Potato growers and shippers must stay connected to fast-changing consumer trends if they are to keep pace with the needs of omni-channel customers. Michael Sansolo believes.
Speaking Jan. 6 at the 2021 Potato Expo about post-COVID-19 realities, retail consultant Sansolo said the pace of online grocery shopping skyrocketed exploded in 2020.
In 2019, grocery sales online totaled about $1.2 billion. That numbered zoomed to $7.2 billion in 2020, he said.
“The numbers are continuing to climb,” he said. “The average shopper is now getting used to shopping online and they’re doing it more often.”
Sansolo said the disruptions caused by COVID-19 are important because they could be long-lasting.
“New habits could mean changed ways of shopping, cooking and eating,” he said. “We had this major shift in eating from about 50% of calories being consumed outside the home to suddenly almost 100% of calories being consumed inside the home.”
The question now, he said, is whether the changes seen in 2020 will be permanent when people start getting the vaccine.
“What will be next? And quite honestly, no one knows, because we’ve never been in a place like this before,” he said.
Besides the convenience of online shopping, he said another factor to consider is the pounding the economy has taken in 2020.
“There is little chance of a quick recovery in 2021; even as the vaccine starts eradicating COVID-19, we’re going to have to deal with the lingering effects of an economic downturn.”
In that challenging environment, Sansolo said it is time for marketers to reexamine their relationships and the way they interact with consumers.
TikTok, for example, is highly influential among young consumers but virtually unknown by older Americans.
“Depending on what age group we are in, we might be handicapped by our age group; we might not know these new apps, that they have explosive growth, and reach out to parts of the population that we don’t know.”
Leaning on a diverse workforce, marketers should explore how to use TikTok and Pinterest to reach consumers, he said.
2020 was a tough year for millennials and Gen Z consumers, and the COVID-19 pandemic has added to their experiences with the 2008 recession and 9-11 terror attacks.
“So as we think about these consumers, we have to recognize generational spending power is way down,” Sansolo said. “Because between 2008 and 2020, they have been hit twice with major economic problems, and very little ways of making it up.”
What’s more, the doom and gloom of 2020, there is a widespread expectation of as much as 500,000 fewer births than normal, he said.
“Demographics tells us everything we need to know about the future,” he said. “If 500,000 fewer people were born, it’s 500,000 fewer bellies to feed down the road.” That will lead to greater competition among food suppliers.
Instead of consumerism, young consumers may adopt a frugal lifestyle, with a greater tendency to eat at home.
“We have to be thinking, how are these changes going to impact us? How is going to change the way people shop and cook any and how do we position ourselves for that?”
Supermarket shifts
Sansolo said supermarket sales have been way up, the panic buying during the pandemic stressed supply chains to the breaking point.
“There is going to be a lot of discussion about crisis management plans,” he said. “How do we ensure that on key products, we may have extra supply? So that should something like this happen again, we would be ready, I would recommend to all of you watching this session to talk with your retail partners, your wholesale partners, find out what went right during this crazy period? And what could have been better?”
Sansolo said U.S. Army general and former President Dwight Eisenhower was quoted as saying, “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
2021 won’t look like 2019, he said.
“The first step I recommend to everybody is do nothing,” he said. “Understand inside your company, what are your strengths, and what are your weaknesses.”
