New product winners and losers: Moving forward

While some brands continue to innovate and launch new products during the pandemic, some buyers may have been hesitant to go big with a new launch.

Consider that hesitancy over.

“I feel buyers are in a position to take risks,” says Mary Coppola Heslep, senior vice president of creative for Ten Acre Marketing in Grand Forks, ND.

“Retailers built a new level of trust with their consumers throughout the pandemic, leading to opportunities to introduce them to new products.”

Retailers also have a better handle on ecommerce, which Coppola Heslep believes is the next frontier of consumer relationship building.

“But it needs to be done in a collaborative manner to ensure success for suppliers and buyers alike,” she stresses, “to meet the challenging needs of the consumer’s shopping behavior, which is based on choice and variety.”

Now is not the time to hold back.

“Produce needs to be creative, budget aside. Brands need to be laser focused on what’s making them different and exciting, and therefore more appealing to consumers,” Coppola Heslep says.

“Those who will be successful in the overall food space and within fresh produce,” she goes on to say, “are brands that break away from traditional commodity marketing tools and messaging in exchange for new and unique strategies for telling the unique story of that produce.”

And, most importantly, don’t be afraid of a flop.

This is an excerpt from the cover story of the September/October 2021 issue of Produce Blueprints Magazine. Click here to read the whole issue.

Image sources are either licensed or customer-provided.