Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/912382
VISIT BOOTH 846 Or contact World Finer Foods www.info@worldfiner.com I N T R O D U C I N G I N T E N S E Fruit Spreads MORE FRUIT, LESS SUGAR* *39% less sugar than regular preserves containing 12.8g of sugar. This product contains 7.8g of sugar. —from the expansion of delivery services such as Instacart and Shipt to click-and-col- lect services at traditional supermarkets— will lead to "some pretty significant growth" in grocery e-commerce. "What that means for specialty is an interesting question," he notes. "We may even see an expansion of specialty, because retailers might be able to offer a lot more SKUs and a lot more variety" as they expand their e-commerce capabilities. "If you want that 38th f lavor of mus- tard, you might not be able to find it in a retail store, but you are likely to be able to find it online," he adds. Specialty food suppliers need to plan their strategy for selling product online, says Stern. "It can be anything from having your own landing page on Amazon, to having your own direct-to-consumer business, or simply being a support mechanism for it," he says. "But they have to think through what that strategy is going to look like." Balanko says specialty suppliers should be thinking about creating stronger rela- tionships with both higher-end brick-and- mortar retailers and e-commerce partners. "Furthermore, specialty suppliers will need to think of their digital strategy holis- tically, going beyond e-commerce, to include elements of inspiration, information, self- expression, and discovery as consumers are using digital to participate fully in food culture," she says. "We may even see an expansion of specialty, because retailers might be able to offer a lot more SKUs and a lot more variety" as they expand their e-commerce capabilities. —Neil Stern, McMillan Doolittle WINTER 2018 59