E-commerce may be regarded as a considerably fast-growing trend in the industry of food and beverage, especially during the pandemic when the inability to visit public places and non-contact delivery become highly important. At the same time, the food industry remained the slowest consumer sector expanded into e-commerce growth, and this tendency was associated with several substantial issues including product damage freshness, logistical challenges, and low margins in comparison with other consumer products.
According to the research prepared by BI Intelligence in 2014, only 1% of food and beverage sold are purchased online, and only 15% of adults in the United States reported the experience of buying food items online (Maras, 2014). However, over several last years, e-commerce in the sector of food and beverage has been developing rapidly, and similar to other spheres, the concept of sustainability has started to play a crucial role there as well. As consumers started to be aware of global obesity problems, global environmental and health issues, healthy dieting, and the conditions of manufacturing, companies had to consider their demands and concerns.
With the development of e-commerce, food and beverage companies transmit the advertisement of their products, sustainability concerns, and the investigation of customer needs in a digital sphere. Big data, online surveys, machine learning, and monitoring of social media platforms substantially contribute to personalization and a better understanding of people’s demands. In addition, the majority of companies started to invest in new efficient sustainable, and environmentally friendly packaging, food waste reduction, supply chain enhancements, and upcycling. Moreover, taking into consideration the tendencies in nutrition, dieting, and the consumption of healthy food, they support the development of sugar reduction and gluten-free technologies and the use of natural ingredients.
Magic Tomato is a company located in Switzerland that offers a wide variety of food and beverage products online with delivery at the customer’s home the same day. It focuses on the provision of fresh food prepared by local artisans with the use of a responsible model instead of frozen or industrial food (“About MagicTomato,” n.d.). The company’s short supply chain substantively contributes to sustainability as a record time of delivery helps to minimize and even eliminate plastic packaging and food waste. In addition, Magic Tomato emphasizes the high significance of certification to ensure its customers that all products have exceptional quality and the professionalism of artisans and suppliers cannot be denied.
For suppliers, it is beneficial to cooperate with Magic Tomato as well. While traditional supermarkets produce tons of food waste annually, market gardeners, butchers, and cheese makers who work with the company do not produce or substantially reduce their waste due to the limitation of orders to customer needs. In addition, all suppliers are chosen according to strict criteria that include their local availability, the quality of their products, and hygiene during manufacturing (“Our local MagicArtisans,” n.d.).
At the same time, Magic Tomato will inevitably have certain constraints concerning sustainability and multiple ways of improvement. For instance, in the present day, the company cannot be fully responsible for the use of sustainable techniques by all their partners and suppliers in transportation and packaging. In addition, it is required proper real strategies dedicated to the control of emissions, the use of electric vehicles, and the reduction of plastic packaging.
References
About MagicTomato. (n.d.). Web.
Maras, E. (2014). Food and beverages push into e-commerce, raising questions for the supply chain. Food Logistics. Web.
Our local MagicArtisans. (n.d.). Web.