Turkish Consumer Purchasing Decisions Regarding PGI-labelled Erzurum Civil Cheese

The aim of the study is to explore how important intrinsic and extrinsic product attributes affect the way that the consumer decides whether to purchase Erzurum Civil cheese labelled with a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). Data were obtained from a face-to-face survey conducted with a sample of households in Erzurum during the autumn of 2014. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify the main factors underlying the way that product attitudes and their socioeconomic characteristics influence the consumer's decision to purchase Erzurum Civil cheese. In addition, a k-means cluster analysis was applied to segment homogeneous consumer masses according to the main factors and their consumption frequencies. This was followed by a multiple regression analysis, which identified how these factors influence consumption volumes. The results of the study showed clearly that heavy users were motivated to buy Erzurum Civil cheese based on its intrinsic product attributes. Medium and light users, however, were motivated to buy the cheese as a result of its extrinsic product attributes, paying much more attention to product images of the cheese. If these positive motivation stimuli are combined, marketing tactics and strategies could increase demand trends for the redesigned and improved Erzurum Civil cheese and maximise consumer satisfaction in each cluster.