Retail & Grocery: Amazon.com, Inc.
In only 24 years, Amazon.com Inc. has evolved from a little online bookstore to the most extensive digital retailer in the world. Generating $177.9 billion in net sales from its over 300 million users in 2017, it is a giant in many markets, including retail and groceries.
As the company remains true to its four guiding principles – customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking – its sell-through position strengthened with inroads in new categories. Among other things, it has led Amazon to acquire Whole Foods Market as its subsidiary.
In 2018, the growth trend continues. Despite demanding more dollars for marketing from vendors, Amazon has met planned sales expectations for the second quarter for many categories (14 out of 25), exceeding plans in 9 categories in the changing natural food industry.
Orders from Whole Foods mainly surpassed its planned expectations due to deep discounts for Amazon Prime members, while higher marketing fees discouraged vendors from investing in promotion for their products. As a result, more vendors have opened Seller Central accounts, which allowed them to manage costs better and simplify product launch, and increased direct shipment from Prime Now.
Those are only two critical areas to watch. But if you want to learn more about other changes in 2018, there are other trends to look out for in retail and grocery as the year draws to an end at Amazon.
A Growing Amazon Prime Membership
In May 2018, the cost of Amazon Prime membership rose to $119. And while some vendors viewed it negatively, most don’t expect any significant impact on service use. It comes down to the advanced features included in the membership to its users, including Amazon’s marketing tools and expanded offering on Amazon.com platform. A natural food vendor even said:
“Amazon keeps offering more and more benefits [for Prime members], so I don’t think [the higher annual fee] will have any impact. Prime members value that service so much.”
And payment fees and commissions to Amazon were also raised in most vendor contracts. Because of the 10% increase in rates, all vendor contracts from 2017 are invalid, and sellers need to sign a new 2018 contract.
But it’s important to remember the terms in the new contract are negotiable. And while vendors do encounter additional fees, like fulfillment fees, inventory fees for storage, out-of-stock penalties, and accrual fees, it’s important to accept Amazon’s demands and negotiate a 2018 contract.
Amazon Competition Is Low
Amazon’s main competitors are Walmart.com and The Kroger Co., closely followed by Walmart’s Jet.com, Walmart brick-and-mortar stores, Target Corp. and Thrive Market Inc. However, most vendors agree that no e-commerce platform or store chain can compete with the retail giant when it comes to grocery retail.
However, Kroger and Target are making breakthroughs in grocery assortments and improving the shopping experience for their consumers. It seems to be generating interest among some vendors, as Kroger, for example, is placing standard category managers in charge of specific category managers and buyers. But it is yet to generate the amount of attention required to disrupt Amazon’s large-scale operation.
Amazon Prime Is Helping Whole Foods
Amazon’s Prime benefits (10% discount on all items and steep “Prime Member Deals”) helped increase sales during the second quarter in 2018 at Whole Foods Markets. The Amazon subsidiary saw an initial redemption rate between 60%-70% in June, but the figure is likely to reach 80% by year-end.
Prime Deals and promotion also aided vendors in their efforts. Many natural and organic vendors stated their Whole Food orders exceeded expectations, with almost all of them meeting their planned goals.
Despite this, vendors will bear the cost of those mandatory 10% discounts, which may result in several sellers reducing budgets allocated for promotion. However, for most of them, the price will be worth the effort if Amazon can deliver the right sales volume with Prime discounts. And according to the amount of sales Amazon made – it can.
Grocery Sales on Amazon.com and Fresh
In 2018, Amazon has made a lot of efforts to increase its foothold into groceries. It has led natural and organic food vendors to a very successful quarter with their sale of non-perishables on Amazon.com, than of perishable items sold on AmazonFresh. Also, over 65% of vendors exceeded planned order figures, which led some of them to improve their use of Amazon Marketing Services (AMS).
More and more vendors are turning to e-commerce SEO and search terms with AMS for marketing, than, for example, offering customer incentive programs such as coupons. On the other hand, vendor spending on ads has also increased but not significantly. Still, the combined efforts of both marketing tactics resulted in a higher revenue stream than in previous years.
