Exploring consumer preferences for local food: The case of traditional coastal fishmongers in Costa Brava (Catalonia, Spain)

Fishing is an important source of income on the Costa Brava and it is a meaningful historical and social identity marker that represents an extremely valuable tangible and intangible heritage. The aim of this paper is to determine the profile of consumers who purchase fish in traditional fishmongers in municipalities on the Costa Brava (Catalonia). Between March and May 2021, 420 surveys were conducted on customers of traditional fish shops in fourteen towns in the Costa Brava (Catalonia), in the north-eastern area of the Iberian Peninsula. While a significant bulk of research is based on consumers' purchasing intentions, this research uses information on consumers' 'actual purchasing behaviour', generally recommended as a better predictor of behaviour. Moreover, we rely on geographic location of the fishmongers and type of fish purchased, less used variables, to assess purchasing patterns. Drawing on univariate and multivariate analyses, results also show that fish consumers' purchasing profiles depend on age, gender, motivations, and price. Although the characteristics of the dataset are limiting the generalization of the results, this research contributes to expanding the understanding of local foods consumers. Theoretical and practical implications, and opportunities for future research are described in order to improve the marketing of local food production and consumption.