Page 32 - Food&Drink Magazine Jan-Feb 2019

DAIRY PROCESSING
Forging a new future
Tetra Pak’s Andrew Pooch unpacks the omnichannel grocery revolution and what it will mean for Australian manufacturers in 2019 and beyond.
ABOVE: Lightweight carton packaging has a valuable role to play in e-commerce.
TETRA Pak has been quietly powering Australia’s burgeoning dairy category with its innovative, safe and environmentally sound products for more than 60 years. While the company is well- known for trail-blazing in the long-life dairy and beverage categories with strong, lightweight cartons, we also design and supply cutting edge end-to-end processing and packaging systems for juice, water, cheese, ice-cream and prepared food.
Powering these efforts is a 24,000-strong global workforce who collectively help to create products that are consumed by hundreds of millions of people in more than 160 countries. Our core mission is to protect food, keeping it safe for consumption, preserving its nutritional value, and making it available everywhere and
equally, providing responsible industry leadership, and to stay well ahead of technology advances.
At the very top of the list when it comes to disruption is e-commerce, as it is by far the fastest-growing channel for groceries today. It’s part of a transformation that’s redefining the way consumers buy, experience and react to products. This is driving change and efficiencies throughout the value chain.
For insights into the future of omnichannel grocery, we can look to China, which is leading the world in disruptive innovation in the grocery space. China’s model is disruptive because it does not have the legacy of malls and big-box stores, so it has no traditional retail model to defend
Worldwide, online grocery worldwide is expected to continue to grow much faster than any other channel, albeit from a fairly modest base – 4.6 per cent globally. We’ve conducted research – surveys and in-depth analysis – into the deeper implications and the opportunities of this major change. Here are our top takeouts for Australian manufacturers.
1. PACKS GET SMARTER
Smart packaging is a key area where we see growth, thanks to unique digital codes which will take both online and off-line grocery into exciting new directions during the next few years. Developments in smart technology now mean that every package sold can now carry a unique digital identifier,
creating the opportunity for direct one-to-one conversations with consumers, as well as helping drive efficiencies across the entire supply chain
Australian brand owners now have access to a complete smart packaging ecosystem built around Dynamic QR (Quick Response) codes which allow each package to be tracked, monitored and interacted with throughout the supply chain, creating new opportunities for efficient stock management, distribution, and automation. It also creates new opportunities for consumer interaction.
Smartphone technology allows consumers to scan the code instore, and find a whole suite of information for that particular product, including source of origin of ingredients, packaging material traceability, and consumer behavior analytics. Smart packaging, with features that enable digital purchase and
enhanced consumer experience, is particularly highly regarded by
Chinese shoppers, where scanning QR codes is
already commonplace
With technologies like augmented reality (AR), labels are set to become an engaging and interactive way
to communicate
with consumers.
But the possibilities with digital
printing extend
even further.
Digital codes can provide an opportunity to integrate brand
promotions. Each time a consumer scans the code and partakes in a promotion it provides valuable data to the company, helping them to adjust these promotions in the future so they can increase engagement and better target promotions to the right audience.
2 SUPPLY CHAINS TRANSFORM
Offline and online are now merging into an “omnichannel” age, where consumers expect to be able to buy whenever, wherever and however they choose, with the ubiquitous smartphone acting as their compass. Super-fast delivery in less than 60 minutes is expected by 2025, changing consumer behaviour to buy more frequently and in smaller amounts, adding more
32 | Food&Drink business | January-February 2019 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au