Cor Molenaar of the Erasmus University Rotterdam presented a confronting analysis on the current and soon to change purchasing behaviour of customers during the European Vegetable Strategies congress. He emphasised and repeated during his speech that companies have to be prepared or they won't have a future. "Due to the newest technical innovations and media, people spend a lot of time and money on their phone, laptop or tablet. "People always want to be connected," he told those present. "This results in consumer behaviour that is very different than just a few years ago."
Wrong decisions
"There is also no longer a 'supply driven economy'. It is now a 'demand driven economy'. Without direct contact with the customer you no longer have a future as a company!" Take Morrisons, who are performing badly, as an example. They have completely lost contact with the customer. Of course they can say Aldi and Lidl are the cause, but they'd be better off looking at themselves. The wrong strategy and proposition. Tesco has also suffered their biggest loss ever due to the wrong strategic decisions. They have no answer for the customers' behaviour." He believes consumers always want something new. "That's why they go to shops like Primark. There's always a new collection."
But it's not just that companies don't understand their customers any more. "Customers don't understand themselves either. You never ask consumers what they want. If we had asked them that question 200 years ago, they would have said faster horses. No one was thinking of cars, because they didn't exist yet."
Future is hard to predict
He admits this makes it very difficult to look into the future when you look at how fast technological developments are. Can you keep up? Generation gaps are also more visible now. The people who didn't grow up with this, hardly know what's happening." It will only get faster. "The capacity of computers doubles every year. What will the influence on the economy, the supermarkets and the supply chains be?" He believes the future will be a platform, not a web shop. He uses Alibaba, the largest online internet trading platform in the world as an example. "How can people compete with these prices?"
Business models have to change
"People are very busy nowadays. They don't have time to shop. So they do it online, on their laptop, phone or tablet or some other way. It depends on what's easy and available for the consumer at that moment. You have to be there as a company at that time. Are you prepared? All business models have to change. Take the taxi service Uber for example. They don't sell cars, they sell the use of a car. I don't think people will own their own car in the future. That will have a huge impact on the car industries, on the parking garages and the roads."
Fruit and vegetables from grower to customer by drone
Nowadays you can have your order delivered within an hour. "This is done by Amazon with drones. Will drones change the world? Can fruit and vegetables be delivered from the grower by drone? Fresh from the field, with the customer within an hour?"
Online fights with China and growers
What will happen over the next few years? You have no idea. It's almost scary. The impact will be far bigger than we expect. And influence every part of our lives. With a lot of internet suppliers people only have to pay if they're satisfied with the products. Can you say that about your customers? We really have to connect with our consumers. The future will consist of partnerships and platforms. No more competition between Aldi, Lidl and Morrisons. That's all old economics. The new economy is an online battle between China and growers who supply directly. We have to do what the customer wants. Are we prepared for their changing behaviour?"