Euberry: competitiveness and marketing strategies of sustainable berries validated for improved health benefits - introduction to the project and preliminary results

• Published in: Acta horticulturae no. 1017; pp. 337 - 342
• Main Authors: Groot, M.J, Roelofs, P.F.M.M, Kaim, E, Sijtsema, S.J, Zimmermann, K.L, Zmarlicki, K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Society for Horticultural Science 01-01-2014
• Subjects: blueberries; business enterprises; costs and returns; economic sustainability; ex ante analysis; interviews; marketing strategies; social sciences
• ISSN: 0567-7572; 2406-6168
• DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1017.41

The EUBerry project is not only building on technical research but also studies berry production and consumption from a social sciences perspective. This paper aims to describe the approach used in the EUBerry project about business economics as well as marketing. In addition some preliminary results are presented. The social sciences part of EUBerry consists of four parts: economic viability, market situation, marketing strategies and evaluation. The economic viability of new production methods will be calculated beforehand as well as at the end of the project. The ex-ante analysis about critical success factors, with regard to expected costs and returns, gives the conditions for the improvement and implementation of new developing methods and can be seen as research guide. In this paper preliminary results of the ex-ante analysis for blueberries will be presented. With respect to market description, the initial market situation of fresh berries in selected European countries will be described. This description will be based on desk research as well as interviews. These results are taken as a basis for the development, testing and evaluation of marketing strategies, adapted from health benefits of berries in order to increase consumption. These marketing strategies will be tested together with SMEs. An overview of this marketing "plan of action method" will be given.