In contrast, vendors who used AmazonFresh did not meet expectations. Their sales quotas fell below plan. They attribute this to significant reorganizations within the company, as AmazonFresh and Prime Now are hiring more staff in Seattle and distribution networks get realigned to handle perishable goods.
New Expansion Plans
Another critical factor influencing all of these changes is Amazon’s plan for rapid expansion. In short order, AmazonFresh is planned to move from the current eight-hour delivery format to a new two-hour delivery, which will make it stand out even more from the competition.
A new app is also set to be launched shortly, as Amazon wants to consolidate all of its grocery platforms in one place. But, until now, there is yet to be an integration of all purchases into one system, as Amazon.com, AmazonFresh, Prime Now, and Amazon Go remain separate from Whole Foods.
Finally, Amazon is moving towards direct shipments to reduce the reliance on United Natural Foods Inc. The plan is to allow room for rapid expansion of Prime Now with a hub-and-spoke system that will revamp warehouses and transportation logistics for perishables.
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Creating North America’s Premier Food Wholesaler
In June 2018, United Natural Foods (UNFI) and Supervalu decided to uproot North America’s wholesale distribution by combining their efforts to create a premier wholesale distributor. UNFI is the largest distributor of natural organic products in the United States and Canada, while Supervalu is the largest publicly traded wholesaler in the U.S.
Their joint enterprise indicates a rapidly changing infrastructure landscape in which consolidation among stakeholders in the supply chain is fast-becoming the new norm. And this has become a prime example of how manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and retailers are pushing for change in Canada and the United States.
Based on this recent industry development, here are the most significant benefits of creating a premier food wholesaler in North America.
Adding Value to Customers and Stakeholders
Transforming into North America’s top wholesale food distributor is beneficial for all parties involved in the supply chain, including consumers and shareholders.
First off, it allows distributors to create a diversified consumer base. As they merge to form a common front, it automatically expands the consumer base to open up new opportunities to different stakeholders and increase distribution across all fronts. Delivering an extensive and comprehensive product offer to UNFI’s existing natural and organic products has allowed Supervalu to create a genuinely “better for you” offer.
As high-value products like organic meat and products become available to a broader audience, it enables cross-selling opportunities for different stakeholders on a much larger scale. A much more significant market across the United States and Canada gives wholesalers a much broader geographical location to work with and increase their market reach. The much more extensive scale has not only enabled growth but has improved their efficiency and effectiveness across the board.
The increase in capacity relies heavily on leveraging scalable systems. Focusing attention on streamlining larger operations has enabled different stakeholders to optimize their processes. Combined with the increased use of technology to achieve this goal has equipped all involved parties to meet customer expectations and reduce future expenses at the same time.
And in the case of UNFI and Supervalu, it also delivers significant synergy, which by the third year can create a run rate cost opportunity of more than $175 million.
Advanced Build-Out-The-Store Growth Strategy
With UNFI and Supervalu heading the enterprise, many smaller brands have joined the food super-wholesaler. Both giants contributed in equal measure in securing brands which create the supply chain. UNFI brought Blue Marble Brands, Woodstock Farms, Tumaro’s, Rising Moon, and Field Day to the fold, while Supervalu contributed with Essential Everyday, Culinary Circle, Market Centre, and Wild Harvest, among others.
Handing each brand a seat at the table has enabled them to have a united market presence, and create an advanced build-out-the-store growth model. The strategy is relatively simple and relies on increasing the product range to bring in attractive products to the store, and build a comprehensive and diversified product portfolio.
With each brand specializing in a specific food group, everyone is specializing in premier products. It expands the offer to the consumer, who is treated to a variety of quality, natural, organic, free-range, and specialty food items.
Complementary Contribution
Combining the two wholesalers into one has also merged their capabilities. It works because both UNFI and Supervalu share certain features. However, their most significant advantage is in the different and unique abilities, which essentially compliment one another.
UNFI’s revenue contribution is divided among Independent Natural Retailers (26%), Supermarkets (30%), Supernatural Retailers (33%), and other revenue (11%) such as e-commerce retailers and foodservice customers.
