As a fresh produce distributor, the importance of keeping up with industry trends cannot be overemphasized. With the industry being as fast-paced as it is, it can be challenging to stay up to date with everything happening in this dynamic field.
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Why is it important to follow trends?
Now you might be wondering, why is it so important for a business to keep up? Well, there are a number of reasons for this. To start, trends are often a great determinant of what’s working at the moment. They’ve been found to have a positive effect on the market, and so jumping on such trends can be significantly beneficial to your business in the long run.
Furthermore, trends indicate when changes and shifts are occurring in the market. By understanding trends and knowing how to spot them, a business owner can tell when transitions are happening and make adjustments to their business to reflect these changes. This can mean the difference between thriving within a competitive field and being swallowed up by the competition.
Trends come up and, just as quickly, die down in today’s business world. It can be a bit hard to keep up with them all. Therefore, it’s important to know which ones are worth paying attention to. Below are six tips to help you keep up with new trends and use them to your advantage.
6 tips on how to identify useful trends and make use of them
Monitor your business data
Here’s one mistake many fresh produce business owners make. They’re often so involved with external trends in the market that they ignore internal trends within their businesses.
Monitoring data from your business can give you insight into internal business trends you probably wouldn’t find anywhere else. Data like this gives you valuable insight into the kind of customers most interested in your goods, the products your customers like best, the hours you make the most sales, and so on.
Paying attention to internal trends can help you make more informed decisions that will help you grow your business.
Implementing an ERP system like Silo is a great way to access the data you need for carrying out such analyses in the future.
Keep an eye on the competition
This is the most effective way of keeping abreast of industry trends. When your competitors start doing something different, chances are that it is a trend to pay attention to. These changes could come in any form. It could be a new marketing strategy. It could be a shift in the kinds of products they choose to promote or sell. It could even be a change in the overall direction the market is going.
If more than one competitor seems to be heading in a particular direction, then there may be an important trend at hand that you should be paying attention to. Thus, make an effort to keep an eye on competitors.
Study market data
Numbers hold a lot of information. Examining and studying numerical data can provide you with insights into what is at play in the market. Market data and statistics can tell you a lot, including which types of produce are currently trending, which demographics you should be targeting, and which marketing efforts are presently the most effective.
Keep in touch with your customers
Another great way to stay on top of trends is to listen to what your customers are saying. Remember, your customers are the driving force in the market. They determine where the market is headed and how long a trend progresses.
Take note of which types of produce yield the most orders, and those that stay longest on the shelves. What marketing strategies have gained the most impressions? Are there any complaints your customers are making? Have you noticed any shifts in customer habits recently? Those should be taken into consideration too. All these are hints of what trends might be in place in the market at any given time.
Social networking tools like Facebook and LinkedIn are great tools that help with this.
Conduct surveys
Sometimes a more active approach is needed to stay on top. Carrying out market surveys is one of the best ways of spotting trends and shifts in market climates. These surveys help you understand what your customers and target audience think about different aspects of the market. It also helps you notice when changes are starting to occur and when consumer preference is shifting from one produce or option to another.
Pay attention to the market climate
Nothing stays the same forever, and established trends change every now and then. Shifts in the market like this can be very hard to spot if you do not look at the market as a whole. This is why it is important to read the overall market climate, as it tends to give a more holistic view of things. Doing this would provide you with a better understanding of the general direction the market is heading. Not only that, it can give you a headstart on picking up on new trends before your competitors catch on.
Conclusion
Keeping abreast of industry trends is something you always want to do as a produce distributor. These trends are often indicators of what things are currently working in the market and where the market is currently headed. With that being said, not every trend is worth jumping on. So while it is vital for you to stay up-to-date on current trends, you might want to take some time to determine which ones are worth pursuing.
