S10 - Session O2 - Why fresh food producers use direct marketing in Northern France

Authors: Florentine Dupont *, Peter J. Batt

Consumers today are paying more attention to where their food comes from and how it has been produced. To satisfy this demand, increasing numbers of local food producers are distributing their products direct to consumers through on-farm stores, farmers markets, community-supported agriculture schemes, the internet and directly to institutional users. Theoretically, this mode of selling has several advantages for producers, enabling them to build closer relationships with their customers and to secure a greater proportion of the retail margin. However, direct marketing also presents some challenges. Through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with fresh food producers in Northern France, this study sought to examine the drivers for, and the advantages and disadvantages of direct marketing for fresh food producers. Results show that producers were motivated by five main concepts to use direct marketing. Economic advantage included price control, reducing the number of intermediaries, the need to make significant investments to sell to customers and maximizing the value of their products.Most producers reported that direct marketing techniques enabled them to be closer to the consumer and to have direct contact with them. This provided an opportunity to differentiate the product as it enabled producers to describe how the product had been grown and thus reinforce the health benefits. Being close to the customer also provided feedback from the customer which enabled the producer to grow a wider range of products and varieties. Depending on the opportunities that they had, the products they wanted to sell, and the means by which they chose to distribute and market them, primary producers had greater freedom and more choice. Others wished to develop their farm, to diversify and to add value to their products. Finally, direct marketing provided an opportunity to reach more consumers who not only tended to buy more when they had developed trust with the producer but were also willing to pay more for those products that met their expectations