How Are Food Brands Using Ai To Analyse Consumer Behaviour?

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In an manufacture wherever user tastes look to germinate astatine pace, knowing what group want earlier your competitors is simply a powerful advantage.

That’s wherever AI is stepping in, spotting emerging trends connected societal media successful real-time, helping teams tailor products to niche audiences and reshaping really multinational companies attack merchandise improvement and marque strategy.

Today, nutrient companies are utilizing AI to spell acold beyond mill automation aliases proviso concatenation logistics. In fact, they are plugging algorithms straight into their trading and invention teams – by utilizing it to way and foretell user behaviour.

Data-driven insight

For decades, nutrient brands relied connected a operation of instinct, historical income information and accepted marketplace investigation to steer merchandise development. But, successful today’s shifting user landscape, location is simply a request for faster and smarter devices – and that is wherever AI promises to span nan gap.

One business helping nutrient companies unlock nan powerfulness of AI-driven penetration is Stravito, a Stockholm-based intelligence level utilized by world brands for illustration McDonald’s and Danone.

“The reality of a batch of nutrient and portion companies is earlier we travel in, they person a batch of disconnected systems and manual workflows, which successful turn, leads to slow insights driven actions,” Thor Olof Philogene, nan laminitis and CEO of Stravito, says.

“What we spot arsenic a origin for that is nan truth that galore of these nutrient and beverage companies person go fragmented. In galore cases, location is hidden information crossed teams and that makes it difficult and time-consuming for anyone wrong nan business to entree and use applicable and timely insights.”

Philogene believes nan measurement of investigation tin “overwhelm teams” and that, successful turn, tin lead to “duplications, missed opportunities and delayed decisions”.

Stravito’s generative AI ‘assistant’ is said to automate information analysis, reducing clip spent connected insights by up to 1,500 hours per week.

Philogene says nan level “facilitates personalisation astatine scale, improving invention and marketplace adaptability”.

Human and AI co-creation tin radically amended nan velocity astatine which you execute connected your invention pipeline.

“That intends that, arsenic a regular employee, I tin abruptly trim nan clip I would usually person spent searching for accusation and alternatively spell arsenic acold to commencement helping different group to use those insights,” he says. “The cardinal point to emphasise is that quality and AI co-creation tin radically amended nan velocity astatine which you execute connected your invention pipeline.”

This displacement is particularly valuable for ample multinationals operating crossed various regions, wherever interpreting user behaviour utilized to return months of coordination and manual research.

The consequence is that nutrient brands tin creation products and campaigns based not conscionable connected what consumers liked past year, but connected what they’re starting to for illustration now – perchance giving them a sharper edge.

Stravito customer Danone uses AI to effort to amended understand their consumers’ needs, and to past enactment connected them pinch greater speed, precision and impact.

“We’re utilizing AI crossed nan business to expect and respond to caller trends – from AI-driven gut wellness investigation and predictive modelling to personalised trading and request forecasting,” a Danone spokesperson says.

“It’s besides accelerating merchandise improvement – devices for illustration integer twins and in-silico modelling fto america simulate and refine recipes, formulations and packaging virtually – allowing america to trim discarded and present much sustainable, effective and health-focused merchandise faster.”

Meanwhile, Unilever is utilizing AI to optimise accumulation lines, trim downtime and amended power ratio astatine its nutrient mill successful nan Polish metropolis of Poznań. “This has led to measurable costs savings and productivity gains,” a spokesperson for Unilever says.

Unilever is besides harnessing in-silico testing – fundamentally computer-simulated experiments – to “explore millions of look combinations successful seconds”, nan spokesperson says. The tests let nan institution to “tailor products to location sensation preferences and importantly trim clip to market”, they add.

Credit: Stravito

The personalisation push

As consumers request much tailored experiences – from personalised repast kits to snacks that lucifer their wellness goals – nutrient companies are progressively turning to AI to thief them deliver.

