How will you deliver price/quality/experience?
Trust has always been a consideration for everyone in the food industry. People need to have a level of trust with food and beverage that is higher than many other purchases. This is both good and bad. It is good because you can differentiate and build trust. It is bad because if people do not trust your products you will need to do a lot of work and perhaps spend a lot of money to build the trust.
Trust is built over time and we believe you can develop the relationship more effectively when you break trust into different components. The components we see are price, quality and experience. Every category and every product will have a different equation for these three attributes.
Our impression is that trust is more important than ever. As consumers change and buying power shifts to younger generations, trust appears to be growing in importance. As I was preparing to write this week I was listening to Joe Jackman from Jackman Reinvents. I had the privilege of working with Joe during my Loblaw days. He takes a very strategic approach to marketing. On a Saint Mary’s University Sobeys School of Business webinar, Joe said “consumers are 4-6 times more likely to buy from companies they trust”.
Just the same as selling in bricks and mortar, success selling online is not just about making great products to sell, it is about selling the great products you make. To help you do this we have designed a new SKUFood C.A.R.T. process specifically for e-commerce. We have been learning a lot about this channel and invested the time to develop our proven process for this channel.
You can maximize the opportunity when you put the resources and effort into selling your products in a different channel. In the fourth segment of our C.A.R.T. process for e-commerce we ask the question ‘If trust is defined as Price + Quality + Experience-how will you deliver this?”
You need to deliver trust all the time
Consumer expectations are high. They have access to more information than ever before. This means they can assess your delivery of price, quality and experience often. Do you have a means within your business to assess trust and how consumers perceive your products and your offering?
Price
They can compare price very easily so you need to constantly monitor where you fit. This does not mean you need to be cheapest, but it does mean you need to deliver where you are positioned in the category. Price to a consumer is usually defined as the final delivered price. There are too many free shipping options such as Amazon Prime so consumers will look at the final price.
Consumers also look at price across channels. If you are selling online you need to consider bricks and mortar and other channels. Your online price should be reasonable given the price in other channels. Consumers can be willing to pay a premium to have products delivered to their house, but this is quickly becoming part of the transaction as opposed to an additional service you can charge for.
Quality
Consumer’s perception of quality is determined every time they interact with your products and your brand. Quality can include the user experience, food safety, shelf life and many other factors. Once you need to determine your position in the category, deliver quality that is equal or better than where you are relative to other products. If you are a premium item, the end user must see every experience as premium.
Quality must be considered to the final use of the product. Your job does not end when they order or even when the product is delivered. It is assessed when people use the product and determine if they are happy with how it performed relative to expectations.
Experience
Consumers want positive experiences with products and brands. You should think of experience as every touch point. This can be your social media, your website, in stores, when the product is delivered to even the final user. We hear more talk about omni channel approaches to selling products. This reinforces the importance of considering every experience with your products and brand. Omni channel is a strategy to meet consumer needs where and when consumers want the interaction.
Experience can be tough to quantify but it can also make the difference. E-commerce has presented a new consideration for experience in that many consumers will decide based on the experience of other shoppers. Product reviews impact many online buying decisions. Consumers want a space to leave reviews and others want to read them. If they do not see them, they are less likely to trust the product or brand.
Trust takes time to build but can be lost quickly
Look for opportunities to measure the trust consumers have in your products and brands. Interaction on social media is an opportunity to assess the trust people have with you. Build on the positives and address the negatives.
If you have any questions or help figuring out how to get your product online or in the virtual shopping cart you can always call me at (902) 489-2900 or send me an email peter@skufood.com.
We are adding more industry updates and interesting ideas to your SKUFood newsletter. Hopefully you have heard me say this before and that it resonated with you in your business.
“Success in this industry is not just about making a great product to sell; it is about selling the great products you make”
Peter Chapman
If you see things happening let us know so we can share them with our community. We also want to hear if you find this helpful and benefits your food and beverage business!
Pokemon Oreos
For those of you who have been following our SKUFood newsletter for a while you know we like to follow what is happening with Oreos. This brand continues to introduce new products and line extensions. We have not seen these in stores here but apparently the demand is through the roof for Pokemon Oreos. Not sure I would pay thousands for them but apparently some people are. The free publicity this generates for the brand is priceless.
Costco to limit some basic items
With challenges facing retailers from product supply to even their own logistics, retailers are being forced to impose limits on products. From Costco’s perspective this will provide the best opportunity of keeping more members satisfied.
Our purpose for including this is to reinforce the importance of your ability to supply. If you have access to the inputs and labour you need to produce and the logistics to deliver this can be a distinct advantage in the current marketplace. Many suppliers are challenged to produce their products. If you are confident in your ability to meet demand share this with your customers.
FCC creating peer groups for food manufacturers
It is very exciting to be working on two peer groups with FCC. All of the information about the groups is included here. If you are interested in either one of the peer groups just use the link at the bottom of the page.
US Export capacity
It has been a privilege to work with the team at Aliment to support businesses from Atlantic Canada build capacity to export to USA. We have 4 webinars planned that are packed with great information from people who know how to do this. The team is from across North America who will be delivering the sessions and I know I am looking forward to learning a lot.
Food & Beverage Atlantic US export capacity Oct 6
Pitching in the USA
Food & Beverage Atlantic US export capacity Oct 20
Getting it ready, getting it right
Food & Beverage Atlantic US export capacity Nov 3
Sales & marketing basics