MORE DATA IS MAGIC INGREDIENT FOR FOODSTUFFS SUPPLIERS

Ana Connor has a message for suppliers: “give us your nutritional and ingredients data, it’ll help future proof your business!”

Connor, who heads up the Master Data Operations at Foodstuffs South Island says, “initially we were very supply chain focussed with the use of our supplier product data. Right product, right place, right time, right price was a great place to start, but with more information at our fingertips, there are so many more opportunities ahead for Foodstuffs suppliers.”

Ana Connor

An increasing customer desire for food inspiration, cooking at home, wanting to know more about the provenance of our food - and what it contains; is at the heart of Foodstuffs’ drive to encourage all their suppliers to proactively supply nutritional and ingredients information about their products.

“More and more customers are basing their buying decisions on what’s in the product, or increasingly what’s been deliberately left out, so we’re anticipating making nutritional and ingredients information searchable on-line will be the next big customer need and ultimately expectation. It makes sense for us to get ahead of that need and deliver on this together,” says Connor.

Reasons for customers who want access to nutritional and ingredients information are varied, eating regimes like keto and low carb are becoming increasingly popular; and with one in nine New Zealand households having a person with a food intolerance or allergy, making the wrong purchasing decision when it comes to ingredients can have unpleasant, or even life-threatening consequences.

The recent lockdowns due to COVID-19 have provided more potential for supplier data says Connor. “With customers spending more time at home, they had the space to think about meal making and wanted to experiment and try new things. We expect this trend to cook and entertain more at home to stick. Having more information about the products we sell opens up a world of possibilities, enabling us to enhance the customer experience in the future, especially inthe food inspiration space.”

With the pilot of on-line shopping in the pipeline for three Foodstuffs South Island stores early 2021, this is the perfect time to be encouraging suppliers to provide nutritional and ingredients data through GS1 NPC or the Foodstuffs eXchange says Connor. “Our goal is when our on-line shopping offer pilots in 2021, customers will have the convenience of having nutritional and ingredients information at their fingertips. We have no doubt having this information available will inform customer purchasing decisions, whether they’re ordering on-line or searching prior to visiting their local Foodstuffs store.”

With approximately 43% of supplier nutritional and ingredients information already in their database - and a recent system change to make providing the information for new products mandatory, Connor

is making the call for suppliers who haven’t already, to make a concerted effort to provide their product information. Suppliers can do this via the GS1 NPC ProductFlow service, or log on to Foodstuffs eXchange and complete the nutritional and ingredients fields by the end of 2020.

“There are huge benefits to both supplier and retailer in making as much information about the products we’re selling available to our customer and there’s so much opportunity for the future, it’s really exciting and an extremely simple way for us both to add value to the customer experience,” says Connor.

Suppliers to Foodstuffs can add product nutritional and ingredients data according to their normal product update process – either the GS1 NPC ProductFlow service, or via Products at the Foodstuffs eXchange. For support please contact the Foodstuffs supplier support team via email suppliers@foodstuffs-si.co.nz or call 0800 555 985.