What consumers want - aspirations and reality diverge
Consumers want what they want, and it is up to the food marketers and retailers to figure out if what consumers say they want is actually what they will buy. Consumer surveys about online shopping, GMOs, local food, organic produce, et cetera - can you take anything from those polls to the bank?
The third annual Forbes AgTech Summit had a top-notch retail panel on June 29 (“Retail Disruption: Changing Path to the Consumer) that included Heather Shavey, assistant vice president and general merchandising manager, Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco Wholesale, Bruce Taylor, founder and CEO of Taylor Farm, Salinas, Calif. and Mike Teel, owner and CEO of Raley’s Inc., West Sacramento, Calif.
Trying to predict consumer responses based on surveys is not possible, the panelists said.
Teel said Raley’s consumers indicated their aspirations are to spend 20 to 30 minutes preparing dinner for their children and then have a conversation with their kids at the dinner table.
“We said great, let’s have a meal kit that takes 20 to 30 minutes to prepare and it will be a home run,” he said. “It didn’t work.”
A time-pressed consumer finds it easier to push the microwave button, he said. “Aspirations are one thing and reality is another,” he said.
Drawing laughs, Taylor said the company throws “stuff” out there and see what works, rather than trying to guess what the consumer wants based on surveys.
Shavey said Costco talks to members about what is important to them. “We listen to what they have to say, we have that dialogue, but in terms of our buying decisions are made by members voting with their dollars,” she said.
Another line of questioning talked about communicating the values of a company to its customers. Whether or not “company values” are important to all consumers, connecting consumers to growers and providing transparency at the retail level is essential, panelists agreed
“We want to be transparent and authentic,” Taylor said. The company uses its website to communicate to consumers and works to personalize the connection between the company’s many dozens of growers to consumers. “That’s an ongoing opportunity for us,” he said.
Shavey said Costco believes packaging is the most crucial piece to educate consumers, but the company also uses social media, their websites and their suppliers’ websites.
In a glance to future challenges, Taylor said the challenge is automation.
“We have now automated romaine harvesting, spinach harvesting, spring mix harvesting, celery harvesting, cabbage, and we are going to figure out lettuce,” he said. “We are going to have to figure out how to grow those plants with fewer folks who are better trained and have better jobs,” he said. “That’s what we want for our state and our country, and so we are going to transform an ag work force from a very difficult and unpleasant job to a much more sophisticated job and that’s the goal,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the trend toward local greenhouse and indoor farming is something the company has been investigating very carefully, noting that more than 200 groups are seeking to invest in the sector.
