Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
organic food supply chain. They have been encouraged by chain stores that want to work
through them because demand is up and they need larger quantities at regular delivery
times. Consequently, imports from regions (eg. California) with large organic farming
activities still prevails. This rises the question of what organic exactly is, if it is perceived as
limited to local or if imports can also be considered as organic. Having different channels of
distribution somehow addresses the different perceptions of the OF market segments on
these matters. Farmers, local markets and specialty stores emphasize the origin of the
organic products and provide complete information to OF consumers.
For supermarkets, the diversification of the offer is the main driver of the market growth.
According to Padel (2005) the relationship between the organic suppliers and the
conventional retailers in the mainstream food chain is a relationship between small and big
volume actors. But for organic suppliers, the most reasonable access to consumers in many
countries remains the conventional retailers (Bahr et al., 2004), highlighting an important
need for closer collaboration between the supply chain actors.
From the organic food specialty stores' perspective (independent stores as well as chain
stores), the organic market shows differences between supermarkets and specialty stores in
terms of variety, price and quality. In other words, supermarkets are able to provide
consumers with a larger variety, lower prices and convenience whereas specialty stores
differentiate themselves with the quality and the origin of their products. As for producers,
the main difference between suppliers is established in terms of short-direct / long channel
of distribution, with producers offering traceability and quality.
9.2 Organic food consumers
Suppliers also provided their perceptions on several organic consumers' characteristics. For
most suppliers, consumers are in general more knowledgeable and are looking for authentic
products, health, quality, and taste. Their level of knowledge as well as their motivation to
consume organic products seems to differ depending on the point of sale they mostly use. In
other words, consumers buying from producers/farmers are clearly looking for proximity
with the producer, fresh products and quality, and a better understanding of the organic
process and show a clear interest for its impact on health and the environment. Consumers
mainly using standard channels of distribution are looking for convenience, healthy
products and taste. These consumers do not have a high knowledge of what organic is and
seem to get confused between organic and natural products. Organic specialty stores
describe their consumers as more knowledgeable and looking for health, quality and taste.
Trust is also of extreme importance in the organic food networks as its added value is
mainly based on the production methods.
Several organic labels are present on the market. This induces some confusion, as consumers
do not know which one(s) to trust. Therefore, the organic labels that should play a central
role do not seem to have achieved that position in the OF consumers' decision-making
process yet. Overall, distribution channels link consumers' trust in OF to different
dimensions: organic labels, brands, traceability, advice, and/or store reputation. Because of
the differences in these trust dimensions, providing standard information for all OF
consumers may not be the best communication strategy based on consumers' specific
interests and knowledge. For consumers' mainly purchasing their OF products in
supermarkets, organic labels is mainly what they trust as well as organic brands (mainly
store brands). This is in accordance with Sirieix et al. (2009) showing that OF consumers
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