Supervalu’s revenue contribution is divided among Independent Regional Supermarkets (61%), Unified Groceries (29%), SVU FL (5%; regional chains, multi-stores, and single stores), and other (5%) which includes military and corporate revenue.
The combined revenue of UNFI and Supervalu is therefore divided among Independent Regional Supermarkets (48%), Unified Groceries (17%), Supernatural Retailers (14%), Independent Natural Retailers (11%), other revenue (8%), and revenue from SVU FL (3%).
It diversifies the consumer base for both wholesale retailers, as well as their revenue streams. In doing so, both UNFI and Supervalu can adapt to the fast growth of retailers and supply their demand for products.
A Compelling Opportunity
The opportunity for the premier food wholesaler will be to unlock the potential value across the business using synergy. Synergetic cooperation between the two organizations will improve the business process and inside operations, but also create a unified presence when dealing with outside services.
A combined effort has a more significant effect than individually either UNFI or Supervalu would have ever been able to achieve, and will benefit multiple aspects of the premier food wholesaler:
- Revenue – a diversified revenue stream from cross-selling, offering high-growth products in stores and expanding the private label offering (net sales expected to reach over $21 billion);
- Capital expenditure – increasing optimization of the supply chain and more effective capacities in distribution centers minimizes costs and expenditure (strong cash flow can reduce leverage and improve the credit profile);
- Systems and technology – combining IT systems and cyberinfrastructure of both companies will enhance automation and use of technology to streamline the business process;
- Operations – joint operations, increased capacity and a united strategy all increase efficiency inside the business model and stood to benefit everyone across the supply chain;
- SG&A (selling, general & administrative expenses) – increased capacity minimizes expenses especially by optimizing lease contracts and reducing fleet-related costs;
- Expanding Gross Margin – aligning strategies and methods of inbound logistics and adopting a professional service unit to monitor the process will help with larger capacity.
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Why User-Generated Content is What Consumers Crave
Beverage Marketing: Why User-Generated Content is What Consumers Crave
Fans create brands. And when it comes to brand marketing, there is nothing stronger than peer-to-peer promotion. Brand ambassadors and fans motivate other people to choose and use your products and services, like your beverages. In marketing, this is called user-generated content (UGC), and it’s what beverage companies need to offer their consumers because it’s how they want to be marketed and what they crave. Beverage Marketing is strong in peer-to-peer promotion.
UGC Increases Engagement
User-generated content relies on a successful content strategy. In turn, follows the latest industry news and allows for such marketing efforts to be included. It also relies heavily on the technology behind promotional channels beverage business use. There are a lot of different types of UGC content:
- Blogs – relieves some of the pressure from the marketing team and gives consumers a highly personal perspective on the brand;
- Comments – increase engagement on websites and social media and promote the brand through peer-to-peer communication about the brand;
- Reviews – impact consumers psychologically by increasing trust and credibility, and have the potential to affect 46% of consumer decisions.
- Images – establish visual contact between consumers and the brand through the direct use of the product and its promotion of personal and official online channels;
- Videos – increase brand awareness and brand perception through different interpretations of the brand and the direct use of the product.
Content like this requires promotion, so consumers become aware of its existence. Targeting different channels, allows more users to take part in and generate content.
Additionally, beverage companies should consider including consumer incentives for consumers to create content. Campaigns can include prizes, like discounts, special offers, a free supply of drinks, or branded material like flash drives, T-shirts, and even concert tickets. Just remember to make them useful.
UGC Builds Valuable Relationships
Brand identity relies a lot on the relationship a company has with its audience. Brands have to look towards aligning their value proposition with their brand message – core beliefs, mission statements, and goals. This type of communication is customer-centric and focuses on establishing a shared system of value on which a brand can build a relationship with its audience.
User-generated content can make this happen for beverage companies. It essentially allows consumers to take part in the development of the brand. For example, if your company wants to develop a new drink, it issues a campaign that gives an opportunity for customers to come up with a name for it. It empowers consumers, and they are more likely to consume the drink regularly (interact with the brand.)
