At this year’s Global Trade Symposium, which took place at the New York Produce Show and Conference on Tuesday, December 2, industry influencers from around the world challenged global traders to respond to dramatic changes sweeping retail, foodservice and global markets.
Presenters included: Jeffrey Jackson, the former chief executive and managing director for the Australian grower/packer/marketer MGroup; Alistair Stone, produce buying manager for the U.K. cooperative Waitrose; Tony Reynolds, managing director for U.K.-based foodservice distributor Reynolds CS Limited; and Jin Ju Wilder, marketing director for Los Angeles-based Valley Fruit and Produce presented a panel of wholesalers from U.K.-based Spitalfields Market and Covent Garden, as well as New York-based S. Katzman and Virgin Island-based Coosemans Worldwide.
Jackson headed up the presentations by discussing the new convenience economy and how the Millennial generation heavily influences the playing field with their intimate relationship with food. The convenience, local and environmentally friendly factors are at the center of this generation’s food standards — hence the growing affinity for online shopping, biodiversity and locavorism.
“Uberfication,” or how our economy signals a fundamental shift in the way local services are discovered and fulfilled, is how Jackson explains this new era of produce consumers. He advises retailers to capture the food spend by using technology to enable connectivity — whether that be in store or online.
Waitrose’s Stone echoed a similar notion with his presentation, but focused on how his company and other retailers should seek niche services and use them as motivation for a point of differentiation. Stone pointed out the retail market has polarized in the U.K. — meaning the growth is now coming from supermarkets at both ends of the scale, which offer consumers a different shopping experience. As a result, upmarket chains like Waitrose and Marks and Spencer and deep discounters, such as Aldi and Lidl, are doing very well.
Meanwhile, growth is stagnating at the big four supermarkets — Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda-Walmart — which still account for over 70 percent of U.K. grocery retail sales and offer similar formats. “Those retailers experiencing growth in the U.K. have a point of difference,” explained Stone.
Stone also said there are still windows of opportunity for produce items in order to satisfy the year-round demand. “In stone fruit, for example, there are times when the U.K only has plums on the shelves.”
Despite the dominance and loyalty toward retailers’ own labels in the U.K., Stone added that clever marketing could be another way to capitalize on opportunities.
“There is a lot you can do to improve the experience for shoppers,” he noted. “Waitrose offers grazing in store — zones where you can shop to taste and learn about food. Our loyalty card shoppers can also get free coffee and newspapers when they spend more than £5.”
Tony Reynolds says his family owned and operated foodservice distribution company demands quality produce to satisfy rapid expansion.
Substantial growth within the U.K. foodservice industry presents huge potential for international exporters to tap into a thriving marketplace. Reynolds is one of the U.K.’s biggest foodservice distributors, and the company’s managing director explained that grab-and-go, casual dining, gastro pubs, restaurants and hotels have all become hugely popular in the U.K.
“The eating-out market is growing at a very fast pace,” he told delegates. “Out-of-home eating is now worth £83 billion (U.S. $129.7 billion) a year, and there are more than 300,000 eating-out outlets in the U.K. across the retail, travel, leisure, pub, hotel and other foodservice sectors.”
In recognition of the sector’s potential, Reynolds said there has been much investment by private equity companies in mom-and-pop establishments.
In the meantime, healthy eating is also still very apparent in the U.K., driven by initiatives such as the government’s introduction of free school meals for primary school children, which center around fresh produce. Provenance is also still important but is not limited to local supply.
With competition fierce, especially in London, Reynolds said the vast array of choice for eating-out means U.K. consumers only choose the best locations. “Quality is paramount,” he stated. “Customers have an expectation — they want produce at the right time, the right place and the right quality. It’s very clear that you need to provide a real fresh offer.”
The panel of prestigious wholesalers from the U.S. and U.K. discussed the changing dynamic of imported and exported produce from wholesale markets — where even the smallest customer to a wholesale market can be served with fresh product from around the globe. Valley Fruit’s Wilder agreed with Waitrose’s Stone that it is key to find a company’s “sweet spot” and work toward that advantage. Her challenge is to provide the smaller, independent and specialty markets with its unique requests and balance these orders to meet customers needs as well as reduce shrink in store.
S. Katzman sees themselves as a supplying arm for any clients’ business. Coosemans says it is a one-stop-shop for its clientele — targeting the retailer and grower. Covent Garden and Spitalfields embrace the friendly competition of each market and said it’s important to be flexible and malleable to trends as well as customer needs to be successful.
Source: PerishableNews.com
