Conclusion
The digital food and beverage industry is experiencing a powerful shift, and leaders are looking to overcome fragmented consumer attention though innovation and creativity.
This will therefore shape the key trends and strategies for overcoming challenges throughout 2025.
Creative Success
Creativity emerges as a crucial factor in the digital F&B industry, with brands using it as a secret weapon to navigate the fragmented consumer market. Social media engagement (63%) and brand awareness surveys (52%) are the primary metrics for measuring creative success.
Regular benchmarking against competitors and monitoring customer interactions are essential practices for brands to stay competitive and understand their audience better.
The biggest challenges for creative assets are fragmented consumer attention (64%) and brand inconsistency (59%).
To overcome these hurdles, brands must focus on dynamic creativity and innovative visual storytelling to capture customers' attention quickly, especially with the rise of short-form video content.
Data-Driven Strategies
Data plays a critical role in shaping the future of the F&B industry. However, businesses face challenges in leveraging data, with 62% citing data privacy and security as the biggest concern.
Despite these challenges, data remains essential for creating personalized shopper journeys, offering tailored discounts, and streamlining the checkout process. Sales (67%) and repeat customers (66%) are considered the primary measures of success for digital store strategies.
Social Media and Influencer Marketing
Social media continues to be a powerful tool for brand awareness and sales. Exclusive discounts or promotions (58%) and sharing new product photos or videos (53%) are the most common strategies for leveraging social media.
Instagram and Facebook are the most popular platforms for selling products, while TikTok Shop is used by only 23.3% of respondents.
Influencer marketing is on the rise, with 35% of industry leaders working with influencers regularly and 51% collaborating on an infrequent basis. This trend is expected to continue growing alongside social media usage.
Implications for 2025
The survey results indicate that 2025 will be a year of increased focus on creativity, data-driven strategies, and social media marketing in the digital F&B industry. Brands will need to:
- Invest in dynamic and innovative creative assets to capture fragmented consumer attention.
- Balance data utilisation for personalisation with strong privacy and security measures.
- Optimise digital platforms for improved customer experience and support.
- Leverage social media for both brand awareness and direct sales, with a focus on established platforms like Instagram and Facebook.
- Expand influencer collaborations to build trust and engage audiences more effectively.
By addressing these key areas, F&B businesses can position themselves for success in the rapidly evolving digital landscape of 2025.
of respondents currently sell their products on social media
