During the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, food and beverage businesses found themselves having to quickly adapt or risk perishing for good. Any brand in the space which wasn’t already offering takeout services or didn’t have some form of online ordering system – whether first- or third-party – had to either put these elements in place or close their doors. However, now the danger has largely passed, it’s time to look forwards and see which trends are shaping the industry in 2023. As people try to move on from the trauma of the pandemic, are they returning to restaurants, bars, and coffee shops and, if so, how are they engaging with those businesses?
You’d have to have been living under a rock not to have noticed the devastating effect global inflation and volatility is having on food prices – a fact which clearly impacts, not just customers buying food for their own sustenance, but also food and beverage businesses purchasing products and ingredients for their own operations.
With digital ecommerce platforms offering food and beverage customers more options than ever before, brands in the space need to stand out from the crowd if they want to attract and retain new business. As with any business, customer retention is the key to a long-lasting and profitable business. Retaining existing customers costs less that attracting new ones, with research showing that 65% of a company’s business comes from its core customer base. However, the restaurant business has one of the lowest customer retention rates out there with a paltry 30% of customers returning for a second visit. This means, on average, a massive 70% of customers visit a restaurant once and then never return.
If you’ve been following this article series, you’ll have already read about how the rapid rise in inflation and market volatility around food and beverage products is causing significant strain on the industry. Compounding this issue is a general rise in prices in almost every sector which means customers have less disposable income to spend on treats such as dining out or takeout meals.
In an earlier article in this series, we talked at length regarding how to retain customers through experience, consistency, value, and engagement. However, all that effort will be for nought if you cannot attract new customers in the first place. According to Statista, the food and beverage industry is expanding rapidly and is predicted to continue along that trajectory for the rest of this decade. The end result of these figures is that the food and beverage space is becoming an increasingly crowded marketplace and is only likely to become more so as time goes on. This is going to make the business of standing out from the crowd and getting noticed by an increasingly fickle customer base more challenging as we move through the decade.
Marketing directly to the customers who will eventually use your products is a solution where everyone benefits, however as the retailers which sell your products will enjoy increased business and will therefore require more frequent restocks from your brand. This has led to a rise in so-called connected commerce, where these brands invest heavily in digital technology and data as part of the strategy to market their products directly to customers.
The physical retail space continues to be crucial – especially when it comes to grocery shopping – but it must now be supported by a robust a comprehensive digital presence as well. This leads us nicely onto a concept referred to as the "digital shelf" which all retail brands need to be aware of and diverting resources to if they want to provide their customers with the kinds of experiences they expect when interacting with a contemporary commerce operation.
While larger businesses had the resources to weather the storm and ecommerce companies could continue operating at almost full capacity – with many even seeing massive surges in business as customers stuck at home under lockdown restrictions sought products to distract them from the tedium and anxiety – small business was left floundering.
People naturally feel an emotional attachment to the brands they enjoy – a fact which is well known among marketers and has been exploited for decades to build vast followings of dedicated fans which are ready and willing to go to bat for their favorite companies (such as with Xbox versus PlayStation, or Apple versus Android). However, these attachments can also be used as a force for good and can help socially conscious brands spread messages of happiness and fun – something which is sorely needed during times such as these.
Not only do modern brands have to make sure they have the digital tools in place to offer their customers the kind of technology-driven experiences they expect from the companies they do business with, but they must also be able to scale those tools to meet changing demand and a shifting economic landscape.
Many staff members have not returned to work and have, in fact, resigned from their positions. This has naturally left the industry with a record number of vacancies which they are struggling to fill.
It's fair to say that the COVID-19 pandemic caught a lot of industries off guard and necessitated a steep learning curve to discover methods of business continuity while many companies were closing their doors. However, one industry which found itself in something of a limbo was Food and Beverage.
As lockdowns dragged on and on, ecommerce brands both within and without the food and beverage industry saw massive boosts to revenue. However, the story of lockdown food and grocery shopping wasn't all about massive ecommerce brands, it was also about small local businesses.
Naturally the pandemic has had a significant impact on the way people buy and consume food and drink. However, as many restrictions around the globe start to lift, the question turns to whether things have changed for good, or whether customer behavior will return to how it was in the before-times.
