A recent edition of Canadian Grocer had an intriguing headline: Consumers are turning to grocery retailers as key allies in healthy living. The author’s insights on several trends should trigger an analysis of how to sharpen your delivery to both sets of stakeholders:  consumers and customers. 

Identifying that middle ground where you can deliver produce consistently to both groups is a worthwhile exercise, especially as that ground continues to shift. Three of the trends – nutrition on a budget, sustainable shopping and food as medicine – are useful to fruit and vegetable growers. These are the consumer trends that your customers are trying to satisfy. 

Consumers are the people who use your products. They are the end user who put your products in their shopping cart and take them home to eat and drink.

Customers are the businesses who purchase your products from you. They put your product – fresh, frozen, processed -- on their shelves and usually issue a purchase order as the first step to payment. If you are selling direct, your customers and consumers are one and the same.

Our experience has been many food businesses focus a lot more on the consumer. It is usually more rewarding. Retailers and distributors can be challenging to work with. Your business really does need to be set up to do the following:

1.  Understand who are your consumers and customers

2.  Define the needs of your consumers and customers

3.  Measure the job you are doing to satisfy their needs

Understanding your consumers and customers  

You should have a good definition of your target market consumer and who your customers are. You need to know both groups better than anyone. 

Understanding your target market is the foundation of your marketing strategy. You need to know who these people are so you can develop effective promotion strategies. These are the people who should test your packaging and develop creative social media that will resonate with them.

No product appeals to all consumers, not even the big brands. You can learn about your consumers from your online community, watching them in stores and following industry trends.

You also need to understand your customers. Every retailer or distributor is different. They are all selling food and beverage, but they have their own way of doing it. Visit the stores to make sure you are clear on the messages they communicate to consumers. Your products need to support these messages. Visit their websites regularly to see what they are saying as a business. The larger publicly traded retailers put a lot of information on their websites. Visit the investor sections, not the consumer-facing pages. Read trade magazines and most importantly, talk to them. They evolve as people change. 

Define what your consumers and customers need

It is great to understand your consumers and customers. The next step is to take this thorough understanding and figure out what they need. Most of the needs will be unique to consumers or customers however some might be similar. When you think about needs consider items such as the following:

Consumers

Locally grown, shelf life at home, sustainable packaging, different sizes, portable packaging, safe food and more.

Customers

Competitive cost of goods, promotional pricing, service level, credit for supporting local, traffic in stores, food safety certification, best-before dates, frequent deliveries to manage inventory cost and more.

We suggest drawing two intersecting circles and charting the needs of your consumers and customers. Put the needs that are unique to each stakeholder in their circle and any that are common belong in the section where the circles intersect.

Determine what you can deliver

You can’t do everything. Figure out which needs you are very good at and focus on them. Be relentless in your communication to consumers about the needs you satisfy. This includes social media, mass media and public relations opportunities. Consistency is boring and repetitive for you, but effective as the market is very cluttered. Focus on what you are good at, deliver it consistently and make sure it resonates with your target market.

You should follow a similar strategy with your customers. Category managers are busy so it might be necessary to report to them every couple of months about service level and the initiatives you took to drive traffic in their stores.

Measure your consumer and customer satisfaction

The best measurement is sales. If customers like your products they are putting them in their stores and consumers are putting them in their shopping carts. You can also measure service level, shelf life, sustainability (reductions in food waste for example) and other metrics.

Growers are busy getting produce from field to fork. Make sure you take the time to ensure your business is focused on consumers and customers. They both need to be happy for your business to succeed.