UK consumers are interested in purchasing local foods but they are unlikely to compromise on quality, appearance, cost or product availability, according to new research.
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Eight focus groups were conducted nationwide by the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) early last month, and 1,000 consumers were interviewed nationally on the topic of local food as part of the IGD’s Consumer Watch series.
Ultimately, the study found that local foods need to be able to compete in the current market place with the range of products already on offer.
The consumers thought that local foods offered an additional attractive quality by enabling them to support the local community, but this would always be balanced against the extent to which the product met their needs in all other areas. As one consumer said: “I would support it if it was a similar price and quality (as other food).”
The research explored the consumers’ current and anticipated future behaviour and interest in buying local food; interpretation of the term ‘local food’ and the product attributes they associated with this; and their expectations of price differences between local and ‘national’ food.
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By GlobalDataCurrently, few people are buying foods direct from the grower, either from a farmers’ market, a farm shop or over the internet. In the last year:
·30% claimed to have bought foods direct from the grower, however this ranged from 2% that bought very often to 11% that did not buy very often
·70% had never bought foods direct from the grower.
Their actual interest in local foods is much higher than current behaviour indicates with:
·59% of people saying they are interested
·17% saying they are neither interested nor uninterested
·24% saying they are not very interested.
However, local food product ranges will not survive on consumer goodwill alone. Even if their main supermarket stocked a range of local foods, shoppers were evenly split as to the frequency with which they would look for these:
·just over one in three shoppers (38%) said they would always or usually look
·a further third of shoppers (35%) said they would look only occasionally
·the final group (27%) thought that they would rarely or never look.
Almost two in three shoppers expected to pay more for a food produced locally and to the same standards as normal. This was a difficult question to answer and does not represent a ‘willingness to pay’. The consumers in the focus groups recognised that the price depended considerably on the individual product and the additional attributes it offered.
·61% would expect local foods to be more expensive
·10% would expect local foods to cost the same as other foods
·29% would expect local foods to cost less
Anna Dawson, programme manager of IGD’s Consumer Unit said: “Our research indicates that the success of this concept will increase the easier it is for consumers to access these foods and the less they have to stray from their standard offer in terms of product qualities.
“The consumers were generally very supportive of supermarkets or other main food retail outlets, offering a range of local foods. They thought that this would be a fantastic opportunity for small businesses. Successful local products will be those that meet consumer needs and compete well within the market place, rather than relying on consumer desire to buy local.”
