M&S reveals formula for food innovation success
At our Food Manufacturing 2030 Conference, we welcomed Simon Lushey, Specialist Technical Manager at Marks & Spencer to tell our audience why and how innovation is so important to food retailing. For many of us, innovation is a key part of our food manufacturing strategy and is vital to ensuring a differentiated product range. But why is innovation so critical to future food success?
Innovation to overcome crisis
As part of his presentation, Simon explored various points around innovation. Simon built upon the words of John Beddington, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, by stating that innovation will play a key role in our ability to overcome the possible crisis in 2030. As the world’s population grows, competition for food, water and energy will inevitably increase. Food prices will rise, a greater number of people will start to go hungry, and migrants will flee the worst-affected regions. Our ability to adapt and innovate will be critical for future success.
Commercial innovation has been a critical part of Marks & Spencer’s success in food retailing, which has been largely underpinned by product differentiation. By investing in new product development, they have successfully managed to differentiate themselves from the competition whose strategies have been often focused on price, rather than innovation.
Radical innovation is key
Simon emphasised the key need for radical innovation in the way we manufacture food. Disruptive new thinking is seriously required for future success, and although continuous improvement should be a prerequisite for all our roles, ultimately disruptive thinking will lead to success.
Highlighting where he felt the disruption could happen, Simon discussed the implementation of robotics, automation and advanced technology to food processes. This provides the opportunity to deliver competitive advantages for food manufacturers and the ability to overcome existing challenges such as traceability and quality.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”
The winning formula for product differentiation
The most powerful food innovations combine all of the constituent parts: raw materials, recipe and process. On their own, these can be replicated, but innovation across all three that will create a unique product that can be better protected from copying. By combing new product development across all three areas, food manufacturers can create new and differentiated offerings that retailers and their consumers will love!