Consumers’ Preferences and Attitudes Toward Local Food Products

Abstract

In recent years, consumers’ interest in local food has significantly increased. Several studies in the agricultural economics and marketing literature have analyzed mainly consumers’ preferences for local food products. In this study, we perform a consumer segmentation with regard to consumer behavior toward local food. We collected data from a survey conducted during summer 2010 in Naples, South Italy. Consumer segments were identified taking account of five aspects: (1) food consumption styles; (2) perception of local food; (3) purchasing motives; (4) perceived quality of local food; and (5) sociodemographic characteristics. They could be profiled as ethnocentric consumers, environmentalists, strict localists, and quality labeling oriented.

KEYWORDS:

• Consumer segmentation
• local food
• consumer behavior

Notes

¹ In the United States, the 2008 Farm Act defines the total distance that a product can be transported and still be eligible for marketing as a “locally or regionally produced agricultural food product” as less than 400 miles, or the state in which it is produced (Martinez et al., 2010).

² A comparison of the distribution of the two levels of importance (e.g., most important and less important) attached by consumers to each of the listed food attribute reported in the third column of the Table 3 (e.g., χ² test p values). Results suggested that there are statistically significant differences between what consumers perceive as most important vs. what they consider less important among all items.