A comprehensive three-year research project on consumer shopping behaviour for the soft fruit sector has been put in place.
The initiative, which will be sponsored by British Summer Fruits and Winter Berries, will see a full-time PhD student at the dunnhumby Academy of Consumer Research at Kent Business School, undertaking a thorough analysis of the soft and stone fruit sector.
As part of the project the student will be spending time in the field conducting primary research with consumers, as well as detailed analysis of dunnhumby data to support the broader marketing activities of both British Summer Fruits and Winter Berries and their members.
“Investing in such long-term and in-depth research necessitates a significant financial commitment from both campaigns; £75k for the duration of the project,” said Laurence Olins of British Summer Fruits and Winter Berries.
“Working with dunnhumby is an important step if our industry is to successfully maximise the potential for future growth through increasing consumer penetration, particularly within thus far untapped markets.”
Olins stressed that the promotional soft fruit campaign had achieved considerable success since its inception in 2003, but added that the next step is to ‘gain traction across the wide consumer market’.
To do this, he said, it is important not only to understand what consumers put into their shopping baskets but also the reasons why. “This is what the dunnhumby Academy research promises to deliver and so will be an extremely valuable tool for the soft fruit industry and all its stakeholders,” he claimed.
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