Innovation Strategies of the Spanish Agri-Food Sector in Response to the Black Swan COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Health, financial, and social crises cause variations in the buying behaviour of food consumers as well as in the value they assign to food attributes and the place of purchase, leading to consumers with profiles that are more susceptible to these changes than others. Thus, it was observed that 61.4% of consumers modified their buying behaviour at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with those who modified it the most being the people who stockpiled the most food and went panic buying more often. This has made it possible to establish the profile of different significant consumer segments, and as a response, food production/distribution companies can implement different innovative strategies aimed at decreasing the impact of stockpiling and, therefore, the shortage of food. The possible strategies that companies can put into effect are creating a stock of non-perishable foods, increasing production capabilities in a sustainable way and, especially in light of the results obtained, boost the online sale and distribution of foods, with the goal of decreasing the amount of people in shops (which decreases the spreading of the pandemic and favours health) and preventing consumers from observing possible circumstantial shortages that would only encourage stockpiling and panic buying, even among consumers who have not changed their buying behaviour.