SF_April2022

of bricks-and-mortar premises. His predictions might have sparked a shiver of fear in some business owners, but figures suggest while online sales are still high, customers may still prefer the in-person experience that is particularly enjoyable when it comes to shopping for food. Data shared with The Grocer by NeilsenIQ in October suggested that fresh food’s share of online grocery sales still lagged behind store sales, with NielsenIQ’s new Ecommerce Benchmark finding that fresh food accounted for 34.9% of sales online compared with 43% in-store. How to sell IRL Food retail expert Stuart Gates, there is still very much a place for bricks and mortar in fine food. For Gates, who advises and mentors artisan 40 T he way consumers buy their food has changed beyond imagination over the decades. From small, artisan shops to huge multiples, then back again as people rediscovered their love for quality, artisan food produced and sold on a smaller, more personal level. The buying process itself went from choosing meat, bread and cheese from a counter to picking up pre-packaged offerings from a supermarket shelf. People have paid more, paid less, and now for many products are paying more, either out of choice or necessity. Shopping have moved from the high street to cavernous out-of- town locations, changing the shop experience beyond recognition. But despite all those changes, one thing has remained constant – the ability to buy food from a shop. To walk through its doors, browse a display of some form or another, and walk out with goods. Until 2020, when the simple act of walking into a shop became either forbidden or worrying. The shift of the way shoppers shop due to the Covid pandemic has been well documented. An unprecedented situation saw a surge in online shopping – including in the speciality food sector. As online sales soared, fine food businesses who had previously swerved the world of e-commerce embraced it, setting up websites and marketing their wares to an audience desperate for the comfort of their favourite meat, bread, cheese and other artisan products in whatever way they could get their hands on it. The shift helped myriad small businesses survive the pandemic, but where would it leave the future of bricks and mortar within the fine food sector? In December, Simon Latham, a senior manager at 4C Associates, predicted in Speciality Food that the growth of grocery sales made via online channels had presented an opportunity to minimise and optimise utilisation It’s no secret that having a physical shop is incredibly challenging in the current climate but it’s also very rewarding. It gives you a chance to engage with the community you are part of and gives your business an identity that people can easily recognise STUART GATES THE SEASONED GROCER ROBERT UNWIN ROAST MUTTON LAC HINCU REVEL BAKERY SHANE GODWIN MACKNADE ROSIE JACK BOWHOUSE COMMENTATORS producers, retailers need to look at the overall picture, rather than seeing their physical shop as separate from an online presence, and also separate from any food service aspect they may introduce. “Often retailers see a shop on one corner, the internet ~ on another, and possibly a café on another, rather than an overall strategy. When Covid happened in 2020 most delis and speciality food shops had been concentrating on their food service offer rather than the internet. They hadn’t come up with their marketing and that side of the business so there was a lot of focus on that. But I think people still want to visit a shop so if you’re clever you use your retail shop as a showcase and the shop can be used to drive your internet business or seasonal business. You use the fact people THEBRICKS&MORTAR OPPORTUNITY E-commerce may have been the runaway success of lockdown, but there’s plenty of scope to maximise walk-in stores too, finds Ellen Manning @specialityfood