The Food, Drink and Agriculture Group (FDA) of the Chartered Institute of Marketing hosted a mini conference at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester last week, to hear from a range of high-level speakers on the potential for the South West’s food and drink sector to build business in the fast-growing online market.
Around 70 senior managers from food and drink processors, academics, financiers, PR and advertising executives and regional trade associations heard speakers from Tesco, Milk Link, the Virtual Farmers’ Market, Lloyds TSB, Real Time Audio and PR agency Bray Leino about how best this fast-emerging route to market can be harnessed.
Only 11 per cent of UK adults shop online for food regularly or exclusively, but the market is forecast to grow by 57 per cent between 2009 and 2014, according to Mintel. The share of sales of food and drink online are already around 10 per cent, with local provenance of food and drink often a key driver of sales - and this plays strongly in to the hands of the South West’s food and drink sector.
Social media are seen as the way forward in engaging with consumers and building “communities” of consumers bound together by common interests and shared values. Everything from Twitter, Facebook to LinkedIn and the like were described as opportunities for South West producers to connect with their consumers.
Delegates were told that online marketing is not only about the product, but engaging with consumers in a regular and fun manner. Developing an effective and interesting website to drive awareness and sales is critical, as is the need to work with other partners in the supply chain, especially when it comes to distribution.
Speakers also emphasised that online is not an “easy route to market” and many of the most successful businesses using this format to market to consumers have opted to keep things simple and straightforward to begin with.
Delegates were treated to examples of food and drink web sites, including the Virtual Farmers’ Market, and were alerted to the opportunities offered by the likes of Amazon, which has started to trial food and drink sales.
John Giles, a divisional director with Promar International and the chair of the food, drink and agriculture market interest group of the CIM, chaired the conference.
He said: “The power of modern technology and social media was well demonstrated and showed how even small companies can compete for consumer attention and purchasing power against the large food processors, which have traditionally dominated the more conventional routes to market.”
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