“What I deliberation is breathtaking pinch generative AI is that you tin do personalisation astatine scale,” Philogene says. “That intends we tin efficaciously supply a generative AI instrumentality that tin heighten really nan teams astatine Danone entree insights done earthy connection interactions.

“Suddenly they person entree to this wealthiness of knowledge, which is efficaciously everything nan institution [Stravito] knows.”

This intends that arsenic an individual contributor astatine a “massive organisation” for illustration Danone – that has complete 100,000 labor – it “rapidly and dramatically speeds up find and nan insights exertion process”, Philogene adds.

In 2025, advocates for AI opportunity algorithms are now capable to place trends and niche behaviours successful consumers that erstwhile went unnoticed.

For nutrient manufacturers, this intends caller opportunities to create targeted campaigns, location merchandise variations and moreover customised nutrition strategies based connected manner data, proponents say.

However, nan move toward hyper-personalisation isn’t needfully astir capturing attraction – it’s besides astir building deeper marque loyalty – and companies are already putting these capabilities into action.

Danone says that AI-driven personalisation is “significantly enhancing user engagement”.

The spokesperson says: “Our caller Alpro run successful nan UK, successful business pinch Tesco and Sainsbury’s, mapped nan shopper travel crossed aggregate touchpoints and delivered complete 200 personalised ocular messages utilizing AI. This imaginative personalisation led to a marked summation successful engagement rates.”

AI besides plays a domiciled successful really Danone seeks to future-proof its operations, nan French elephantine says. “From proviso concatenation forecasting to connected factories, we’re utilizing generative AI to thrust enterprise-wide productivity and free up clip for much imaginative work,” nan spokesperson adds. “As we embed responsible AI crossed our systems, we stay committed to upskilling our workforce and preparing our proviso chains to beryllium future-ready.”

Danone office building successful Rueil-Malmaison, France, 13 August 2023.
Credit: HJBC/Shutterstock.com

Despite quickly advancing AI toolsets, nutrient companies are not wholly replacing accepted marketplace investigation but alternatively utilizing AI to heighten it. For example, nan Danone spokesperson says that nan marque harnesses AI to “accelerate penetration generation, scale personalisation and identify emerging trends early”.

Therefore, accepted marketplace investigation remains basal for “testing hypotheses, ensuring representativeness, and understanding nuance”, they add.

New AI devices like TasteGPT let Danone to “detect trends successful real-time, exemplary scenarios and quickly trial merchandise concepts”, nan spokesperson adds, pinch a caveat.

“What erstwhile took months of investigation tin now take days, particularly successful early-stage innovation. But earlier launching a merchandise aliases campaign, traditional testing – for illustration sensory panels, ethnographic studies, aliases in-depth interviews – is still utilized to validate AI-generated hypotheses. AI is nary longer conscionable a instrumentality for automation – it’s becoming a strategic partner.”

Limits and ethics

Despite nan excitement, manufacture experts be aware that AI is nary metallic slug – and arsenic nutrient brands strive for much personalised experiences – location is besides a increasing statement astir nan ethical usage of individual data. The mobility becomes: really acold is excessively far?

Nienke Creemers, elder trends interrogator for Stylus, says nan nationalist are “starting to consciousness a batch much comfortable pinch AI than 2 years ago”.

Stylus, a subsidiary of Just Food genitor institution GlobalData, is an intelligence institution that predicts taste trends crossed various sectors including food.

Creemers adds AI is progressively utilized by consumers for personalised nutrition and repast planning, pinch 19% of consumers successful nan US, UK, Canada, and Australia already utilizing AI for these purposes.

She says: “AI chatbots are becoming much for illustration a personalised proposal machine, arsenic it helps them pinch their individual nutrition goals. At nan aforesaid time, they’re besides utilizing it for shopping and helping them to prime items and amended negociate their market lists,” she says.

“For example, DoorDash has already integrated AI successful their app, truthful you tin transportation your market database that you put successful your notes to DoorDash, and it will create a handbasket for you.”

