Consumers are not willing to pay more for locally produced food despite wanting it to be more readily available, a new survey for The Grocer has indicated.
In a survey of 1,000 shoppers by England Marketing and Research Now, 65% said there was insufficient access to local food where they usually shopped.
But despite wanting to buy more, price or people's perception of it emerged as a major barrier to building local food sales.
"About 20% of the respondents said the only thing they didn't like about local food was that it can sometimes be more pricey," said England Marketing MD Jan England. Only 37% of respondents said they were prepared to pay a premium for local.
As well as getting consumers to understand the value of local food, suppliers also needed to find reliable routes to market to build sales, said Kirsty Grieve, MD of regional specialist Mad For Food.
"There's definitely huge potential for local, but it's a question of getting food producers working together to solve the distribution issue," she said. "Producers must think about other routes to market, such as getting together to package and distribute in bulk."
Most respondents (85%) bought local produce at least once a month, with 40% buying weekly. Shoppers in Scotland and the north, south west and east of England were more likely to buy it, reflecting the wider availability of clearly defined local food in rural areas, said England.
More than 70% of those surveyed defined 'local' as produced within 50 miles of where they lived.
Read more
Start-up help offered to regional suppliers (6 March 2010)
Tesco launches new PoS to show regional and local products (30 January 2010)
London must do more to meet local demand (9 January 2010)
In a survey of 1,000 shoppers by England Marketing and Research Now, 65% said there was insufficient access to local food where they usually shopped.
But despite wanting to buy more, price or people's perception of it emerged as a major barrier to building local food sales.
"About 20% of the respondents said the only thing they didn't like about local food was that it can sometimes be more pricey," said England Marketing MD Jan England. Only 37% of respondents said they were prepared to pay a premium for local.
As well as getting consumers to understand the value of local food, suppliers also needed to find reliable routes to market to build sales, said Kirsty Grieve, MD of regional specialist Mad For Food.
"There's definitely huge potential for local, but it's a question of getting food producers working together to solve the distribution issue," she said. "Producers must think about other routes to market, such as getting together to package and distribute in bulk."
Most respondents (85%) bought local produce at least once a month, with 40% buying weekly. Shoppers in Scotland and the north, south west and east of England were more likely to buy it, reflecting the wider availability of clearly defined local food in rural areas, said England.
More than 70% of those surveyed defined 'local' as produced within 50 miles of where they lived.
Read more
Start-up help offered to regional suppliers (6 March 2010)
Tesco launches new PoS to show regional and local products (30 January 2010)
London must do more to meet local demand (9 January 2010)
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