Adapting To New Consumer Habits In The Wake Of Coronavirus

As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on industries across the globe, consumers are drastically changing their habits. The shakeup has been especially pronounced in the food sector, where in-person shopping is no longer being done as frequently and groceries are increasingly being ordered for delivery.

Food producers are making aggressive changes to adapt to the new landscape.

Package sizes at both ends of the spectrum are moving toward the center. This is happening because fewer people are eating at restaurants and holding large gatherings, so the “mega” sizes sold to restaurants and through warehouse stores are less in demand. And with consumers less mobile than ever in their daily lives, sales of personal-sized products have plummeted.

With fewer trips to the store, shoppers have also been inclined to be less adventurous. To account for the change, food companies are focusing more on core products and less on flavor variations. This move is a reversal of the decades-long trend to innovate with a wider scope of variations to add profit margin.

Because uptime on the packaging lines is more critical than ever, food producers need to be focused on optimizing systems and operations. Remote monitoring and analytics provide the tools necessary to stay ahead of the curve.