The present paper intends to address the impact of COVID-19 crisis upon the consumer buying behavior of fresh vegetables directly from local producers as observed 30 days later, after enforcing the state of emergency in Romania within a well-defined area, namely, the quarantined area of Suceava. The study relies on the interpretation of answers received from the quarantined area (N = 257) to a questionnaire applied online nationwide. The starting point of this paper is the analysis of the sociodemographic factors on the purchasing decision of fresh vegetables directly from local producers before declaring the state of emergency in Romania (16 March 2020). Further research has been conducted by interpreting the changes triggered by the COVID-19 crisis on the purchasing intention of such products before and after the end of the respective crisis. The aim of this scientific investigation relies on identifying the methods by which these behavioral changes can influence the digital transformation of short food supply chains.

No abstract

In Romania, there is an emerging market of dairy products delivered through short food supply chains. Although this distribution system has existed since the communist period, and even though more than three decades have passed since then, the market fails to be mature, subject to taxation, or achieve a high diversity in terms of dairy categories, with a consolidated marketing culture that has significant effects on the regional socio-economic environment. The aim of this study was to observe whether the Corona Virus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has influenced consumer behavior regarding dairy products delivered directly from producers in Suceava County, Romania. The research is based on a survey conducted between April and May, 2020, and the analysis relies on both quantitative and qualitative methods (namely, anthropological and ethnographic). From the provided responses, it a change was observed in the future buying behavior on short food supply chains, in a positive sense. One of the key findings was that family represents the main environment for passing on the values that influence the buying behavior. Another key finding was that the behavioral changes on the short food supply chains exert pressure on their digital transformations.

In the case of the Romanian urban consumer, ecological agroalimentary products do not merely operate on the discursive line mapped by the rules of certification. The ecology of the agroalimentary products is reinterpreted and, thus, an interesting phenomenon occurs. The products perceived as natural, local, or peasant are seen as ecological enough to influence the purchase decision. Hence, according to the Romanian urban consumer, the ecological product stands for a symbolic projection provided by their own experience and trust level as a consumer. In the present paper, we aimed to go beyond the theory claiming that such behavior is determined by confusion in the social action of purchase and, following this line of interpretation, we also intended to identify the symbolic systems and hermeneutical criteria by which the Romanian urban consumer makes a social projection of ecological agroalimentary products through certain ethnocentralizing mechanisms. Our research paper was based on a qualitative and quantitative anthropological analysis that had, as a starting point, a questionnaire applied online (with a total of 1792 respondents, out of which 1342 were urban respondents).