presence increases the probability of purchase. Age, therefore, turns out to be an important parameter that can influence the private label purchase. This factor represents an important indicator for how distributors might best target their marketing messages.