13 Mar The future of the retail sector: changes are coming

With the emergence of new technologies, the retail sector is obligated to adapt to future changes. “The future of retail” is part of the Global Cities 2015 report by Newmark Grubb Bacre. This report aims to help companies, retailers, investors and Governments to plan their long-term strategies of the main trends of the business. At the same time, the report tries to anticipate how these trends can change the way of investing, consuming, and buy. Therefore, this data directly affects the food sector and, thus, to the healthy and natural food industry.

First, ask yourself the following questions: is your company ready for the change? Is it ready to operate under a digital environment? Are you able to generate a good customer experience? Do you know what will be the behavior of your prospective clients? Do you know how to anticipate your strategies to the changes?

Key changes in the retail sector

To be prepared for a more demanding and competitive environment you should have the correct ability of response and adaptability. If you want to successfully address the changes that are foreseen in the future of the retail sector, your business should focus their efforts on some major axes:

Digital transformation:

The Internet has made online technologies to be present in all economic sectors. Having a web page that is responsive and accessible from multiple platforms, is one of the basic steps of all the companies of the food sector for the digital transformation. All this, coupled with an integration of all processes of buying and selling to a new approach, will change the mission and objective of the company, making the process more effective and enjoyable for the customer.

Different methods of purchase:

Companies should offer the customer multiple ways or platforms to make the purchase, whether the process is with another business (B2B) or the end customer (B2C): physical store, digital platforms, mailing or making a call, for example. This should be easy for the customer and give it different sensations. You may be giving them incentives if they buy from your mobile app or making them get a discount coupon if they do “X” interactions in your social media channels. But these are just two examples, each company must adapt to the needs of the client and hear the changes that may come.

Supply chain integration:

How are profits obtained? Reducing costs. One of the ways of doing so is through the optimization of the process of reception and delivery of supplies. It should reduce errors and optimize the entire cycle. The challenge is to obtain a sufficient maturity degree to be able to make decisions quickly and anticipate changes in the market.

Center your efforts on the customer experience:

It’s not enough to offer a good product or service, the important thing is to create experiences in which the client should feel the business center of attention. The future foresees a customer immersion experience in the product creation process, executing many more creative and consumer-oriented actions.

Build the brand from social networks

Social networks exert a strong impulse and give great opportunities of development to the companies of the sector. The challenge is to create valuable content that contributes to make a permanent link between the client and your company. All channels must be exploited to take advantage of the multiple advantages they offer. Don’t forget the possibilities that videos, or infographics, give to your food company: they make up the most attractive marketing strategies.

Why not to think beyond?

Virtual reality coupled with augmented reality can be a good strategy to interact with customers, offering them an experience from every way possible. The customer, among all their new demands, can ask for this type of shopping experience. On the other hand, including design thinking in the usual processes of interaction with the customer can also offer a service oriented to capture their attention from the very first moment to the final delivery of the product.

The costs of these advances may not be available to all companies in the sector. However, by extending its use it will tend to lower costs, so that these tools will help large and small businesses in the health food sector succeed in their sales process.

From GoldFoods USA, we think that these new trends are going to improve the customer experience, our basic brick from which we build our whole sales strategy. GoldFoods USA will continually innovating and growing each day to offer our clients the best service and experience. We’re the caviar of seeds.