UGC Inspires Loyalty and Creates Fans
According to marketing professional Kevin Kelly, a brand only needs 1000 true fans to succeed. In that sense, beverage companies need to focus their attention on returning customers and allow them to create user-generated content as a reward. In turn, this creates a loyal following of faithful fans, who know the company values their efforts.
It also creates trust – an essential element of loyalty. And with mutual trust coming from both sides, fans will become brand ambassadors of your company promoting the company to other consumers (what you want,) while you continue rewarding their loyalty (what they want.)
Conclusion on Beverage Marketing
A brand is only active if it has a strong following. And for a beverage company, beverage marketing is following the latest trends in the industry and creating user-generated content campaigns can be a great way to create a loyal backing. After all, it gives consumers the type of promotion they want and crave – created by them and created for them.
5 Ways Your Beverage Business Can Maximize Influencer Marketing
Beverage Business Marketing
An influential voice has the power to get people to listen, change their opinion and impact their decision. Therefore, influential people can resonate with their audience to benefit brands in any industry, even the beverage business.
And as one of the latest trends in marketing, beverage companies can use influencer promotion to raise awareness, increase engagement and get more people to drink their product. Here are five ways to maximize the effects of influencer marketing on your beverage business.
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Find the Perfect Influencer
When it comes to connecting with a target audience, companies first need to determine a few things, like size, the sphere of influence, and personality before finding the right person for the job.
Micro-influencers have a following between 10,000 and 100,000 followers. It might seem like a small target, but their followers tend to be a tight-knit and loyal community which affect engagement. Micro-influencers are also easier to connect with and are cheaper or even free. And if they’re young, it also means the company is building for the future. In part, that’s why micro-influencers are considered the marketing force of the future.
Macro-influencers have almost celebrity status with several hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers. While their fans might not all be devout, these influencers still have an astounding reach, and their endorsement can have a tremendous impact on brand awareness. However, they are difficult to get a hold of or require substantial contract fees or incentives to promote a company.
It is also crucial that companies research potential influencers to see what kind of content they promote. For beverage companies, this means targeting influential people from the food and beverage industry or people who tend to use those products and publicly review them.
Food and drink bloggers and professional cooks might be the perfect angle to get products promoted through review. Service companies also follow these influencers, which is an excellent way of reaching potential retail partners. As for user-influencers, targeting local social media celebrities is helpful for B2C beverage companies looking to sell more products directly to the consumer.
Finally, once a company selects a shortlist of candidates, it is essential for them to initiate and establish contact with them. Influencer marketing is big business, and it is crucial to determine the price to see if it is a financially viable option.
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Target Multiple Channels
Customers respond best to visual advertising when choosing what beverages to buy. Research shows how television food ads have a substantial effect on individual choice, especially in situations when other tasks occupy them. Translated into the digital world, it means there is a definite potential for influencer marketing on visual social media channels, like Instagram for images, YouTube for videos, and Facebook for both.
What companies fail to realize is that these are not the only channels. To truly maximize the impact of influencer marketing, companies need to expand their search and target multiple channels during a campaign. It might open them up to new consumers, or help them find their ideal target audience.
As mentioned, food and drink blogs are a great way to receive the endorsement and promote beverages to potential retailers and service providers. Influencer sponsorship is another way to maximize promotion, whereby a company can sponsor specific segments on favorite online events. It works exceptionally well when targeting smaller audiences engaged with podcasts or webinars.
Trying out different mediums at different points in the campaign in combination with customer surveys can maximize influencer marketing as it shows where a company can have the most significant impact. Plus, companies can learn from major brands in their industry, like Coca-Cola, and use some of the ideas on own their campaign.
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Set Clear Goals and Track Them Through the Campaign
Before initiating an influencer campaign, a company needs to determine what it wants to achieve. It can be anything from increasing brand awareness to increasing engagement, or even conversion and sales. A company needs to complete a marketing audit to determine the current situation and decide what aspect of a business to improve.
