Friday, September 20, 2019

Marks & Spencer Gets Fresher Faster


Innovation can be disruptive to the existing supply chain.  Marks & Spencer is incrementally disrupting the existing supply chain all the while bringing fresh food with less waste to it stores according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson.
When Marks & Spencer introduced a new partnership with the vertical farming company, infarm in several of its stores once again elevating the customer experience and creating new electricity for its brand according to Johnson.
Co-founder and CEO of infarm, Erez Galonska, stated, "London represents many of the sustainability challenges that people will experience in cities over the next several decades. ..By offering produce grown and harvested in the heart of the city, we want to practice a form of agriculture that is resilient, sustainable and beneficial to our planet while meeting the needs of urban communities."
Yes, I know that ‘fresh herbs’ includes Italian, Greek and Bordeaux basils, mint, curly parsley, and mountain coriander are not huge sales generators for any grocery store but they do play an important role within the mind-set of the consumer and fresh is top-of-mind for consumers today according to Johnson; thus elevating the fresh platform at Marks & Spencer creating new electricity.
State of art farm Infarm has combined vertical farming units with the latest IoT technologies and machine learning, to create a controlled eco-system with the optimum amount of light, air, and nutrients for growing plants. So, each farming unit is connected to a cloud-based platform that learns, adjusts and improvises the technique for the next set of plants to ensure that each plant grows better than the previous one.
Director of food technology at Marks & Spencer, Paul Willgoss, stated, "Infarm’s innovative farming platform is a fantastic example of what can happen when passionate agricultural, food and technology experts work together….
"We operate as part of a complex global food supply chain and want to understand the emerging technologies that could help provide more sustainable solutions, whilst also delivering fantastic products with exceptional taste, quality, and freshness for our customers."
Why, well each vertical farming unit consumes 95% less water and 75% less fertilizer compared with soil-based agriculture. The pesticide-free produce is the equivalent of 400 square meters of farmland output.
 Consumers are dynamic not static how is your brand keeping up with consumer demand for fresh fast food? Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply chain and includes such things as fresh foods, plant based  foods,  sampling, beer, unique urban farming, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.
All food and beverage retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food and beverages that are portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  Does your retail path forward look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Why?
For international corporate presentations, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions.  His extensive experience as a multi-unit restaurant operator, consultant, brand / product positioning expert and public speaking will leave success clues for all. For more information visit www.GrocerantGuru.com , www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or call    1-253-759-7869



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