Agricultural University of Athens
School of Applied Economics and Social Sciences
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development
Evaluating the Web Presence of Feta Cheese Producing Companies and their Use of Digital Technologies
A thesis submitted to the
AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Integrated Master’s Degree of
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
By
CONSTANTINOS MYTILINAIOS
Student ID: 419146
Committee Members
Costopoulou Constantina, Professor (Supervisor)
Karetsos Sotirios, Assistant Professor
Ntaliani Maria, Assistant Professor
Athens, October 2024
ABSTRACT
The thesis explores the digital transformation of PDO Feta production companies. In order to understand the specific issue, two investigations were carried out. The first one concerned an interview with a certain entrepreneur in the cheese industry, his company is based in Argolis under the name "I STRUGA". In the second survey, the characteristics of the digital presence of cheese shops in Greece in the years 2023 and 2024 were expanded using the automated website evaluation tools Internet NL, Page Speed Insights and Website Grader. For the purposes of the research, an internet search was carried out for cheese shops in Greece that maintained an active website. The establishment of each business and the start of operation on the internet were also expanded through each website. I researched which businesses are b2b, which b2c, which export abroad as well as which have an electronic store (e-shop) on their websites. In addition, a check was made which companies have invested in social media and which in a foreign language. First, a reference is made to the general context with key definitions and concepts as well as a historical review of Digital Transformation. Then, a reference is made to its disadvantages as well as its advantages, while correspondingly its development during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic is examined in detail. Also, chapter 2 presents us in a few words the cheese factory where we did the interview, evaluates the fine and high quality cheese products that the company has as well as showing us the nutritional value of their products. This is the company 'I STRUGA', which was mentioned above. For the purposes of the degree study, an interview was conducted with Mr. Grigoris Bozzionelos, general manager of the company, who answered a given questionnaire. At the same time, for the completion of the interview, some conclusions drawn for the company are also presented. In addition, chapter 3 in the year 2024 expanded the analysis and evaluation of cheese shops with specific assessment tools such as Internet n.l, Page Speed Insights and Website Grader. In particular, all three of these analyzed tools are free online website evaluation tools. Website Grader checks the website considering its traffic and findability in search engines, social media and other marketing factors. The test includes four main points: the performance (Performance), with a scale score of 0-30; Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with a rating scale of 0-30.
Mobile, where the rating scale is 0-30. Security, where the rating scale changes and is 0-10. The next tool we used is Page Speed Insights (PSI) this is a Google tool that evaluates the loading speed and behavior of a page on mobile and desktop devices. Five checkpoints are scored here, all on a 0-100 rating scale: 1) Performance, 2) Accessibility, 3) Best Practices, 4) SEO, and 5) Application Function – Checkpoints. The final tool used for the thesis research was Internet NL. In a nutshell "Internet NL" is an initiative aimed at improving the security and reliability of the Internet. This checks websites and emails with a scale score on both 0-100. At the end of chapter 3, a reference was made to the advantages and disadvantages of evaluation tools. In chapter 4, a research methodology was made for PDO feta cheese products in Greece as the process included the three tools for automated website evaluation. There was a series of website information and characteristics for each column, then the results were taken from the three automated website evaluation tools such as Internet NL, Page Speed Insights and Website Grader to evaluate 162 active websites of cheese shops. This was followed by the conclusions of the research and finally the questionnaire on which the interviews conducted by the company were based.
Keywords: Web presence, feta PDO production companies, Websites analysis tools, SEO
Comments