These goals must be presented to the influencer, and a precise schedule and timeline must be determined. Also, a system of reporting must be included so the impact of the campaign can be monitored and improved if necessary. If targeting prospects through social media, companies should stay away from vanity metrics, and instead, focus on key performance indicators. Only like this can a business determine the success of the campaign and its financial viability.
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Building a Relationship with the Influencer
Efficient company culture always centers around people. It’s what makes businesses appear more human. Translate this into influencer marketing, and it’s the role of the company to establish a good connection with their influencers, so they accept company culture and become fans of the brand.
Building a relationship with the influencer makes their work more meaningful, and this resonates with their audience. Regularly rewarding the work, sending free drink supplies or surprising them at their events with branded gifts will create a special bond and make their work more successful.
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Create Content that Stands Out
One of the primary goals of influencer marketing is to direct potential leads and customers to the company social media and website, or even the page of its best selling product. As the visitors arrive at this location, they need to see the quality of content and recognize its value otherwise they will feel deceived, both by the influencer and the company.
For beverage companies, it could mean having branded content that is both educational and entertaining. Educational, since this type of material, is aimed at industry professionals looking to partner up. But there also needs to be compelling content in the spirit of the brand message or the different drinks, which can drive sales directly through engagement.
Creating regular high-quality content also helps the influencer select the best material to promote on his channels. At the same time, it also allows the company to remain independent and not rely entirely on the influencer and one marketing strategy.
Accept Innovation
Keeping up with the latest innovation trends in soft drinks also means accepting innovation when it comes to marketing. It means staying on top of the latest industry insights, to realize the potential and help the business grow. And creating a company that’s a leading influence in the industry.
F&B Industry Branding
How Branding is Evolving in the Food and Beverage Industry
In today’s food and beverage industry, consumers want brands to be authentic. Branding is evolving in this industry. They are quick to pick up when they aren’t authentic and to tell others on social media.
Brands have to keep customers fully informed about the products they buy. They also need to be smart and strategic to grab market share in a very competitive market.
Brands must first identify their target audience and then create value for them. Once they’ve attracted customers, they have to build trust to turn them into brand advocates. If consumers are happy, they are more likely to continue to buy products and recommend them to others.
Branding and Social Media Interaction
Brands need to listen to what their customers say, and today this is much easier because they can interact with them on social media. Brands are receiving feedback from customers and understanding more about them helps them to cater to their needs.
Social media offers brands opportunities to create emotional connections with their customers and explain more about what their products offer them. In turn, consumers are better informed than ever before.
They have strong opinions about the quality of ingredients, nutritional value, and health. If brands provide this information to those who are interested, they create an opportunity to build loyalty.
More than ever before, people want the brands they choose to reflect who they are as people. Food packaging is one area where this is seen. The designs must reflect environmental and social responsibility and make people feel they are making the best choices for their health and their identities as a whole.
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Food and Beverage Company Faults
A Food and Beverage Company that doesn’t make Good Use of Social Media is Shooting itself in the Foot
The intense competition that exists in the food and beverage industry can make it difficult for smaller brands to gain the attention of consumers. Using social media marketing effectively can make a difference. People tend to try out new foods and beverages based on personal opinions, recommendations, and reviews. This shows how important it is for brands to interact with consumers on social media.
Influencers
Just one post by an influential food blogger about a specific product can generate countless impressions with high conversion rates. A social media presence gives brands the opportunity to connect with such influencers.
Brand personality
The personality of a brand is becoming more and more crucial when it comes to marketing. Relating to consumers on social media helps to build that personality and create loyal followers. Companies are seeking out creative ways to relate to their customers and get feedback their feedback.
Social media interactions
Millennials love sharing dining experiences and will post about interesting beverages they have tasted. They want multi-sensory experiences and food and drink play a big part in this. Well-presented or well-packaged food is likely to be shared on Instagram or Facebook. Social media interactions provide a way for brands to be recognized and to create a loyal customer base without having to resort to more direct forms of advertising.
Companies that do not use social media to their benefit are definitely shooting themselves in the foot. A strong social media presence is no longer an option for food and beverage brands –it’s an absolute necessity.