Gillian Willis Small Business Development Manager Bord Bia – The Irish Food Board
The consumer trend of buying local continues to see growth. A report carried out by Bord Bia in 2017 looked at gaining a greater understanding of consumer attitudes towards Local Food and three years later many of those key findings are more relevant than ever. Gaining insight into consumer attitudes towards buying local provides producers a greater opportunity to tailor their product offering and target these consumers.
Let’s take a look at some of the key findings
1. The Meaning of Local continues to be about people, place and small scale – Consumers identify local with being able to link the product/brand back to a particular person and often location.
2. Support of Local Food fits with contemporary food culture – Consumers love to see someone local doing well and feel a sense of contribution to their overall success.
3. Local Food has become more widely available – Consumers are hungry for the ability of local food and local food continues to become more available in mainstream retailers.
4. The key local food categories remain unchanged  – Fruit, Vegetables, Meat, Bakery and Dairy.
5. There is a growing association with gifting/entertaining/special occasions – Particularly relevant amongst young professionals who are looking to share a special gift with a local story associated with it.
With these findings in mind producers should think of opportunities to target this group of consumers with some examples including:
– Sharing their brand story, how they got started and their involvement in the local community.
– Is your packaging clearly calling out where the product is being made? Do local consumers actually know your product is being made locally?
– Use social media to tell your audience where they can buy your product locally.
– Share pictures of the vegetables being picked on your farm and you stocking the shelves in the local supermarket, bringing the consumer along the journey from farm to fork.
– Provide gift ideas on social media in the form of collaborations with other local producers or ideas on how to package the gift in a gift friendly way.
The local consumer is out there and willing to support local so take the time to get to know them better and connect.
Bord Bia Local Report
