Series of webinars explore impact of turbulent 2020
The impact of Covid-19 on the foodservice sector, consumer views on buying British and the ongoing challenges of Brexit will all be discussed during a series of AHDB webinars starting this month.
The Retail and Consumer Insight team will be hosting six webinars, focusing on a range of issues, including how all AHDB sectors have been impacted by Covid-19 and what recovery is looking like.
In the first set of webinars, which take place on the 20th, 21st and 22nd October, analysts will explore how demand has shifted across the retail and foodservice market, as well as looking at how shopping and eating habits have evolved over the year.
There will also be a look at how the eating-out market, including the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, is recovering following lockdown and the impact on retail demand, before discussing the opportunities and threats for red meat, dairy and fresh produce.
AHDB’s senior retail insight manager, Kim Malley, will host the three 45-minute webinars with speakers from each sector as well as hearing from AHDB’s senior policy insight manager, Sarah Baker, who will give a viewpoint on how economic factors, such as Brexit, will impact the markets going forward.
“Prior to 2020, we had seen how important the environment and health were to consumers, shaping the decisions they made when purchasing products. However, Covid-19 brought about many attitudinal changes, including a shift in priorities when shoppers were buying their food.”
Kim Malley said: “After a turbulent year, there will be plenty to discuss in this first series of webinars. We will be taking a good look at the impact of Covid-19 on sector demand, looking at the shifts across food service and retail and delving into how the eating out market is recovering.
“There will also be a strong focus on what opportunities exist for retail and food service and how businesses can adapt to maximise on these future possibilities. We are confident these webinars will prove incredibly useful to anyone working within the food sector, offering some real solutions to the challenges we face in 2020.”
The second set of webinars, which take place on the 10th, 11th and 12th November will look at some of the key industry reputational issues impacting consumer demand, such as buying British, the environment, health and animal welfare.
AHDB’s analysts will explore how these key issues have fared during the turbulence of 2020 and whether consumers’ views have shifted during Covid-19. The webinars will also aim to uncover future opportunities and threats for meat, dairy and fresh produce.
The webinars will be hosted by AHDB’s senior consumer insight manager, Steven Evans, who will be joined by AHDB’s head of domestic marketing, Liam Byrne, who will explain how the organisation is working with industry on consumer opportunities that link to these wider reputational topics.
Steven Evans said: “Prior to 2020, we had seen how important the environment and health were to consumers, shaping the decisions they made when purchasing products. However, Covid-19 brought about many attitudinal changes, including a shift in priorities when shoppers were buying their food.
“This second series of webinars will explore how lockdown has impacted buying behaviours and look at key reputational topics such as buying British or local as well as issues such as animal welfare to see where these sit in the minds of today’s consumers. We will also uncover opportunities and threats faced by all our sectors as we look to the future.
“We hope that our work over the past year will prove valuable to our stakeholders and the wider supply chain, so that we can all work together to recover from a truly challenging year in both the retail and food service sectors.”
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