PGM project news

In 2009 PGM project became present in all countries of former Yugoslavia! In addition to Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and FYR Macedonia we also collected data in Montenegro and Kosovo. The project also made its first steps outside the borders of Yugoslavia, into Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Romania and Bulgaria. The geographic expansion is not the only change in this year's PGM. The methodology has changed as well. One of the innovations is a smaller number of product brands in the questionnaire. Shorter questionnaire enables greater involvement and better concentration of the respondent, which consequently raises the validity of the acquired data. The new questionnaire on average includes 20 product categories per country, which are now investigated more in-depth. We are no longer measuring only brand strength, but we have added measuring spontaneous brand recall and an insight into the brand image. Brand image is measured by asking the consumers about which brands from a specific product category are linked to a specific element of the brand image (the selection of brad image elements included 20 elements within each category). This allowed us to determine the characteristic image of an individual brand and how brands differ from one another.

What kind of an attitude do the consumers have towards products from different European countries?

The brand image was not measured solely on the brand level but on the product origin level as well. In general, we asked for opinions about products from Austria, Italy, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia and about products offered by multinational companies.
The consumers attribute high quality and high price to the Slovenian products. In general, in regard to the price, the consumers place them right behind Italian and Austrian products (which are seen as the most expensive), with the exception of Croatian market, where domestic products are thought of as more expensive than Slovenian. In regard to quality, the Slovenian products are placed high on the scale by consumers on the Slovenian market, as well as Kosovo, Montenegro, FYR Macedonia and Serbia, while Croatian products are most valued by their own domestic consumers and by consumers in FYR Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina. The Croatian consumers are the ones least in favour of foreign products and are especially averse to buying products from countries of former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Slovenia and FYR Macedonia) and Bulgaria. If we compare the Slovenian and Croatian consumers we can determine that they are similar in favouring their own products in regard to the quality, high price and price / quality ratio.
If the Slovenian, Italian, Austrian and Croatian products are seen as best quality, this cannot be said for products from Bulgaria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia and FYR Macedonia, which are seen as of poorer quality. But Bosnian products are not doing badly on all markets. The consumers in Kosovo assessed them as being worth the price in regard to the quality, as well as being attractive. Same can be said for Serbian products in Montenegro, where almost half of the respondents think that Serbian products are high quality and are worth their price.

It is interesting, that Bosnian products are regarded as products with the highest frequency of advertising in Kosovo, but at the same time a quarter of consumers from Kosovo cannot find Bosnian products on their shelves. As far as advertising goes, the opinion of Bosnian consumers is interesting as well, since they are noted that Croatian products are far more advertised than their own domestic products.

The Italian products as no surprise stand out as the most attractive and prestigious. They have the highest value in the eyes of Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian and Montenegrin consumers.