FutureLife goes direct to consumer

Source: FutureLife

Mark Bunn, managing director of FutureLife, says that by combining the brand's e-commerce innovation with the traditional bricks and mortar distribution channels, its customers can choose where they buy their FutureLife products.

“Consumers will still be able to find all their usual FutureLife products in-store but through our online store, our loyal customers will also have instant access to all of the breakfast cereals, lunchbox favourites and other FutureLife pantry staples they love,” says Bunn. “The platform will also give us the opportunity to reach new customers wherever they are, so we can celebrate healthier living and more nutritious food choices with even more South Africans.”

In addition to offering the full range of FutureLife products, the online store is also giving the company the space to explore new avenues to enhance the customer experience. To achieve this, the brand will be rewarding loyal customers with a host of online-only benefits including special offers, discounts and combo deals. “We have some amazing concepts in the pipelines such as subscriptions and limited-edition gift packs,” says Bunn.

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Digital and e-commerce has been an important part of the company’s growth strategy, so it was easy to accelerate these channels to meet the changing consumer patterns caused by Covid.

“There was always a stickiness for online shopping due to the convenience factor. Covid has however led to a seismic shift, forcing more people to adopt this technology. As a result, there’s been explosive growth in online grocery shopping over the past 18 months and now that we’ve got a taste for it, it’s definitely here to stay,” Bunn explains.

Customer insights

To ensure that the e-commerce site would be relevant and meet the needs of its customers, the company invited its Facebook followers to participate an e-commerce survey.

“Of the 10,847 responses to our customer survey, 10,514 said they wanted a FutureLife online store! That’s a massive 97% positive response and all we needed to fast-track the development of our shop,” says Bunn. “There were some other fascinating results including that 99% of the respondents indicated they wanted to sample new products and they were keen for a loyalty programme with discounts and rewards.”

Other interesting results generated by the survey include:

• 97% of respondents opted for door-to-door or click and collect delivery
• 91% were in favour of the idea of gift packs
• 87% wanted a bulk-buy option
• 82% of respondents said they would be interested in a monthly subscription service and
• 89% wanted the option to order and send FutureLife products to someone else such as a parent or a child

“The past 18 months have been such a unique period of discovery. Seeing consumers sit at home and starting to get more comfortable ordering their FutureLife online via various retailer e-commerce sites and apps has been really fascinating. As a company, we want to celebrate smart nutrition with our customers by being in the right place at the right time with the right choice of food, and our new e-commerce platform allows us to do exactly that,” Bunn concludes.