Aidan Connolly was speaking at the ASA conference in Kilkenny on Friday and said from talking to people over the last number of years this is the “big thing” he has noticed. The way consumers engage with food is changing.

“It looks as though the large box supermarket system that we’ve seen is going to disappear,” said Connolly. “In particular, when you talk to millenials, it strikes me that they see time walking around supermarkets picking up and buying food as wasted. They’d much prefer to order it online and have it delivered to their house. They see it as time saving.”

This shift in habits creates the need for more trust in a brand and the delivery system.

“Whatever way it is going to go, it is very clear that going to the supermarket to buy food will be more of a social activity, more something they do as a choice and not as a necessity,” Connolly said, adding that this creates further need for social media marketing of food brands.

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