Chick-fil-A is experimenting with several innovative ways to eliminate long queues for its busy drive-thru and dine-in customers.
McDonald's is working to create sustainable supply chains to ensure that their coffee meet ethical and environmental standards at every step.
White Claw's success is a testament to the changing tastes for alcoholic beverages among Millennial consumers and coming Gen Zers.
Since Subway integrated the ordering platform "Rails" with its loyalty program, its digital order volume doubled over the last year.
Leading supermarket brand Wegmans is taking several environmental initiatives to minimize packaging waste and switch to sustainable materials.
From snack delivery bots to food manufacturing process, Pepsi is effectively applying AI to optimize every corner of the business.
As customers today are becoming more health-conscious, Whole Foods Market is looking to expand its selection of plant-based food.
H-E-B's curbside pickup service is an easy way to fulfill online orders, giving customers quick and convenient access to their groceries.
Big brands are feeling the pressure to offer their customers more and more services to remain competitive. With ecommerce giants such as Amazon working to be all things to all people, many other companies find themselves playing catchup.
We examine how food & beverage challenger brands can leverage their marketing spend to maximize customer engagement & drive organic experiences.
Snackbots enable busy students to order snack foods using their smartphones.The Snackbot uses facial and voice recognition software to confirm the identity of the customer - adding a nice level of interaction between consumer and robot - and then opens its storage compartment so they can retrieve their order.
Small data involves Lowes Foods representatives actually going out and meeting with customers in their homes and speaking with them to learn more about what they want, need, and expect from the brands they choose to shop with.
The core of this strategy is a bespoke blog dedicated to reporting on the various technology-based innovations and related goings on behind the scenes at HelloFresh. The Medium-powered blog is named HelloTech, and reports on everything from celebrating diversity in STEM subjects to innovative business practices such as Agile.
The main principle behind the idea revolves around smart shelves. Each product label on Kroger shelves will be replaced with a small digital screen. Ahead of their shopping trip, Kroger customers create a shopping list in the Kroger smartphone app. They then choose an emoticon icon from a list which is attached to their profile.
Working in partnership with US healthy eating advocate and non-profit FoodCorps, Sweetgreen is encouraging children to get hands-on with their food by experimenting with different sauces, spices, and flavor combinations, and to learn more about how food is produced, and how balanced and healthy meals are prepared.
Onnit is partnering with China's second largest ecommerce platform JD Worldwide to facilitate this move. By partnering with JD, Onnit instantly gives itself access to a lucrative market with disposable income to spend
Crowd Cow's mission is to "create an alternative to the current meat commodity system, and to create a meaningful connection between the farmer and the customer, so people can know and appreciate exactly where their food comes from.
In the fields where the barley is grown which will eventually be brewed into delicious beer, Anheuser-Busch uses AI-powered drones to predict crop yields and decide on optimum harvest times. This swarm of robotic devices works tirelessly to ensure the grain which goes into Anheuser-Busch's premium beverage products is of the very best quality
Walmart has somewhat lagged behind some of its competitors when it comes to ecommerce, relying instead on its network of physical stores to remain relevant. However, with its recent acquisition of ecommerce platform Jet, the company is changing things up.
Artificial intelligence is driving many of the digital initiatives being pushed forward in today's industries, and Coca-Cola is using the technology to drive its own unique purchasing experiences
Big data is a major driving force in almost every industry on the planet in 2018, and meal box delivery service HelloFresh is using it to cook up some great home dining experiences for their customers
Digital takeout ordering systems have taken off in a big way in recent years. However, US trailblazer Grubhub isn't resting on its laurels, and is looking for new technology to further improve the experience for its customers
As an online-only brand, Peapod can gather purchase history data on all its customers - not just those using loyalty card schemes like its brick-and-mortar equivalents - and can use this information to deliver up-to-the-minute bespoke advertising.
As one of the world's biggest umbrella brands, Unilever has the power and influence to combat some of these negative parts of digital marketing. With a marketing budget which numbers in the billions, if not trillions, it can use its clout to dictate certain terms to those it chooses to do business with.