The Transformative Food Trends of 2017

While we are still in the middle of the first quarter of the year, food analysts have already determined different food trends that will become popular throughout the rest of the year.

#1: Perfectly Imperfect Whole Foods

People used to be so obsessed with perfection when it comes to their food. They want their carrots to be free from blemishes, and their spinach must have uniformly sized leaves. Today, however, the perception of perfection has changed. To achieve perfect produce, they need to undergo a lot of agricultural treatments. For carrots to be blemish-free, they need to be sprayed with nematicide so that their roots can grow perfectly without being eaten by nematodes.

This year, many customers want imperfect whole foods. For them, foods with cleaner labels are more important than perfect produce. Customers prefer foods that are unadulterated and has undergone minimal processing.

#2: All Smart Everything

You have your smart appliances so expect to see all smart everything in the food scene this year. Multiple companies that manufacture kitchen appliances have developed smart devices to provide more convenience to users. For example, the company Flatev has made kitchen appliances that will allow you to make homemade tortillas or bread with just a few clicks of the finger.

#3: Plant-Based Movement

Another trend this year is the plant-based movement. Consumption of plant products is increasing this year as more people are becoming aware of the health and environmental benefits of eating a plant-based diet. In fact, many companies have jumped on the bandwagon of producing plant-based food. Almond milk, for instance, is a billion-dollar industry that is constantly increasing its revenue as more people are looking for dairy alternatives. Other companies have also created plant-based meats to meet the demands of people who prefer not to eat meat.

#4: Internet Retailing

Big retailers like Walmart, Safeway, and Kroger have typically expanded by building a larger store or opening more distribution all over the country—or the world. Building a business through traditional retail may still be popular today, but it is being replaced with internet retailing.

Today, most millennials prefer convenience, which is why online shopping is a very attractive option for buying things. In fact, we can buy anything on the internet. From ready-to-eat meals to groceries, you can simply purchase anything with just a few mouse clicks.

But aside from internet shopping, the use of technology is also implemented in brick and mortar stores. Amazon launched its Amazon Shop where people can shop for items without having the need to go through a checkout counter as their payments are already deducted through RFID.

Inspired by www.forbes.com

Mixed Reality: The Future For Food And Beverage Brands

Virtual reality and augmented reality have been two of the largest trends in technology over the past few years. Companies like Apple, LG, Samsung, and Microsoft are putting significant investments in mixed reality. They are even planning to make this technology available to the masses. However, it is not only tech giants that are looking into using augmented reality. In fact, food and beverage brands are eyeing mixed reality to improve the marketing of their products.

Brands Buy Into Mixed Reality

In the future, consumers will throw away their bulky devices for mixed reality glasses to do ordinary things like surf the internet, play games, and communicate with other people. Brands will have the opportunity to engage customers in the 3D world through packaging and point of sale displays. As a result, mixed reality technology will bridge the gap between digital and physical shopping.

In an even distant future, food manufacturers can use mixed reality to manage their inventory through eye sensors and spatial mapping. While there is still a long way for food manufacturers to go before they can fully benefit from mixed reality, some companies have already adopted the digital campaign.

Coca-Cola, for example, has offered 3D gaming to encourage more people to buy their products. Another company, Hellman, has also launched 3D recipe tutorials provided by celebrity chefs. In the future, retail industry giants will create an augmented-reality store where customers can see a digital image of the store and order their products online.

 

The Future of MR, AR, and VR for Big Brands

Many believe this technology will become mainstream in the future. Opportunities for many food and beverage brands to market their products will create an automatic analysis of the market. The challenge that manufacturers are now facing is how to index billions–even trillions–of data points to market to the right audience.

A new feature of mixed reality technology is eye tracking. Multiple tech companies have invested in this feature as it allows them to track where customers are focused. Eye tracking is an additional way to improve the analytics of the business. This feature is also used to improve machine learning over time.

Developers are also looking to integrate the internet of things (IoT) with mixed reality. This means that if you look at your fridge, for example, through the mixed reality glasses, it will generate information about your inventory and nearby grocery stores. This natural feature provides an emotional connection with the technology.

With mixed reality technology, everything will become real estate regarding brand marketing, and it will provide a better shopping experience to customers. The technology already exists and what food and beverage companies need to do is to improve the platform.

Inspired by Keith Curtin’s article on venturebeat.com

Costco Is Focusing on Its Online Store to Improve Revenues

Costco, an iconic membership-only warehouse club, is known for selling products for a lower price through scale. In fact, it is considered the top retailer of organic foods, prime meats, and wine in the world as it has branches in multiple countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

The company was the first to reach $3 billion in sales within six years. That remarkable growth has made them somewhat of a cult retailer. However, recently, the company delivered negative earnings of 1.7% in the first quarter of 2017, which means the company totally missed the expectations of Wall Street in terms of growth. Analysts have adjusted its earnings to $1.19 since it fell short of what was expected. Aside from the stock prices, the company only logged in a net sales of $27.47 billion last year, which fell short of the expected $28.38 billion.

Reasons for The Shortfall

Costco’s CFO Richard Galanti noted that the shortfall of revenue is attributed to low profits from gas sales and deflationary prices of their goods. The effects of volatile gas prices, as well as the foreign exchange rate, have affected the total revenue of the company. Costco is looking for other solutions to solve its financial setbacks. The company has recently switched from American Express to Citigroup Visa as its co-branded card since the latter credit card company offers lower merchant fees and higher rewards for their members.

Online Store to Boost Its Sales

Aside from changing its co-branding, Costco is also looking into improving its online retail store to improve the shopping experience for its customers. They are developing the marketing, search, return process, and tracking of orders. The store also considers increasing the number of depots by making them closer to customers so that they can deliver faster with less expense on shipping.

The company has also partnered with different delivery service companies like Google Express and Instacart particularly for customers located in the Bay Area so that they can get their purchases immediately.

While some critics say that the giant retail company might be shifting more towards online retail, the company still wants to encourage its consumers to go to their warehouse stores.  After all, they became well-known for their warehouse to begin with. The thing is that warehouse stores will never be replaced by online stores. In fact, Costco is just using the online platform to encourage people to visit its stores as the company noticed that loyal members bought less if they shop online compared to when they go to the actual store.

Inspired by www.seattletimes.com