Feed Lot Magazine Online, Market Power Shifting to Consumers, According to a Consumer Behavior Expert

"What are you marketing? Are you in the cattle business or are you in the beef business or are you in the food business and the entertainment business and the time-saving business."

That's the question that Dr. Roger Blackwell laid at the feet of cattle feeders attending the TCFA "Partnering for Progress" Annual Convention in Oklahoma City. How that question is answered, he said, will determine your ability to make a profit.

"What is happening is a major shift in power," said Blackwell, a professor at The Ohio State University and consumer behavior expert. "The people who will control the supply chain in the future are not producers, not packers, not retailers, but consumers." And consumers are changing, necessitating a change in how beef is marketed.

"When it comes to influencing what people will spend, the single most important factor that will change in this century vs. last century is branding," he stated. "If you don't have a brand, you are a commodity. Economists say in a commodity market, prices will fall to the most efficient producer. Wrong. It will fall to the level of the most desperate producer."

A branded product, on the other hand, is the most promising way to add value to beef. "A brand is a promise to consumers. And the promise is that what consumers want in a product is what we will deliver."

The trick, of course, is deciphering what consumers want. And what consumers want is help in solving problems and help in making their life easier. "Consumers have two budgets to spend that directly affect purchases of beef. One is money, the other is time. A branded product is shorthand for all the decisions consumers have to make," Blackwell said.

"You can still sell beef the old way, but don't expect to make as much money as those who understand how to change to fit the consumption patterns of the consumer. What's that going to take? Partnerships." As such, it is incumbent on beef producers to help retailers better merchandise beef. "If you came up with a way to help retailers make more money, would they merchandise beef better? You can't expect to sell more beef more profitably unless you can do things like that."