Digitization becomes potent sales vehicle for food industry

New ideas, new start-ups are pushing the envelope further

Digital transformation is easily one of the most significant and most valuable developments in recent times that have completely changed the way we eat and live. Over the years, digitization of the food industry has elevated itself from being a front-end knight in shining armor to an integrated and interwoven matrix of processes, systems, market innovations, policy incentives, and vitally a key influencer of consumer behavior, trends, and preferences. 

Mobile and web technology developments have become instrumental in redefining many industries and organizations right at the grass-root level. The food industry is clearly one of the major industries that have been totally redefined. The advent of UPI and issuance of sops for digital payments by the finance ministry has further engineered instant like an escalation in market makeover to the minutest detail. The evolution of the food delivery apps, grocery apps as lifestylers, or daily routine is clearly the testimony. 

The lockdown and the pandemic have also played their part in establishing digitization as the way forward. Consumer attitude, patterns, perspectives have all gone under a sea change. Aggregators have registered a steady revival after the phased lockdowns eased down. Restaurants too have jumped the online bandwagon. Food online retail has interestingly emerged out of nowhere and become trendsetters.

Market dynamics, offerings, equations are no longer conventional. What looks like one order delivered on the front line is actually a maze at the backend. Irresistible offers on apps flashing always is in fact a network of permutation and combinations derived from complex algorithms’. In other words, digitization has become a very potent sales vehicle, especially for the food industry. 

New ideas, new start-ups are pushing the envelope further. The definition of aggregators is expanding every day. Food industry ideas are going back to roots. Digitization is going to roots too. A specialized app-based concept to revolutionize buying of fruits and vegetables is already making its presence felt in Delhi and NCR.

An idea with company-owned eco-friendly customized vehicles is all geared to change the way we have been buying fruits and vegetables for eternity. This app-based model is designed to capture the imagination of the millennial as well as the middle and senior audience in one stroke. 

Imagine a cart full of fruits and vegetables arriving at your doorstep with the click of a button. It is already a reality. Imagine handpicking the choicest of wares from a mobile showcase of 70 odd products. It is already happening. Imagine exotic vegetables and exotic fruits getting delivered at the drop of a hat, this is already a fact now. A tech-driven company with a heart beating for natural goodness has cracked the code to further mobilize digitization as a game-changer.

Today’s food experience is not limited to gourmet delights or culinary expertise it is diversifying in domains of health, long life, immunity, natural or organic trends. As the pandemic is fading away, more and more consumers have become app-friendly. Average time spent on phones has multiplied manifolds thanks to OTT offerings. Food delivery companies have even created binge-watching packages to IPL related offers. Every occasion is being cashed in. Every OTT release is celebrated. This rub-off effect is coming on food-related retail ancillaries too. Big grocery providers already are reaping harvests by creating delicious offers on grocery and amazing combo offers on fruits and vegetables. 

Never before a niche existed for fruits and vegetables alone. Never before someone thought buying fruits and vegetables can become a marketing proposition. A springboard for state-of-the-art infrastructure; a groundbreaking for a professional ecosystem of quality control, washing mechanisms, and sorting procedures. In today’s time, it has become possible to comprehend how a food delivery system works digitally. It will still take some time to understand how digitization is helping normal chore-like buying fruits and vegetables to transform into service for consumers at their convenience with no riders attached. 

Does it sound unbelievable or too good to be true? But digitization is making this a reality every day. A fleet of special vehicles has sprung up on the map of Delhi and NCR with a click of a button. Mundane words like schedule and request are transcending into deliverables backed by the brand’s values, mission, and vision.

Digital transformation of the food industry is reaching the farms, procurement channels. The back end is so self-reliant, it can sense replenishments of vehicles in real-time and further add value to customer satisfaction. 

Digital experiences to make mornings better, afternoons comfortable and evenings enjoyable are the new buzzwords that have elevated the Indian food industry into a juggernaut of marketing deliverables, robust modules of commercial sustainability, and new dimensions to consumer gratification.

The decade ahead will further create avenues of ease backed by people-friendly digital initiatives. The Indian food industry will always be the frontrunner. The baton is already reaching the farmlands, enterprising minds and hearts are thinking in unison and are sowing seeds of marketable and bankable winners. 

 

Arpit Katta, CFO, VegEase, Gurugram