New trend of direct marketing: Customers prefer to buy straight from the farmer instead of from the supermarket

Created: 05/04/2022, 19:01

By: Raphael Scherer

There is high demand in the farm shop of Anette and Andreas Hermann from the Hansn-Hof.

© Dziemballa

More and more farms rely on farm shops and vending machines instead of wholesale.

This also applies to the Hansn-Hof in Angelrechtingen.

Angelrechting/Poing – More and more people are buying their groceries directly from farmers instead of in the supermarket.

"Direct marketing" is the keyword here, explains Christiane Köhler from the Office for Food, Agriculture and Forestry in Ebersberg-Erding.

For a better overview, the Bavarian Ministry of Agriculture wants to summarize all direct marketers on the internet platform www.regionales-bayern.de.

According to Köhler, 128 companies are already in their area of ​​responsibility, including the districts of Ebersberg (19), Erding (24), as well as Freising (38) and the district and city of Munich (31 and 16).

"Plus one more," says Köhler, pointing to the couple Andreas (47) and Anette Hermann (50) from Angelrechtingen.

They had just registered with their Hansn-Hof on the platform.

Direct marketing through farm shops and vending machines: Corona brought an enormous rush of customers

Thanks to vending machines, customers can stock up on eggs and all the trimmings around the clock.

© Dziemballa

The couple has been running a farm shop since 2003, where they offer their goods such as eggs and flour, as well as vegetables, fruit, dairy products, sausage, pasta, jam, honey, and also the recently popular cooking oil from surrounding farms.

However, since not everyone found the hidden farm immediately, the couple also sold their goods at the Poinger weekly market and, since 2017, together with the butcher Böltl at two double vending machines in Weißenfeld and Dornach near Aschheim (Munich district).

In February, due to high demand, another was added to the Obi in Parsdorf.

"Since Corona, we suddenly had a huge queue at the weekly market," remembers Anette Hermann.

Neither there nor in the farm shop could they suddenly keep up with the personnel requirements.

The couple would never have dreamed of such an “insane push” of new customers through the courtyard party originally planned together with other local businesses, which was canceled due to the pandemic.

Direct marketing to farmers: no own online shop due to lack of staff

The self-service option, where customers gather their goods in the store without the presence of a salesperson and put the money in the cash register, was also readily accepted due to the fear of infection.

But as soon as the easing came, the rush of customers decreased again, the couple remembers.

"People still want to, but have become comfortable," they suspect.

On the other hand, according to Anette Hermann, this is not due to the prices that have recently been rising everywhere, her customers understand the omnipresent, inflationary situation.

The couple sees their own online shop as not an option, as there is a lack of staff.

"If we do something, then it's clever." After all, the family business should not only produce the goods, but also deliver them to farm shops, buyers and the vending machines.

By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Ebersberg newsletter.