Investing in the mental availability of product is important

Twenty years ago, Amazon was still a book shop, and e-commerce played no part in the land of supermarkets. The large chains built their empires and hypermarkets were shooting up. Bryan Roberts from TCC Global starts his presentation by looking back during the Global Berry Congress. In the past two decades, much has shifted, and in order to increase the sales of soft fruit, not just physical availability is important, mental availability is just as important. 

Consumers have changed and make heavy demands on supermarkets. Recent examples of that are the courgette crisis in the UK at the start of the year. After Southern Europe was hit by bad weather, supply of courgettes diminished and consumers were confronted by empty shelves. “Consumers expect year-round availability,” Bryan says. A second example is the message on social media in which a mother expresses her indignation. Tesco’s alphabet potatoes are missing some letters, so that she cannot spell her son’s name.

After the revolution in European retail, including the rise of discounters, Bryan also expects that this trend will shake the market in other parts of the world. “Aldi changed Australia’s landscape,” he says. “Lidl will bring about the biggest change in the US since Walmart was founded.” In the meantime, the hypermarkets are confronted with another problem: online competition. “To be distinctive from Aldi and Amazon, hypermarkets present themselves as ‘the best in fresh,’” Bryan knows. “The fresh products are an important reason to still visit hypermarkets.”

“A customer spends much time, money and emotion on shopping,” Bryan continues. “If we can ensure less time and money have to be invested, consumers will be happier.” To be successful on this changing market, it is important to approach new target audiences, present new ways to process products and get new spaces in supermarkets.

An example is resealable packaging for blueberries. “Blueberries are the ideal snack,” Bryan says. “The resealable packaging prevents your handbag becoming a mess when you take the berries with you.” According to him, there’s still room for innovations in that.