“I did it my way.” Frank Sinatra’s words seem to be the creed of the consumer market amid the rise of personalization. And the food industry is one of the best examples of that.
Just look at the fast food industry in the US for proof. Beyond Pepperoni pizzas at Pizza Hut. Burger King’s plant-based chicken nuggets taste more like chicken than the real thing. And a “swap it for gluten-free” option for every carb. It’s one of the greatest examples of just how in-demand alternative, personalized options have become in the daily lives of consumers.
Every industry, from pet food brands and wellness companies to supermarkets and fast food chains, are doing away with the one-size-fits-all mindset. Interested in experiencing this personalization firsthand? Dive into our extensive product catalog, meticulously curated to cater to your unique tastes and preferences
But how does personalization look beyond the restaurant and fast food industry? What should food brands do to get personalization right? And how does personalization form part of the supply chain when it comes to bulk importers and wholesale suppliers?
What does personalization look like in the food industry?
According to a study conducted by Deloitte, the impact of personalization is quickly reaching the supermarkets as well, shifting away from selling to the average consumer and addressing the needs of their customers in a more tailored manner. The study found that more and more supermarket executives are seeing a steady shift away from national brands towards private label options and the exploration of direct-to-consumer offerings.
Private-label food brands can now address unique nutritional preferences, cater to specialty and allergen-free diets, and explore flavor profiles that hit the spot for consumers from the moment they’re released.
Personalization has also made it possible for brands to understand their customers better. Personalized insights help brands create clear labeling and packaging that convey the most important information to consumers. Data also helps brands tailor their marketing campaigns to connect with the matters that matter most to their customers.
Personalization starts with a conversation
Personalization begins with understanding the needs of your audience, and the clients you serve. It requires a level of intimacy that isn’t always easy to come by if it’s not part of your strategy. And that’s why personalization strategies are built on feedback and interactions, and not just one-sided service provision.
Thanks to social media, obtaining these insights and communicating directly with customers is easier than ever. Whether it’s a chatbot and contact form on the website or surveys on social media and post-purchase email questionnaires, giving your customers the opportunity to have their say is where that conversation begins.
And once you have the data, it’s time to turn it into actionable information.
Turning insights into actions faster than ever before
With tech developments, such as generative AI in the app market, it’s easier than ever to have individualized insights transformed into actions, with personalized suggestions and user experiences built around each customer’s own experience.
Working with large volumes of raw data is an intimidating prospect. However artificial intelligence and analytical tools are giving businesses a panoramic view of their customers and their needs by analyzing raw data far quicker than manual efforts can. And those insights are directly driving the development of new products.
The vitamin market is one of the best examples of this, as the health industry turns its efforts away from treatment to prevention with personalized vitamin products that address the active needs of a company’s customers.
The dangers of hyper-personalization
One of the most important aspects of AI utilization is the completeness and accuracy of data. It’s the only way to truly turn raw data into actionable information. But there’s one other consideration that keeps AI back (for now). The past.
Data analytics and AI-driven forecasting are built on what was, not what the shape of what is now. As a result, the insights of ineffective hyper-personalization are always geared toward the needs of the past. So to make personalization effective, you have to see customer feedback with a grain of salt, in the context of the greater market.
Another risk is relying too much on consumer feedback and what people want. It’s important to remember Henry Ford’s words, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
There’s always a fine line between using insights to create something meaningful and bending backward to prove you are listening to your audience while creating poorly developed products. “Getting it your way” can easily become a case of having your cake and eating it too if it’s nothing but giving in to trends.
The truth is that the strongest brands aren’t built on giving customers what they want, they’re built on giving them something they need without even realizing it. That’s why it’s vital for businesses to understand what makes them unique, and what they have that draws customers back, and invest in the development of that area.
Get personal with Source86
It’s that element of understanding your business that makes personalization such an important part of Source86’ operations. The sourcing journeys that are overseen by bulk importers and wholesale suppliers can easily be written off as a formulaic one-size-fits-all deal. But since our inception, we’ve known that that simply isn’t true. Sourcing can be every bit as personalized as the products we source for.
We provide services tailored to what you need:
- Logistics: We stay an active part of supply chains until your product is at your door, no matter how complex that journey may be.
- Warehousing: We make it simple for companies to benefit from bulk ingredient importing without having to invest in warehousing solutions of their own.
- Packaging: We help you find the package size, material, and label that suits your brand and your needs through our extensive packaging partner network.
- Certification: We make sure your product has the journey behind it you require, from kosher to organic and everything in between.
But beyond all of that, Source86 is an inventory management partner that helps to guide our clients towards informed purchasing decisions within a personalized landscape. We make sure that purchasing decisions fit into the bigger picture and are not blindly driven by consumer demand.
So get in touch with us to find out how we can make your sourcing process and product development more personal.
