How to co-create local food products with consumers?

Abstract

Local food supports local finance, employment and cultural traditions. Local food producers often have limited resources to invest in R'D, and their risk-taking ability is low. Earlier studies in the online community context indicate that utilising the user's creativity and innovation capability has a great deal of potential for new product development and service design. For local food producers, social media offers cost-efficient opportunities for involving customers in product and service development. The aim of the study is to explore the potential of a co-creation approach for local food producers and how to engage consumers in that co-creation. The study is dyadic, taking both the consumers' and producers' perspectives. The results indicate that consumers seem to be interested in having long-term relationships with producers. Their motivations to participate in co-creation processes were found to be mostly related to the possibility of producing better products and of learning and gaining new insights. The producers who participated in our study have already taken the first steps in using social media, and the next logical step would be utilising social media in the co-creation process.