Brand products, geographical indication and consumer perception

Today, the concept of brand gains value for many consumers and it becomes a marketing technique emerged in the results of a process. Consumers are heading towards the products gaining brand value to ensure maximum benefit from products. Likewise, geographical indication featured products are preferred by the consumers because they are special productions for the target audience. The aim of this study is to evaluate the perceptions of consumers towards geographically indicated Finike Orange and Tavşan Yüreği Olive. What is meant in terms of consumer perception is whether these two geographically indicated products have value or not in the eyes of consumers who are educated and of middle and higher income group. If these two products have brand value and are of high importance, the aim is to guess how this value is reflected in the price. That's why, econometric models used in the analysis have been shaped out of "contingent valuation" approach and for the prediction of these models probit ve least square methods have been used. In conclusion, findings of the present study support that for those who believe that Finike Orange has brand value, the importance of its being "Geographically Indicated" pay more for this product. However, consumers have preferred paying less for Tavşan Yüreği Olive which has been being supported in getting "geographically indication" and to be referred as "brand value". Keywords: Brand Value, Geographical Indication, Consumer Perception, Contingent Valuation.