Do e-commerce strategies influence on-line extravirgin olive oil price - a literature review

The olive oil consumption has increased in recent years. There are new areas of consumption since olive oil reputation is extent outside the border of traditional consumer countries. That is mainly due to a growing consumer awareness about positive effects of olive oil on health. In this study we focus on the Italian market. This food is well suited for a short supply chains as electronic commerce (e-commerce), that may be an opportunity for small firms to emerge from a market governed by mass retail channels. We have decided to analyse, by means of a systematic literature review, the electronic sales channel because of the worldwide adoption of the internet: in fact, in 2020, global e-commerce trade will increase by 20%. E-commerce optimises the communication between producers and customers, this could help those producers who have difficulty to communicate the added value of their product, placed on the market at higher prices. In this study, profitable marketing strategies for online sellers were investigated. Findings of the study suggest that building trust and confidence is essential in online trading, by minimising the risk connected with e-payment transaction. The hedonic price model was used to investigate the olive oil quality attribute and web site services gathered from internet, thanks to these statistical analyses, is possible to accurately assess what are the most significant attributes and how the price depends on these. The obtained results indicated that quality attributes have a significant impact on extra-virgin olive oil market. Therefore, this research underlines that is essential to have a competitive strategy based on differentiation of Italian product. The authors suggest the implementation of websites by including some information about quality characteristics of olive oils that may enhance consumers' knowledge of product added value.