Short chain entrepreneur: this is how you expand your revenue model

Most primary entrepreneurs are in the commodity trap, with their focus on operational excellence and cost reduction. They think in 'trusses' instead of customers, and are therefore interchangeable. The coronavirus offers a way out. Because of the corona pandemic, locally produced food is more popular than ever. Our advice: take advantage of this zeitgeist by focusing on 'emo' and 'ego'.

In a short chain, the farmers have more control over sales and prices. We find these short chains everywhere, each with its own 'local colour'. In Alsace, Brittany, Bavaria and Parma. A patchwork blanket of local revenue models. We can learn a lot from all these examples.

Number 1
A successful chain requires 'focus' (for our customers & us) on consumers' purchasing motives. And what does research show? Emo and ego go for eco I and eco II! What? Despite all the sustainability desires and margin discussions in the chain, the 3 G's (healthy, convenience and enjoyment) are still firmly at number 1 among consumers. All of them emotional motives that serve their own ego, followed at a distance by motives such as eco I (economy and price) and eco II (ecology and sustainability, among other things).

There is still a lot to be gained in the marketing of short chains in the form of attention to these emotional and egocentric motives. They are the most important buttons that you can turn as the short-chain producer. The magic words for ego and emo are: seducing, unburdening and pampering. Consumers should be happy.

Start seducing
However, farmers are mainly concerned with eco I (operational excellence and cost price) and eco II (food miles, true price and carbon footprint). However, you only win the consumer if all ego aspects have been optimally fulfilled for him/her. That is why our advice is as follows: start now with seduction and making it attractive by expanding your revenue model to ego and emo. Because eco I and eco II are no more than starting points or preconditions.

And afterwards: surf along on the economic impulse and ecological wave of the government. Because they focus less and less on food miles, true price and less abroad, but opt ​​for today's three most important themes: health, biodiversity and living climate. Use it or lose it. Via subsidy to clientele.

Speed
So… from supply to demand. Creating a need. We have to speed up, because the future is in a hurry and the competitors are not sitting still. Big players are already accelerating. In the past six months, a regional food system built world class. Three provinces (Flevoland, Noord-Holland and Utrecht), Makro, Foodhub and 250 farmers have joined forces, empowered by #SupportyourLocals and the coronavirus.

And the pandemic is changing even more:

• The offer is presented more professionally and more easily digitally.
• Before the coronavirus, it was the older target group who bought from the farmer. Now it's the younger consumer. Young dual earners work together at home and find it hip to buy from the farmer. From 'Silver the Aging' to 'Green the Greening'.
• The short chain is more and more recognizable in the city.
• Regional collaboration platforms offer many opportunities: "Alone you go faster, together you go further."

The ambition of the Taskforce Short Chain is to grow 10% of the food via the short chain within 25 years. By showing your ambition, you are already halfway there. The chain can quickly expand if local producers set up a collaborative network with stakeholders (ie logistics partners), spurred on by the government.

chain of trust
And then our last point. If you invest in regional digital order platforms at the front and arrange things well at the back (in terms of distribution, e-commerce, data, financing and possibly blockchain), there are many regional opportunities. We call this the 'Chain of Trust'. In other words: the power of the short chain, where sentiments win over arguments. "I buy because I know you or give you something. And I do that because your product and service are easy, tasty and healthy." Consumer involvement with farmers. Commitment is not a Brabant word for nothing. Come With Human.

Written by:
- Harry van Delft, former lecturer in AgroFood Marketing at HAS University of Applied Sciences. 
- Roger Engelberts, founder of Imagro BV and former lecturer Co-creative Entrepreneurship at HAS University of Applied Sciences.
- Paul Houtepen, senior advisor and active in the short chain at Imagro BV.

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