2. what we did so far
• research on problems of food distribution in
SPAIN
-two online customer discovery surveys for
end customers
-one face-to-face interview with a farmer
-one survey for face-to-face interviews with
farmers (data acquisition is right now)
-estimated business market size in two
different scenarios for our business.
3. what we learned so far
• Non-organic produce is difficult to TRACE.
• ca. 60% of all surveyees state they WOULD buy
local or organic produce ONLINE it they were
CHEAPER.
• Those who currently do NOT BUY organic
produce would NOT buy organic produce ONLINE
even if it was cheaper. Price does not seem to be
the hindering factor for not choosing organic
produce.
• Those who currently DO buy organic produce
would buy it online if it was cheaper.
4. what we learned so far
• Although the vast majority of end customers
answered that QUALITY is their main criterion for
selecting fruit and vegetables, only 30% of them
chooses ORGANIC products (for many, the reason
being the too high price).
• The vast majority shops always in the same shop.
When asked why, many mention loyalty and
trust. They trust that their loyalty to one shop will
reward them with products selected by the
grocer especially for them.
5. Our Hypothesis:
• In our opinion their trust in the grocer, among
other reasons, compensates for the lack of
traceability of non-organic products.
This would also explain why these customers
are reluctant to buy online, while on the other
side, people who eat organic food are more
open to e-commerce solutions, as in this case
it is the product itself that provides them with
extensive traceability.
6. What our research tells us…
• In Spain there are a few websites that aim at connecting directly
farmers to their end users.
• They limit mainly to offering e-commerce solutions to individual
end users rather than purchasing groups..
• They seem to have a limited success.
• We found only one website that is fairly similar to what we plan to
do. We believe however that the implementation of the interface is
poor.
• The fact that these websites exist is a PROOF that the problem does
exist and someone is already trying to solve it.
• Clearly the traditional solution of food distribution with many
intermediaries INCREASES PRICES without on the other end
providing us with product TRACEABILITY.
7. The farmers’ point of view
(preliminary data)
• Many coops are currently struggling to
compete with cheaper imported goods.
• Therefore they are interested in a platform
that helps them sell their produce, especially
on a local scale.
8. We believe that
• traceability is a crucial aspect.
• people value the human experience of buying
their food.
• We need to provide the social experience of food
purchase to the online shopping.
• In order to gain the trust of the end
users, farmers must be seen 'accessible'.
• The internet is the best instrument to cancel the
distance between the farmers and their
customers. For all of the above we are convinced
in pursuing this idea further.
9. Conclusion
• For all of the above we are convinced in
pursuing this idea further.
Notas do Editor
From our two Customer Discovery survey we inferred the following: 1-Currently there is a lack of traceability of non-organic produce. 22% of all surveyees could not tell us whether what they buy is local produce or not. They state this information is missing.2-59% of all surveyees state they would buy local or organic produce online it they were cheaper.3-There is a statistically significant correlation between buying food online and the habit of buying organic food. More specifically, those who currently do not buy organic produce would not buy organic produce online even if it was cheaper. Price does not seem to be the hindering factor for not choosing organic produce. Those who do buy organic produce would buy it online if it was cheaper.4-Although the vast majority of end customers answered that quality is their main criterion for selecting fruit and vegetables, only 30% of them chooses organic products (for many, the reason being the too high price).5-The vast majority shops always in the same shop. When asked why, many mention loyalty and trust. They trust that their loyalty to one shop will reward them with products selected by the grocer especially for them. In our opinion their trust in the grocer, among other reasons, compensates for the lack of traceability of non-organic products. This would also explain why these customers are reluctant to buy online, while on the other side, people who eat organic food are more open to e-commerce solutions, as in this case it is the product itself that provides them with extensive traceability.From our research, we saw that in Spain there are a few websites that aim at connecting directly farmers to their end users. Most of them are oriented in selling products to individual end users rather than purchasing groups. They limit mainly to offering e-commerce solutions. They seem to have a limited success. We found only one website that is fairly similar to what we plan to do. We believe however that the implementation of the interface is poor. The fact that these websites exist is a proof that the problem does exist and someone is already trying to solve it. Clearly the traditional solution of food distribution with many intermediaries just increases the prices without on the other end providing traceability of a product.Preliminary data suggest that also farmers and coops would be interested in a platform that helped them sell their produce, especially on a local scale, as many coops are currently struggling to compete with cheaper imported goods. Our platform would lower the prices for local and organic produce, something that would convince end customers to buy online. We think that providing traceability is a crucial aspect. However we think there is also another aspect that current e-commerce platforms seem to ignore: people value the human experience of buying their food. We believe that connecting farmers to their final customers cannot work efficiently without providing the social experience of food purchase to the online shopping. In order to gain the trust of the end users, farmers would need to become 'accessible'. The internet is the best instrument to cancel the distance between the farmers and their customers. For all of the above we are convinced in pursuing this idea further.