Abstract
The fresh fruit industry is a highly dynamic sector in the food market. Fresh fruit chain actors have to adapt to the changing market environment in order to face upcoming challenges. The objective of this study is to analyze the market sustainability of red-fleshed apples (RFA) by exploring consumers’ and fresh fruit industry experts’ and stakeholders’ opinions in Italy and New Zealand. The study was carried out in Italy and New Zealand from December 2018 to June 2019 including 778 consumers and 29 expert and stakeholder interviews. Results show a promising market potential of RFA. Innovative attributes and nutritional value of RFA are the most important factors that push consumers’ interest and willingness to buy RFA. New Zealand consumers and women show a higher appreciation of RFA. The nutritional value of the fruit can be a strategic marketing management attribute especially for health-conscious consumers. However, experts think the market for RFA will develop slowly, and will remain a niche product. Some stakeholders are skeptical about consumer RFA appreciation, and fear that RFA are too radical a novelty on the market. The RFA may be perceived as not natural. There is the need to coordinate food chain stakeholders’ management practices on RFA. This allows to mitigate risks, set food standards acceptable for all chain stakeholders, and make sustainable economic investment on innovation.
Highlights
The fruit industry is a highly dynamic and rapidly growing sector on the food market
The aim of this research is to fill this gap in existing literature, and to analyze the market potential of red-fleshed apples (RFA) as a novel food product in the fresh fruit market of two horticultural hotspots, Italy and New Zealand
This research is focused on analyzing the market potential of RFA as a novel food product in the fresh fruit market
Summary
The fruit industry is a highly dynamic and rapidly growing sector on the food market. A consumer-oriented supply chain approach in the fruit industry means promoting new product development, by introducing new cultivars and fruits with distinctive and novel appearance and taste [1,9], and by delivering high quality products with a wide range of produce assortment based on the understanding of consumers’ appreciation [10,11]. These interventions should increase the economic sustainability of the value chain, and have an impact on consumers’ healthy food choice [8,12]
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