Consumers’ desire for food exploration, new tastes and experimentation have changed dramatically due to the influence of food media and marketing over the past 20 years. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, organic and natural food sales were trending at two to three times the growth of conventional food.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of restaurants caused the consumer demand for “food as entertainment” and restaurant-style cooking at home to significantly expand. As the pandemic persisted, consumers became willing and open to more experimentation with natural and organic foods.
The one notable exception to this trend was the organic and natural-only retailer channel. Natural food retailers like Whole Foods and Sprouts did not see the same surge as conventional retailers throughout the pandemic in 2020. As the number of trips decreased, consumers went back to their local neighborhood supermarket and realized many of the items they were seeing at the natural-only food stores were now available in their local grocer.
As these consumers continue to explore food trends post pandemic, extreme specialty, hyper-local and regional specialty foods have become large drivers of specialty food growth. These unique items help to increase a retailer’s product assortment and relevance in their market area.
To capture these sales, AWG is proud to introduce the VMC Virtual Warehouse, which gives member retailers access to tens of thousands of unique items, that would not be efficient to carry in your everyday warehouse assortment.
The VMC Virtual Warehouse is a manufacturer, direct-to-retailer, drop-ship platform. The platform was built utilizing Specialty Foods Partners, who works with more than 4,000 vendor members of the Specialty Foods and Fancy Foods Association.
By the end of 2021 the VMC Virtual Warehouse will have more than 10,000 specialty and local items that can be ordered through the eCommerce site. Not only does this program give access to a large, expanded assortment of unique specialty foods items, but it also searches out local and regional products to help make our retailers move relevant in their communities.
To learn more about the VMC Virtual Warehouse, contact VMC_Virtual_Warehouse@awginc.com.
