It took a global pandemic and stay-at-home orders for 1.5 billion people worldwide, but something is finally occurring to us: The future we thought we expected may not be the one we get.
We know that things will change; how theyâll change is a mystery. To envision a future altered by coronavirus, Quartz asked dozens of experts for their best predictions on how the world will be different in five years.
Below is an answer from Soren Bjorn, the president of Driscollâs. Before coming to Driscollâs in 2006, Bjorn worked as a vice president at Del Monte Foods.
Sorting through all the stuff that has changed in the short term, and figuring out what is more permanent, is the million-dollar question. One of the things that we very clearly believe has changed once and for all is online grocery shopping. If you think about online shopping when it comes to groceries, particularly produce, the penetration of that pre-Covid was low. We had been talking about this foreverâAmazon Fresh, how itâs going to change our world. But it hadnât changed our world. Consumers just did not have the confidence. When you think about the way you buy produce, you pick up the clam shell, and you look through to make sure you didnât get the one with the bad berry. Even I do that. But because of Covid, now you had no choice but to go online and get your fresh produce that way. And people generally have had a good experience. Now they say, âGoing to the grocery store actually takes a lot of time, why am I doing this when shopping online is more convenient?â
These penetration numbers of online shopping for produce are now up at a level where itâs really meaningful. And all of us who are suppliers to that industry have to figure out how to best optimize that. To build on the example I just gave you, one of the reasons we are in plastic is so that consumers can see the berries. Thatâs why itâs difficult for us to get rid of plastic, though we desperately want to. Itâs difficult to doâwe have to come up with a solution so consumers can still see berries. But if you buy groceries online, you donât get to see the berries until they arrive, and by then itâs in some ways too late. The ramifications for us are actually quite significant. In our business itâs a really big change that is fundamentally permanent. Maybe thatâs not a big surprise, but most people donât realize how low the penetration of produce and groceries are online. Itâs way lower than electronics and clothing, I think before Covid it was only 3% for all of groceryâthatâs a low number.
For all produce companies that supply retailers, this has big ramifications. One of the benefits to us is our brand. If you think about it, there arenât that many brands in produce that are recognized by consumers, and ours is one. Weâre generally recognized for quality. In Instacart, you may not have every produce brand out there, but consumers may notice if they have Driscollâs strawberries or not. The really premiere brands may actually do even better online. What weâre seeing now with some of our online customers is that consumers get a choice, Driscollâs strawberries at a higher price, or other strawberries at a lower price. I think thatâs good for the brands. I think branding becomes more important. Brands that consumers donât really know, they become like private label.
The longer this goes on, other things will be more permanent. Lots of people talk about offices and remote working. Itâs astonishing how much less money we spend every month on meetings and travel. And surely that makes us all question whether that was all necessary in the first place.
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