ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an empirical verification of our research hypotheses: H1. The presence of country-of-origin (COO) appeals affects significantly food choices in certain product categories and in certain consumer segments. H2. The COO effect for a given country may be at the same time positive, negative, or neutral depending on the category of food products. H3. There is no correlation between the level of consumer ethnocentrism and the willingness to pay a higher price for home-country products. H4. Psychographic criteria explain better the importance attached to the COO of food products than demographic and socio-economic characteristics of consumers. H5. The use of visual identification related to the COO (e.g. white and red colours for Poland) is more effective than the provision of textual information (e.g. ‘Made in Poland’) in terms of consumer attention and preference. H6. Consumers attach more importance to the COO appeals than food processors and retailers. H7. The strategy of a processor or retailer based on creating a false impression about the COO may be effective due to limited abilities of consumers to identify the true COO. H8. The impact of consumer ethnocentrism on assortment strategies and marketing activities of retailers depends on the retailer type.