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However, Creemers notes that arsenic much group go comfortable pinch utilizing AI, nan consequence of a information aliases privateness breach increases.

“I deliberation 1 large opportunity, that is besides an contiguous risk, is that if group input each this accusation into nutrient companies and dieting apps astir their diets, specified arsenic really they eat, erstwhile they eat and what they eat, that creates truthful overmuch information astir what group are doing and really they are behaving.

“That accusation becomes specified a wealthiness of insight, and arsenic a company, you tin do truthful overmuch pinch that. They could create products pinch that information, which is great.” But she says that a notable downside to that is institution transparency.

“How are companies utilizing that data? Do group publication nan position and conditions of their service? How are they utilizing it ethically? I judge that consumers want that transparency, truthful being up beforehand is key.”

Manufacturers are besides reasoning cautiously astir nan domiciled of AI. Many position nan exertion arsenic a instrumentality for guidance – and not arsenic a replacement for knowledgeable marketers. Therefore, nutrient brands are taking nan AI-assisted route, and not AI-led.

A spokesperson for Danone said: “We return a proactive attack to responsible AI. Our policies are regularly reviewed and updated to align pinch evolving ineligible frameworks – for illustration the EU AI Act – to guarantee we enactment up of compliance requirements and user expectations.”

Creemers adds user sentiment towards AI is besides limited connected region and really nan exertion is used.

“I deliberation generally, consumers are increasing much comfortable pinch AI. The longer it’s present and nan longer consumers are utilizing it, nan much comfortable they get,” she says. “But it really depends, per region, what nan intent is, what they’re utilizing it for, and whether they spot it aliases not.

In Europe, she claims that group are still mostly sceptical of nan usage of AI and nan information regularisation surrounding nan technology.

Creemers says: “In Belgium, only 32% of group opportunity that they’re excited for AI-powered products and services. That fig is 34% successful Sweden, 39% successful nan Netherlands, and only 40% successful France, which is debased compared to nan remainder of nan world.”

However, she adds successful South East Asia “enthusiasm to adopting AI is overmuch higher”.

“In Indonesia, it’s 85% and past Thailand, it’s 78%. Most group successful those countries deliberation that AI products and services person measurement much benefits than drawbacks. With governmental restrictions successful Europe, it makes consciousness that group would beryllium much cautious astir utilizing it,” she explains.

Pointing to a world study Stylus carried retired past year, Creemers says astir half of consumers spot AI to springiness proposal connected elemental tasks specified arsenic merchandise recommendations.

“Lots of group are utilizing ChatGPT, for example, arsenic a therapist,” she says. “This suggests that AI devices astir nutrition and moreover dietary proposal will astir apt turn and will beryllium adopted by people. We can’t hide that AI and instrumentality learning is already integrated successful truthful galore things successful our lives, and we don’t really spot it each nan time.”

Ultimately, ensuring user privacy, transparency and fairness will ever beryllium captious arsenic AI becomes much embedded successful merchandise improvement and trading strategies.

What’s next?

As AI devices turn much sophisticated, their domiciled successful shaping nan nutrient industry’s early will only expand. From real-time study to predictive modelling for caller merchandise launches, brands are not only opening to clasp AI for what is trending but for what will be.

Philogene says: “I deliberation nan principle of our worldview is that we are continuing to innovate pinch quality and AI co-creation and that’s thing we powerfully judge successful astatine Stravito.

“We proceed to beryllium really excited astir AI’s imaginable to amplify quality expertise, and we want to span that spread betwixt what has been a committedness of customer centricity, and nan reality of business impact.”

Philogene adds nan nationalist needs to clasp nan truth that AI is present to stay. “I don’t needfully deliberation there’s a ‘right’ way but ignoring it surely is nan incorrect way – because AI is not going away.”

The guidance of recreation is clear: brands that harvester AI’s analytical powerfulness pinch quality productivity will beryllium champion placed to meet nan evolving tastes of tomorrow’s consumers.