The predicament of food waste behind commercial losses

Recently, according to Radio New Zealand (RNZ), New Zealand families generally misunderstand the "best before" label on food packaging and confuse it with "use by", resulting in a large amount of still safe food being discarded. On average, each household wastes about New Zealand $1,300 per year. This phenomenon has a direct impact on the business model and profit structure of the food industry.

Firstly, terminal losses have significantly increased the operating costs of retailers and manufacturers. When products are discarded after reaching consumers, it means that enterprises must bear the costs of transportation, storage and disposal. These additional costs have weakened the gross profit margin, putting enterprises under greater pressure in terms of price and inventory management. To clear out slow-moving goods, enterprises may adopt discount promotions or donation strategies. Although these can recover some value, they also reduce profit margins and increase management complexity.

Secondly, the ambiguity in label design reveals the deficiency of enterprises in information transmission. The date information on the packaging fails to effectively convey the availability of the product, causing consumers to discard the saleable items in advance. This misunderstanding directly affects the sales conversion rate, causing products that could have extended their shelf life to exit the market prematurely, thereby increasing the pressure on inventory turnover. Enterprises need to invest additional resources in consumer education or system optimization to reduce the loss rate, but these measures increase short-term operating expenses.

From the perspective of the competitive landscape, a high loss rate implies low cost efficiency. Enterprises that can reduce waste by improving labels, dynamic pricing and inventory optimization will gain an advantage in cost control, while brands that do not adjust their strategies will face higher overstocking rates and discount pressure. In the long term, continuous losses will reduce the asset turnover rate, increase the capital market's concerns about the operational efficiency of enterprises, and thereby affect financing costs and market valuations.

The problem of waste also affects the economic benefits of brand operation. Consumers are sensitive to sustainability issues. If enterprises expose problems in the market due to high waste volume, it may lead to sales obstruction and customer loss. Although enterprises can alleviate some of the losses through promotions or donations, these measures cannot fundamentally improve the imbalance in resource allocation, and business costs still exist.

The core of reducing waste lies in the optimization of business processes. Enterprises can improve inventory prediction through data analysis, adjust the replenishment mechanism of the supply chain, introduce discounts on near-expiry goods or reprocessing channels to recover part of the value, thereby reducing the scrap rate. However, the implementation of these measures requires additional investment, including system upgrades and staff training, which may increase management costs in the short term and potentially affect pricing strategies. Enterprises must strike a balance between cost input and recovery value to ensure that measures truly bring business benefits.

Overall, this news does not reveal the consumption behavior itself, but rather the efficiency issues in the business operations of the food industry. The rising costs, declining profits and inventory pressure caused by food waste pose a direct test to the operational capabilities and supply chain management of enterprises. Enterprises that can reduce losses through label optimization, inventory intelligence and supply chain flexibility will gain an advantage in business competition, while those relying on traditional models may continue to bear high cost pressure, which will affect their profitability and market position.