These and other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic could also have the effect of heightening many of the other risk factors included below in this Item 1A. The ultimate impact depends on the severity and duration of the current COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken by governmental authorities and other third parties in response, each of which is uncertain, rapidly changing and difficult to predict. Any of these disruptions could adversely impact our business and results of operations. We operate in the highly competitive food and beverage industry mainly in the North American market and experience competition in all of our categories. The principal areas of competition are brand recognition, taste, nutritional value, price, promotion, innovation, shelf space and customer service. A number of our primary competitors are larger than us and have substantial financial, marketing and other resources, and some of our competitors may spend more aggressively on advertising and promotional activities than we do. In addition, reduced barriers to entry and easier access to funding are creating new competition. A strong competitive response from one or more of these competitors to our marketplace efforts, or a continued shift towards private label offerings, could result in us reducing prices, increasing marketing or other expenditures, and/or losing market share, each of which may result in lower sales and margins. Our ability to compete also depends upon our ability to predict, identify, and interpret the tastes and dietary habits of consumers and to offer products that appeal to those preferences. There are inherent marketplace risks associated with new product or packaging introductions, including uncertainties about trade and consumer acceptance. If we do not succeed in offering products that consumers want to buy, our sales and market share will decrease, resulting in reduced profitability. If we are unable to accurately predict which shifts in consumer preferences will be long-lasting, or are unable to introduce new and improved products to satisfy those preferences, our sales will decline. In addition, given the variety of backgrounds and identities of consumers in our consumer base, we must offer a sufficient array of products to satisfy the broad spectrum of consumer preferences. As such, we must be successful in developing innovative products across a multitude of product categories. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered, and in some cases, delayed product innovation efforts. Finally, if we fail to rapidly develop products in faster- growing and more profitable categories, we could experience reduced demand for our products, or fail to expand margins. We are pursuing multi-year cost savings initiatives with targeted annualized cost savings of $850 million for continuing operations by the end of 2022, which includes $295 million in synergies and run-rate cost savings from our acquisition of Snyder's-Lance. These initiatives require a substantial amount of management and operational resources. Our management team must successfully execute the administrative and operational changes necessary to achieve the anticipated benefits of these initiatives, including the integration of Snyder's-Lance in an efficient and effective manner. In some respects, our plans to achieve these cost savings continue to be refined. See "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation - Restructuring Charges and Cost Savings Initiatives" for additional information on these initiatives. We have recently delayed the implementation of system upgrades and certain other cost-saving and productivity initiatives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Continued disruptions and uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic for a sustained period of time could result in additional delays or modifications to our strategic plans and other initiatives and hinder our ability to achieve our cost savings and productivity initiatives on the same timelines. These and related demands on our resources may divert the organization's attention from other business issues, have adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers and impact employee morale. Our success is partly dependent upon properly executing, and realizing cost savings or other benefits from, these often complex initiatives. Any failure to or delay in implementing our initiatives in accordance with our plans could adversely affect our ability to grow margins. As a manufacturer of food and beverage products, the raw and packaging materials used in our business include tomato paste, grains, beef, poultry, dairy, potatoes and other vegetables, steel, aluminum, glass, paper and resin. Many of these materials are subject to price fluctuations from a number of factors, including but not limited to changes in crop size, cattle cycles, herd and flock disease, crop disease, crop pests, product scarcity, demand for raw materials, commodity market speculation, energy costs, currency fluctuations, supplier capacities, government-sponsored agricultural programs and other government policy, import and export requirements (including tariffs), drought and excessive rain, temperature extremes and other adverse weather events, water scarcity, scarcity of suitable agricultural land, scarcity of organic ingredients, pandemic illness (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) and other factors that may be beyond our control. Despite our ability to source raw materials necessary to meet increased demand for our products, certain ingredients and packaging, including steel, aluminum, glass, agricultural products, proteins and other commodities have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although we are unable to predict the impact to our ability to source these materials in the future, we expect these supply pressures to continue into 2021. The cost of distribution decreased in 2020 due to a decline in transportation and logistics costs, driven by excess availability, warehousing efficiencies and lower fuel costs, however, we have experienced a recent increase in 7 We may not be able to increase prices to fully offset increases in prices of raw and packaging materials or distribution costs We may not achieve our targeted cost savings, which may adversely affect our ability to grow margins We face significant competition in all our product categories, which may result in lower sales and margins