diff --git a/_pytest/mark.py b/_pytest/mark.py
index 35cb3224a..24bb55838 100644
--- a/_pytest/mark.py
+++ b/_pytest/mark.py
@@ -95,11 +95,17 @@ class ParameterSet(namedtuple('ParameterSet', 'values, marks, id')):
 
 
 def get_empty_parameterset_mark(config, argnames, function):
-
+    requested_mark = config.getini('empty_parameterset')
+    if requested_mark in ('', None, 'skip'):
+        mark = MARK_GEN.skip
+    elif requested_mark == 'xfail':
+        mark = MARK_GEN.xfail(run=False)
+    else:
+        raise LookupError(requested_mark)
     fs, lineno = getfslineno(function)
     reason = "got empty parameter set %r, function %s at %s:%d" % (
         argnames, function.__name__, fs, lineno)
-    return MARK_GEN.skip(reason=reason)
+    return mark(reason=reason)
 
 
 class MarkerError(Exception):
@@ -141,6 +147,9 @@ def pytest_addoption(parser):
     )
 
     parser.addini("markers", "markers for test functions", 'linelist')
+    parser.addini(
+        "empty_parameterset",
+        "default marker for empty parametersets")
 
 
 def pytest_cmdline_main(config):
@@ -284,6 +293,14 @@ def pytest_configure(config):
     if config.option.strict:
         MARK_GEN._config = config
 
+    empty_parameterset = config.getini("empty_parameterset")
+
+    if empty_parameterset not in ('skip', 'xfail', None, ''):
+        from pytest import UsageError
+        raise UsageError(
+            "empty_parameterset must be one of skip and xfail,"
+            " but it is {!r}".format(empty_parameterset))
+
 
 def pytest_unconfigure(config):
     MARK_GEN._config = getattr(config, '_old_mark_config', None)
diff --git a/changelog/2527.feature b/changelog/2527.feature
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..97e2a63fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/2527.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+introduce a pytest ini option to pick the mark for empty parametersets and allow to use xfail(run=False)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/testing/test_mark.py b/testing/test_mark.py
index 45e88ae8f..1e601fc44 100644
--- a/testing/test_mark.py
+++ b/testing/test_mark.py
@@ -891,3 +891,26 @@ class TestMarkDecorator(object):
     ])
     def test__eq__(self, lhs, rhs, expected):
         assert (lhs == rhs) == expected
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('mark', [None, 'skip', 'xfail'])
+def test_parameterset_for_parametrize_marks(testdir, mark):
+    if mark is not None:
+        testdir.makeini("[pytest]\nempty_parameterset=" + mark)
+
+    config = testdir.parseconfig()
+    from _pytest.mark import pytest_configure, get_empty_parameterset_mark
+    pytest_configure(config)
+    result_mark = get_empty_parameterset_mark(config, ['a'], all)
+    if mark is None:
+        # normalize to the requested name
+        mark = 'skip'
+    assert result_mark.name == mark
+
+    if mark == 'xfail':
+        assert result_mark.kwargs.get('run') is False
+
+
+def test_parameterset_for_parametrize_bad_markname(testdir):
+    with pytest.raises(pytest.UsageError):
+        test_parameterset_for_parametrize_marks(testdir, 'bad')