A rise in voice commerce and a shift from a wholesale model to a direct-to-consumer model will impact the market in 2018 and beyond.
Australians will spend $85 billion on technology products and services this year – and the figure is up by 2.6 per cent since 2017, according to Sydney's Pollen Consulting Group.
Under the umbrella of the Internet of Things, spending on smart factories, smart robotics, and smart machines is growing, according to the group's director Danny Van D’Huynslager.
“By 2020, 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet of Things,” he says.
A key part of this trend will be voice commerce, with users of Alexa and Google Assistant increasingly willing to follow through on the smart speaker's recommendations of products and services.
“We need a more seamless experience for consumers, and food companies need to be willing and available when users connect with brands via smartphones and speakers,” Van D’Huynslager says.
“We are shifting from a wholesale model to a direct-to-consumer model, a same-day model to a same-hour model, and a physical to a digital inventory of products and services.”
Today, the food industry is less about products and more about solutions, with Amazon as a notable example.
Beak & Johnston CEO Ray Hanly says automation and value-added activities will come in good time, but there's a cost barrier.
CoVentured CEO Nick Dunford says corporations need to look outside their organisations to the start-up world to outsource R&D rather than trying to second-guess what will work in the market.
“Start-ups have nothing to lose and can afford to fail fast – as opposed to larger corporations who have everything to lose,” he says.
Independent consultant to KPMG Mark Barr says Australia could have become an innovation hub in the FMCG space – but has missed the boat.
“We don't test the market well – however, big corporates such as PepsiCo seem to have started to collaborate with start-ups to push forward,” he says.
“Usually, the big guys struggle to get growth and can't adapt fast enough – however, there is a real opportunity for mid-sized companies to back innovations and break through to new markets.”
