Pulse Report: Consumer Understanding of Buying Local

What does the term “buy local" mean to today's consumers?

“Local" has become a quality distinction marker for food consumption as well as environmental causes. While “buy local" is a phrase that continues to grow in popularity, the specifics of what such a term means to consumers is hazy. Many mainstream consumers are just beginning to think about the idea in terms of everyday products and practices.

Pulse Report: Consumer Understanding of Buying Local is designed to provide a current view on where “buy local" is at with consumers and how this acquired knowledge translates into marketing opportunities.

Like organic products in the late 1990's, the fervor for all things “local," ranging from farm stand goods to civic involvement, seems to be everywhere today. On the surface, the rising interest among consumers in local products might be misconstrued as a growing fascination with fresh produce culled from the explosive growth of farmers markets in the U.S. To be sure, fresh agricultural goods and romanticized notions of family farms are a key part of what make up local products in the minds of consumers, yet consumers are also avidly interested in supporting local businesses and producers that they believe reflect their community's values.

What's Inside

The issues surrounding consumer involvement with the concept of “buying local" will only continue to grow in complexity. This report is your guide to understanding consumer perceptions of what “buy local" means to consumers in the context of products, brands, retailers, restaurants and businesses. The report examines:

• Current consumer definitions for “local"
• Reasons why consumers buy products they perceive as local
• Where consumers buy local products
• Percentage of local products purchased believed to be organic
• Assumptions consumers make about locally grown products (fresh)
• Perceptions of local vs. organic
• Perceptions of locally produced products vs. imported products
• Marketing influences
• Awareness for local brands
• Consumer desire for greater variety and access to local products

Key Features

Consumers are influenced by a range of factors to purchase local products. These influences range from notions of freshness to curiosity about product narratives to beliefs that buying local benefits local economies and environments. This report examines a variety of potential methods that marketers, retailers and restaurateurs can utilize to better align themselves with communities in which they sell or operate.

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Many factors are currently at play to influence the current and future picture of organic consumption. Our research clearly reveals that while organics are still an important cue to millions of consumers for products that contribute to healthy lifestyles, conventional culture is now including organic as but one of many symbolic distinctions of equal importance beneath the overall moniker of “quality.” Specifically, this report shows where organic now resides in terms of importance in consumers’ minds.

As consumers and companies navigate the turbulent waters of a difficult economy, the findings contained within The Many Faces of Organic bears new economic and cultural significance that cannot be ignored by manufacturers, marketers, retailers and other stakeholders.

What You Can Expect

The Many Faces of Organic 2008 explores how far into the mainstream organic has reached—representing ever more ideas and practices to a wider audience—and how any changes in behavior will influence further innovation.

This report integrates new primary quantitative and qualitative research to update the consumer perspective on the World of Organics with a longitudinal perspective that allows us to see into the future of organic by understanding its past. It provides a present-day, consumer-centric account of the world of organics and what lies beyond organic.

• CH I provides an updated view on organic usage including any shifts occurring between 2000 and 2008 in segment profiles, usage patterns and key dimensions of consumption.

• CH II details the consumer understanding of organics, past and present, the relationship between natural and organic and major themes with the World of Organics.

• CH III is an in-depth examination of organic usage: triggers for entry into organic products, motivators for continued usage, and barriers to using organics.

• CH IV explores the issue of price: perception of cost of organics, impact of cost of organics on purchases, the relationship between natural and price, and premium organic products.

• CH V probes the relevance of organics while dining outside the home including the price for organic products while dining out and consumer impressions of organic restaurants.

• CH VI looks at who is buying organics, purchase criteria, purchasing patterns across organic product categories and trends in organic product purchased.

• CH VII is a breakdown of the demographic factors in organic usage.

• CH VIII looks at the retail trends in shopping for organics over time and placement of organic products within the store (integration vs. segregation of products).

• CH IX is an assessment of consumer familiarity and adoption of organic brands and the influence of store brand organics.

• Appendix: Methodology