“We started about 10 years ago as a business that saw an opportunity to provide better market information and insights into complicated fresh food supply chains,” Freshlogic Managing Director Martin Kneebone says.
At the time, there were only a few people and businesses attempting to look at different parts of the industry, but Mr Kneebone says the bigger picture is increasingly important.
“When we’re talking about food, particularly fresh produce, we need to really understand supply and understand demand across the whole industry. We saw there was a gap in the knowledge available and knew that needed to be addressed,” he explains.
“So we built the capacity to do that, and over the last 10 years we have created our own research tools and sets of data so we can go into what’s happening in the supply chains and markets, and see how changes affect individual businesses working in different areas of the industry.”
This approach has given Freshlogic valuable insights into the industry and the processes required to gather and analyse data for its clients. The company’s innovative models and processes, along with its specialist food market researchers and analysts, have established Freshlogic as an expert authority in the fresh and prepared foods industry.
“We enjoy participation from the whole supply chain, from farmers to wholesalers in the middle of the supply chain, to retailers and consumers,” Mr Kneebone says.
“So we’ve really got a breadth of clients that all need to know what's happening around them…and we have evolved our services to offer accurate analysis and efficient delivery times for them.”
He says Freshlogic’s key services combine qualitative and quantitative data that’s being continuously collected to provide accurate and detailed analysis and insights in a short amount of time.
“For example, we have developed a very popular Category Profile service that looks at each category’s dynamics, the volumes produced, the channels it goes through, and consumer influence,” he says.
“So let’s say someone wanted to know about mushrooms, we would be able to provide them with a detailed Category Profile that looks at the entire market and where their business fits into things, so they have all they need to improve their positioning.”
They also do an annual market analysis report, FOODFrontiers, which adds up and identifies major trends that will impact the market in coming years.
“This is a really comprehensive report that we do, so our customers can use it to take out trends and look at them in detail. Particularly with the fresh food industry, this report means you are able to get a good feel for the pulse of the market, because we are constantly doing research,” he says, adding that FOODFrontiers is great because it also shows the wider market and bigger pictures for all stakeholders.
“That’s increasingly relevant for businesses in this industry as we are seeing a lot of change in the next five years – probably more change than we’ve had in the last 20 years.”
Freshlogic is currently preparing the next FOODFrontiers report, and Mr Kneebone says there are some very significant trends coming into effect.
“One of the things we’re seeing is that distribution changes aren’t going to be constrained by bricks and mortar like they used to be. People are skipping around channels of access with things like smartphones and online shopping, for instance,” he says.
“In particular, where people are harnessing power is in developing direct relationships with growers and businesses when they are making purchases. There are so many ways to buy stuff now, and we can see quite a bit of change coming along the way. So FOODFrontiers adds that up and gives detailed implications for businesses in the industry.”
Freshlogic also tracks every retail advertisement for food in the marketplace, making that information available to customers through its Adwatch portal. Mr Kneebone says this kind of advertising data can help identify shifts in demand and pricing.
“This information is very relevant because we’re dealing with products that have a short shelf life. So things that affect the market can have an impact quite quickly across the whole supply chain,” he says. “We also know from our data that there is often a lot of consumer trade-off from one product to another. So people buying fruit will trade across to another type of fruit, and people buying vegetables will also trade across to something else.”
This type of data is also supported by Freshlogic’s sophisticated consumer research tools – the Mealpulse consumer panel and DocketData receipt collection system – which look at what consumers are buying, how much they are buying, purchasing times as well as their attitudes towards food.
“That specific combination of data sets is an important part of our consumer panel, because people could say they never buy something or that they love organic produce, but then we can look at their dockets and see if they back that up with their actual purchase records,” Mr Kneebone explains.
“We have targeted which bits of information to collect and have built up a comprehensive understanding of the fresh food supply chain – that’s where we really work, and we’ve covered almost all the gaps. We’re now known to have the best data in these categories.”
For more information:
Martin Kneebone
Freshlogic
Tel: +61 3 9818 1588
Email: martin@freshlogic.com.au
www.freshlogic.com.au