Last May 7th we celebrated the first of many in a series of international webinars with the aim of providing our community with opinions and insights from the main leaders in the food sector, covering the most relevant topics facing the industry at the moment.
In our first webinar we had the pleasure of hosting two of the most relevant agents in the food industry, to discuss and share insights on a business model that is here to stay and the role that food startups play in its propagation: Direct-To-Consumer.
In the “The rise of D2C Foodstartups” Emna Neifar, Chief Commercial Officer at Cortilia and Ivan Farneti, Founding Partner of Five Seasons Ventures, shared their visions and perspectives with José Luis Cabañero, CEO of Eatable Adventures, on the present and future of the D2C model.
For Emna Neifar, the model is “fascinating in terms of the amount of data these models provide and how they help us obtain fundamental insights for daily decision-making applied from a new product to new features of the service offered.”
“Direct to consumer food has managed to do well for businesses and well for society” these were the words of Ivan Farneti, who emphasized the lack of flexibility of large global corporations to adapt to this new reality and also stressed the opportunity that this now represents for startups.
José Luis Cabañero added that this growth in D2C models is a trend that has already been recognised and embraced by Eatable Adventures: the “food industry is becoming what the internet was 20 years ago and is a tremendous set of opportunities lane ahead for the companies that take the step and go forward “
Some relevant insights from the webinar
Defining D2C models and how startups are innovating
D2C models are the answer to a now more demanding consumer: It is delivered through storytelling on things like origin, process, environmental & social impact.
In these models the service part is just as important as the product part: this will make a resounding difference with competitors.
They have contributed a lot of techniques and mindsets from the digital world into the physical.
We can highlight 5 types of D2C models; from the most engaged to the least: DNVB Digital Native Vertical Brands (e.g. Butternut Box), DVNR Digital Vertical Native Retailer (e.g. Cortilia), D2C as a secondary channel (e.g. Soylent), selling in big digital platforms (e.g. products in Amazon), social media awareness creation (e.g. Impossible Burger).
Benefits and barriers of D2C models
A great benefit is the ability to offer high traceability and freshness: Direct means a shorter supply chain. In the current situation it has offered consumers extra confidence on where their food is coming form.
They allow us access consumer information in an era where data is essential: “Optimization will become a religion” according to Ivan Farneti.
“The experience is 10 times better”, because the flexibility of startups has allowed them to develop services with a real focus on the consumer.
Startups overcome consumer mistrust barriers by developing a solid relationship with producers, creating consumer communities, and applying the correct communication.
How is COVID19 affecting the development of these models?
These models have gained market share in recent months.
The experience of convenience and quality will have an inelastic effect. People who have used these platforms for the first time will use them again in the future.
D2C Food Startups have applied three different phases: React, Adapt and Disrupt.
Missed this webinar? Check out the video
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