PERCEPÇÃO DO CONSUMIDOR SOBRE OS ATRIBUTOS DE DIFERENCIAÇÃO NO SEGMENTO RURAL: CAFÉ NO MERCADO INTERNO

Differentiation through added value improvement has been explored by strategy and marketing literature. However, because of the distance between growers, final-consumers and technical features not always easily understood by the consumers, differentiation attributes adopted in agricultural production may not be perceived or valorized by the consumers. The article aims to verify whether the strategies of differentiation of rural coffee growers, through the introduction of products that value the origin or the production process have been noticed by Brazilian consumers. For that purpose, a research was conducted with 300 upper-crust consumers in coffee shops and supermarkets in the capital of the state of São Paulo in March and April 2005. The results demonstrated consumers’ perception, particularly related to the coffees which were produced without the use of pesticides. However, the products differentiated by the attributes of the processing companies brand are perceived as more attractive when compared with those regarding to the region of origin or process of agricultural production