Snuggle up to consumers – KPMG

The future for New Zealand’s agri-food sector depends on us producing artisan, niche, premium quality, safe and sustainable food – as well as beverage, fibre and timber products, says KPMG’s head of global agri, Ian Proudfoot.

Consumers are constantly looking for new, innovative products and if NZ can bring diversity into the diets of consumers this will assist in securing a price premium, Proudfoot says. To succeed in a changing world, ultimately the consumer must be central to everything we do.

“There are still too many organisations in the primary sector that say they exist for their farmers, their producers. In the end, if that’s what you exist for there won’t be a market for you.”

Proudfoot claims NZ has been complacent about the food it produces, believing there will always be a market for our produce.

“Yes, there may be a market, but if people have choice they may go for something more interesting, exciting and nutritious. As a consequence, though NZ may have markets, they will not pay what they historically paid unless we change and respond -- and that’s going to take strong leadership right across the sector.”

Proudfoot says we need to stop talking about single products and talk about the larder full of quality food products NZ has to offer.

KPMG says NZ has historically focused mostly on maximising production; customer relationships have been transactional, price driven and often through an intermediary rather than through retailers or ultimate consumers. NZ’s drive to produce more is not always matched with a clear strategy on how to sell this extra production and where and at what price.

But the report authors believe that, in respect of millennial consumers, the agri food sector must understand what triggers or prevents a purchase by these new consumers.

It notes the work being done by MPI’s Economic Intelligence Unit, to gather more data on consumer habits, but it believes this might sit better in a stand-alone ‘centre of excellence’ outside government. Such a centre may then attract ‘commercial’ people who would not work in government.