02 / 10 · Industry intelligence

Food & Beverage / CPG

Taste is judged in a thumbnail before it is judged on the tongue.

Who decides
Households, urban professionals and gift buyers, deciding quickly and often.
What creates trust
Ratings, clear ingredients and claims, creators who actually eat the food.
What creates friction
Out of stock, a pack lost in a grid, price without a reason, inconsistent taste.

What is changing

Shift 01

Quick commerce and marketplaces have become primary storefronts for many packaged brands, each with its own ranking and ad system.

Shift 02

Food is discovered through creators and short video, then validated through ratings.

Shift 03

Trial is easy to buy. Repeat purchase is where brands are actually built.

Observed category patterns. Sourced figures are added only where a primary source supports them.

The customer

How food & beverage isactually chosen.

Discovers through
Short video, creators, in-app browsing, shelves and recommendations.
Evaluates on
Pack, price, ratings, reviews and a reason to try now.
Buys through
Quick commerce, marketplaces, modern trade, aggregators or D2C.

Customer journey

7 stages, and whereMaer intervenes.

Select a stage to see what the customer is doing and what we would change.

Channels that matter

Quick commerce & marketplacesThe shelf
Instagram & YouTubeDiscovery
CreatorsProof
AggregatorsFor restaurants
WhatsApp & CRMRepeat

KPI tree

From business objectiveto the decision.

Likes and reach are not a measurement system. Every metric here exists to change a decision.

Business objective
Grow repeat revenue profitably
Marketing objective
Turn trial into habit
Customer behaviour
Finds the product in-appTries itReorders within a cycle
Metrics
Listing conversionSearch rank on key termsRepeat rate by cohortContribution margin after adsAvailability in priority locations
Decisions
Which SKUs to push in which citiesPack or listing changesMove spend from acquisition to retention

Illustrative operating model

  1. 01Category and shelf audit
  2. 02Pack and listing system
  3. 03Creator seeding
  4. 04Launch on priority platforms
  5. 05Retention journeys
  6. 06Weekly platform review

A public, illustrative sequence. Not a client SOP.

Next industryBeauty

Start a conversation

Building infood & beverage?

If the product is worth building, the market around it deserves the same level of thought.