Consumers Want to Buy British

Archived

Thursday, 13 February 2003

According to latest research by Mintel, half of consumers try to buy British when shopping for meat, this rises to almost three-quarters of those aged 65 and over. A further 44% of adults try to buy British when shopping for fruit and vegetables, while almost a third look for British fish. As with meat purchasers, those aged 65 and over are most likely to seek out British fruit, vegetables and fish. The patriotic shopper is also more likely to be found within the financially better off AB socio-economic group.

But there is frustration among shoppers who are willing to buy British but are unable to do so because the produce is not stocked by their retailer. Three in ten consumers would buy more British produce if it were available, again this rises to over 42% in the 65 plus age group. Over a fifth complain that supermarkets do not carry enough British-grown fresh fruit and vegetables, while 13% object to having to buy fruit and vegetables grown in other countries.
A further 12% resort to buying meat from other countries when British meat is not available, while 11% of adults feel that supermarkets do not carry enough fresh British meat.

Almost a quarter of British consumers (23%) claim to shop at farmer's markets/farm stores to buy locally grown produce; the same number do so to support their local economy and believe the produce is fresher.
Women are considerably more active than men in buying local produce with 27% shopping at farmer's markets compared to 19% of males. Some 14% of consumers claim that they would not know where to go to get locally grown produce.

Price is an issue to one in ten consumers, who are not interested in the source of the produce, providing it is cheap. Just 8% prefer to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Source: Mintel via www.just-food.com