Almost half of Australians say buying local is important when grocery shopping. New Shopfully research shows the barrier is not demand, it is visibility and access.
Almost half of Australians say buying local matters to them when they shop for groceries. That finding, from a YouGov study commissioned by retail media platform Shopfully, is not a niche preference or a premium market signal. It is a mainstream consumer sentiment that cuts across demographics and motivations.
One in five shoppers, 21%, said buying local is very important and that they always prioritise local products because they believe them to be fresher or of higher quality. A further 29% said they would choose local products when they were easy to find and competitively priced. Twenty-four per cent of Australians buy groceries from farmers markets or local markets, most commonly among Australians aged 25 to 34.
The motivations are layered. Australians are driven by a combination of community support, product quality, environmental impact, convenience and price, according to the research. That breadth means the local buying preference is not confined to a particular type of shopper or a single set of values. It is distributed across the market.
For small Australian producers, makers and local suppliers, that data represents genuine commercial demand. The question is how to reach it.
Where the gap sits
The research is consistent on one point: intention does not automatically convert to purchase. Affordability and accessibility are the two friction points that stand between a consumer who wants to buy local and one who actually does.
Twenty-nine per cent of Australians would choose local products when they were easy to find and competitively priced. That qualifier, easy to find and competitively priced, is doing significant work. It tells local producers that the consumer is willing but the path to purchase needs to be made easier, not the preference itself.
The farmers market data reinforces this. Shoppers who visit markets to buy local honey, handmade soap or locally grown produce are demonstrating revealed preference. They want these products enough to make a dedicated trip. But that same shopper, if they could find comparable quality and provenance in the places they already shop regularly, would very likely buy there instead. The market visit is a workaround for unavailability, not a preferred behaviour.
Price sensitivity is real but not absolute. Many Australians said they would choose local when products were competitively priced, which signals willingness to pay a moderate premium for local provenance, not necessarily price parity with the cheapest alternative. For small producers, this is a meaningful distinction. You do not need to compete on the lowest price. You need to close the gap enough that the quality and local story justify the difference.
What small producers can do with this
The research points to three practical levers for small businesses trying to capture the local buying appetite that clearly exists in the market.
The first is visibility at the point of planning. Australians are increasingly making purchasing decisions before they enter a store, through catalogues, digital channels and online browsing. For small producers trying to reach retail buyers or direct consumers, getting products featured in pre-shop communications, whether through a retailer’s catalogue, a digital channel or your own email list, puts local products in front of shoppers at the moment they are deciding what to buy. Shopfully’s Brendan Straw noted that catalogues and digital channels can build awareness of local product credentials before a shopper enters a store. For small businesses, that same principle applies to your own marketing.
The second is making provenance clear and easy to understand. The research found that Australians are motivated by community support, freshness, quality and environmental impact. These are all stories that small producers can tell better than large national brands, because they are true and specific. A label, a website, a market stall or a retail shelf presence that clearly communicates where the product is from, who made it and how, converts the general preference for local into a reason to choose your specific product.
The third is reducing the barrier to first trial. The research found that many shoppers with genuine local buying intentions still struggle to justify a significant price premium. Introductory offers, sample sizes, bundle deals and loyalty incentives all lower the barrier for a first purchase. For small producers selling direct or through local stockists, a deliberate trial strategy, getting the product into someone’s hands at a lower-risk price point, builds the repeat purchase behaviour that sustains the business.
The consumer demand for local is documented, consistent and cross-demographic. The gap between that demand and the purchase is not a values problem. It is a distribution, visibility and accessibility problem. For small Australian producers and makers, closing that gap is the growth opportunity the research is pointing to.
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