Consumer judgement of local foods

Szente, Viktória – Jasák, Helga – Szűcs, Andrea – Kalmár, Sándor

Keywords: consumer questionnaire, direct selling, local product, availability, willingness to pay premium prices

Today, civil society is becoming increasingly concerned about the adverse effects of globalisation and free trade on the economy, society and the environment. This recognition among consumers has led to the emergence of a new (anti) trend: localisation. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of the trend on the consumption of local food, using the Hungarian food industry as an example. We chose quantitative research as a method and carried out random interviews on a nationwide representative sample of 1000 respondents. Our research shows that a significant proportion of consumers (72.9%) believes it is important that the food is produced locally. Similarly high (70.1%) is the proportion of those who want to shop exclusively in local food shops near their residence to buy products produced in their respective region. Very importantly, the majority of respondents prefer to buy local foods versus imported foods if the price is the same. Consumers however are willing to buy only certain products for a higher price. Our research reveals that the production and sales of local foods is of very high (strategic) importance in Hungary as reflected in consumer needs. To that end – producers, processors, traders and NGOs in collaboration – need to create a quality product base, and the sales strategy needs to be well communicated and reflect local characteristics, preferably direct selling. However we should not forget about the labelling of local products. The overly fragmented system does not favour the development of consumer trust, and is inefficient and difficult to communicate, therefore the application of community (agricultural) marketing techniques is essential.

Full article