b"The Grocery Store RevolutionOnline grocery shopping will be here to stay following the pandemic, but the food supply industry will need to get creative when marketing products.BY: ASHLEY ROBINSONAS NORTH AMERICANS hunkered down throughout 2020 for the COVID-19Online sales werent the only shakeup the grocery industry witnessedpandemic, they turned to online shopping. For years it had grown inthe pandemic also saw food hoarding happening. Grocery store shelves were popularity for buying clothes and other household items, but grocery shoppingwiped clean as shoppers loaded up on food to make it through the pandemic, hadnt caught on yet. During the pandemic that changed with shoppers rush- however some products were more in demand than others.ing to use curbside pickup and delivery to get food in their pantries.The average shopper is now getting used to shopping online, they're doing it more often, they're placing a lot of orders and whereas food seem to be the laggard, they are jumping in on food all over the place, Michael Sansolo, aWe have to be prepared to turn retail food industry expert, says during a presentation on pandemic supermar- a lot of thinking on its head. We're ket trends at the virtual Potato Expo on Jan. 6, 2021.Ecommerce sales at grocery stores skyrocketed during the pandemic. Incoming through a crazy period. 2019, there were US$1.2 billion in ecommerce sales, which jumped to US$7.2MICHAEL SANSOLObillion as of June 2020, Sansolo explains. While this trend was driven by the pandemic, Sansolo expects it to continue as shoppers have become familiar with online shopping, and the convenience of it will continue to appeal to busy millennials and Gen Z shoppers. A lot of supermarkets are going to look at their inventory, they're going However, there are marketing challenges when it comes to online groceryto look at their variety and say, are we stocking the right stuff? Do we have shopping. Instore shopping allows customers to see product displays, but withtoo much of things that people don't want and too little of the things they online shopping that isnt an option. absolutely have to have? Sansolo says.We have to be prepared to turn a lot of our thinking on its head. We'reThe pandemic is forcing grocery stores to reflect on their supply situations, coming through a crazy period. Weve got to think differently. We've got tohe explains. He expects they will examine their supply chains to make sure prepare for a store that may look remarkably different, Sansolo says.theyre able to quickly restock needed products if a situation of this kind Sansolo recommends all levels of the supply chain work together, fromhappens again.growers, to processors/packers and retailers, to find ways to market andI would imagine a lot of you folks, whether you're a farmer, whether you share products with the general public. This could be though sales, sharingare a manufacturer of potato-based products, you're going to hear from more information about where products come from or even sharing recipes onretailers saying how do we ensure that we have a supply chain that can deal websites such as Pinterest. with whatever we need to deal with, he says. WINTER 2021 SPUDSMART.COM 55"