Digital Disruption & Other Trends Transforming The Food Industry In E-Commerce Space

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, contactless deliveries have now become the trend and are hoping to continue even in 2021. The trend caught on as there was an increased consumer caution around hygiene. 2020 has brought on unprecedented business changes among all sectors. One of the most crucial sectors being food and beverages. Increased consumer caution and hygiene have made food e-commerce companies change the way they sell their food products.

Many food e-commerce companies resorted to getting robots and drones for minimal to no contact thereby mitigating the chance of spreading the COVID-19 virus. Likewise, Customers have adopted many habits during the pandemic that are here to stay. They have many reservations about sourcing perishable food produce from unhygienic wet markets. Hygiene and physical contact is the primary concern among the concerned customers.

FMCG companies have begun selling their products on e-commerce before selling them in their retail stores. This has led to a growth of 56% in the business in the first quarter of 2020.

India's e-commerce is projected to reach US $99 billion by 2024.

Brand loyalty for customers has now changed. They are searching for good hygienic places to buy their products from. It has been observed that customers are increasingly looking at certified and tested quality products than on lower quality products that could potentially cause harm in any way. Due to this change in buying, it has become of utmost importance for food companies to have a certification of a product’s safety and quality. Some other criteria that customers are now looking at before purchasing anything are the quality product that is transparent in its ingredients, neat in packaging and allows traceability of source.

The customer’s quest for chemical-free and preservative-free food alternatives is a key trend. Food companies have now realized that transparency is the new way to build customer loyalty and trust. Due to the pandemic, food companies are also working on strengthening their collaborations to ensure door to door deliveries as consumers want direct deliveries thereby mitigating the chance of contracting the virus.

Online shopping is now the new normal as safe and secure delivery has now become key.

Thus, the food industry in the e-commerce space is now continuing to grow thanks to the sophisticated networks and development in technology, thereby bringing customers and sellers even closer.

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Courtesy: FNB News