When I was a young boy, I remember going to a little Alderney Dairy silver box on our backstep where quarts of milk would get delivered every few days by our milkman.
My mom would ask me to bring it inside the house so she could put it in the refrigerator. The milkman had left milk, eggs, and butter, and it was delivered right to our home.
This memory comes from the early 1960s. Imagine a subscription service business model with farm to table home service?
Milkman meets Supermarket
With the rise of supermarkets, the milkman business model dissolved as the modern housewife in the 1960s started to shop at her local grocer. Why have glass jars of milk delivered when you can go to the store and pick it out yourself?
Those home delivery services quickly evaporated as grocery shopping changed consumer behavior.
2020- Hello Covid, Goodbye Supermarkets
Then, a strange thing happened. A worldwide pandemic and suddenly, milk producers and local farmers needed a way to stay in business. Their wholesale operations selling to schools and restaurants dried up. The milkman returns!
In Raleigh, you can call several home delivery milkman (milk people?) services to get not just cow’s milk, but almond, soy, and coconut milk delivered daily. They’ll drop off fresh local eggs and cheese too.
In New Jersey, Suncrest Farms has been delivering milk to homes for the last fifteen years. They were an anachronism serving a small community of people who needed home delivery before Covid. When Covid hit, their phone (and website) flooded with opportunity.
From Moo to You
These services illustrate an essential lesson for any small business.
Be flexible, fluid, and adaptable.
Disruption can cause you to have to pivot and turn on a dime. But if you rethink what business you are in, you may be able to find a new way to reach your audience. It might require shifting your approach, learning how to build a Shopify or WooCommerce store – but the tactics change, but the goal remains the same.
Sometimes, being old-school can allow you to stand out from the crowd.
The critical marketing takeaway is knowing who you are serving. Suncrest has been serving clients who need home delivery. (think the growing elderly population in New Jersey). Their customers still lived in 1960. And there were enough of them to keep their business viable. For new home deliveries, they are serving folks living in 2020 who no longer wanted to run to the store for milk.
Know what decade your customers live in – than milk the situation.
Need help figuring out how pivot forward or backward?
I can help. You can set up a time chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Our initial conversation is free. You talk, I listen. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com Let’s explore working together today.
Photo by Crissy Jarvis on Unsplash
