Digital technologies are engendering novel ways of organizing flows of information and knowledge in a widely range of industries including the agrifood sector. We refer to such as scenario as “digital agrifood”. Investigating on this evolving scenario the purpose of the present research is to investigate the potential benefits and challenges brought about by the adoption of online sales configurators (OSC) for food customization. More specifically, the paper aims at: (1) assessing the status quo of the food configuration process via online sales configurators; (2) providing an overview on the state of the art of e-commerce currently adopted by Italian food small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (3) detecting whether the selling of customized products via OSC is suitable for Italian food SMEs. An empiric investigation is conducted on a sample of 105 active food configurators and on a sample of 394 Italian food SMEs. The paper uses a mixed quali-quantitative method and includes a customer-oriented perspective to specifically address emerging trends in digital innovation in the food industry. Results from the present study identify managerial stimuli to implement food customization via OSC as an e-commerce strategy for Italian food SMEs and as a leverage for the Made in Italy to properly respond to the challenges of online markets.
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