Buying a stool-sur-cher rather than a camembert when you live in Tours. Prefer Fresh Farm eggs when you have the chance to live too far from an agricultural exploitation. Branded as a sale of distributors for many years, the room remains a consumption reflex, as recalled by the E.Leclerc Observatory of new consumptions*. A wealthy consumers, the preference for local products is now part of habits, beyond clichés and fashion effects.
And why do the French buy local? Simply because it’s good! The quality of productions is the first criterion of choice (45%). They are “consumer” only in a second step: 41% of those questioned prefer strawberries from their region to the Spanish to support farmers while 28% indicate that they want to support the local economy. Environmental prism is less a motivation (27%).
But, there is a problem: the price. While the UFC-Que Choisir had renewed its study last year consisting in verifying whether the fruits and vegetables remained cheaper in short circuits compared to large distribution (spoiler: this is always the case, including for organic), more than three quarters of French people (78%) which reduced their consumption of local products during the year consider the price as a brake on the purchase of these foods.
An arbitration that is good to re -situate in the current economic context. After several years of inflation, consumers have adopted new habits to defend their purchasing power. And “beyond the budgetary restrictions, consumers seek to optimize their expenses to find a certain room for maneuver”, analyzes the latest Bonial ** barometer which has just been published. Thus, promotions can literally tip the scales and have a real influence on purchasing decisions. No less than 64% of French people are actively looking for them.
Recall that last May, Foodwatch and six other associations had accused the mass distribution of designing promotions with too much too fatty products, too sweet or too salty, in short bad for health. Only one in ten promotion concerned fruits, vegetables or legumes. And local products in all of this?