When the pandemic hit the United States back in March, consumers immediately shifted how they regularly shopped for food and beverage items. With such a dramatic shift in behaviors, food brands should pay particularly close attention to these actions and act accordingly. Check out 4 ways COVID-19 has impacted the food industry.
1. Consumers are drawn to more local products
While “shop local” and “shop small Saturday” have been trending for some time, the pandemic boosted the movement even further. When COVID-19 hit the US, large chain stores soon saw a shortage in their supplies forcing consumers to seek out local suppliers to purchase produce and meats. In addition, shoppers were hesitant to venture to large, crowded stores. As a result, small scale food producers started to see a rise in sales beginning in April. More recently, neighborhoods have come together in order to support their local economy and willing local businesses to succeed. According to business.nextdoor.com, 49% or consumers have made a purchase specifically to support local small businesses during the pandemic.
2. Shoppers are turning toward digital methods
Digital grocery shopping began to rise at a rapid pace at the beginning of the pandemic. According to Statista, online grocery shoppers increased from 11% in the first week of March to 27% in the fourth week of March. Brick and Mortar stores can benefit from consumers’ new behaviors by partnering with delivery services like Instacart and Shipt while food brands can implement digital coupons and email marketing strategies.
3. Consumers are engaging with more food brands on social media
It’s no secret that people are spending more time at home and, therefore, more time on social media. Brands have seen jumps in engagement with posts relating to how they are helping out during the pandemic. A post from Nuun highlighting their donation to first responders performed 30% better than the average Food and Beverage Instagram post before COVID-19. Pay attention to best posting times to get the most bang for your buck on social media. Check out https://newpointmarketing.com/engagement-on-your-food-brands-social-media/ or contact our team for a social media strategy tailored to your brand.
4. Successful brands will need to focus on products that are innovative and provide a good value
When shoppers are actually walking the aisles of grocery stores versus shopping online, they are doing so with less money in their pockets during the economic crisis. In a McKinsey survey conducted May 18-24, nearly half of US consumers reported cutting back on their spending. Because of this, shoppers are seeking out value and brands have a chance to respond. Not only do buyers want value but they are also looking for innovative items. People are cooking at home more than ever but many report getting tired of it. Brands like Hormel are taking this opportunity to launch new products such as Smashed Avocado and Skippy no sugar added peanut butter spreads. Keeping the consumer interested and excited about preparing meals at home are important for brands to drive sales.
COVID-19 has impacted the food industry and food marketing in many ways. As the pandemic progresses and more research is available, there are sure to be additional ways the food industry has been impacted. From shopper preferences, to what retailers are doing to keep up, we have a long way ahead of us.
To identify and isolate areas for improvement in shopper marketing program strategies and tactics to further your CPG brand growth against set KPIs:
Maximize the economic performance of your CPG brand shopper marketing investment
Increase velocity at retail and consumer brand affinity
This shopper marketing audit will detail and contrast your CPG brand shopper marketing and messaging versus that of industry standard competitive practices and will include, but not limited to:
Target market reach, integrated retail marketing support, promotional continuity & awareness, offers and incentives, and tactical execution timing
Go-to-market launch strategies, timing, and tactical execution
Deliverables
Marketing Communication Audit Report
The deliverable will be a white paper with NewPoint Marketing findings and recommendations related to marketing activities in one retail partnership or DMA/market as defined by the client.
Brant brings 20+ years of experience to NewPoint as chief brand communicator and marketing-plan contributor.
Brant’s specialty is bringing an outside, investigative perspective that can feel alternately “rigorous” or “exasperating” depending on your point of view. Yet, he never fails to uncover a business’s unique selling proposition—one which can serve as a brand foundation for marketing that is compelling, creative and “sticky.”
Throughout his career, Brant’s applied his skill set to a broad range of business applications along the food supply-and-service chain. His services have provided vital clarity for all types of operations, from the more conventional food and food equipment manufacturers to the adjacent enterprises that partner with them, such as the Purdue University College of Agriculture.
Stephanie Bossung
Food industry marketing expertise—from retail to food-service and food-service equipment— is a natural outcome of having deep knowledge in every facet of a business’ operation. With 10 years in branding and business development, preceded by 15 years in mass media and promotions, Stephanie is an FMI Emerge mentor, holds an executive-level expertise in sales, marketing, media, and production management.
This exceptionally diverse skill set adds value for NewPoint clients by providing a full complement of perspectives on food-industry brand management endeavors.
Wired for a hawkish attention to detail while also maintaining a high-resolution view of the big picture, Stephanie is uniquely able to provide astute branding direction and simultaneously apply the business principles necessary to squeeze more bang out of every marketing buck.
Patrick Nycz
A member of the Forbes Agency Council and quoted in the New York Times, USA Today and Adweek, Patrick Nycz is the author of Moving Your Brand Up the Food Chain: Marketing Strategies to Grow Local and Regional Food Brands. He is an FMI Emerge mentor, an American Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award winner, and the Founding President of NewPoint Marketing, a full-service food industry marketing firm focused on food industry brands On a mission to grow.
Patrick’s vision for NewPoint emerged from his team’s success using this proven model for food industry clients and is fueled by NewPoint-funded food buyers and food manufacturers research around tracking consumer, industry, and ongoing food trends.
Kristy Blair
Since starting her 20-year career in commercial graphic design at one of the foremost catalog retailers in the world, Kristy’s visual branding skills have organically narrowed into the food-industry niche.
In that time, she’s directed graphic identities for snack food and restaurant startups, print materials for multiple agricultural seed companies, display graphics and merchandiser signage for major food-equipment manufacturers and everything in between.
Today, as one of the key brand architects for NewPoint clients, she continues to lead our visual research & development team, always working to find the innovative median between the best practices worth honoring and the accepted rules worth breaking.