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July 2007
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The Days of Differentiation
The way to consumer loyalty these days would seem to flow right through fresh products. Yet, as retailers strive for ways to stand out better than ever in today's marketplace, the tools they are employing go well beyond fresh products and get more varied than ever before.
In fact, beyond the near universal reliance on fresh, retailers today report a more varied approach to merchandising tactics than FMI has detected in most years. read more
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The Assortment Challenge
A typical U.S. Supermarket carries between 30,000 and 40,000 items and is supported by roughly 4,000 households in the surrounding trading area. The challenge of managing assortment across ethnically diverse consumer groups or across small versus large households, young versus old households, and affluent versus low-income households is quite daunting. Wider assortment has been viewed as a competitive advantage for Grocery retailers, but how do Grocers leverage assortment to maximize sales across their shopper base and compete against value retailers who are winning in the marketplace with lower prices by offering less assortment?
Both Costco and Sam's Club get by with about 4,000 items in their stores. read more
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Private label, a mix of the expected and unexpected
Does private label have a predictable personality? Some discernible patterns in Nielsen food-drug-mass data over the past five years make it seem so. For example, store brand share dips every December, presumably because shoppers prefer branded products for holiday entertaining. And it's not necessarily true that households under financial pressure will buy more of the lower-ticket private label: purchases during the post-Katrina gas price spike demonstrated that. read more
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Are sorbet's sales dips over?
On the surface, sorbet may seem to be only a small sliver of the desserts business at retail. And critics could point to its prolonged sales slippage in recent years as consumers dove into more decadent treats. Moreover, sorbet's usage in upscale restaurants as a palate cleanser between servings only conjures up its contrast with ice cream, its much bigger frozen cousin and all-American fun food which is eaten everywhere. read more
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Survey: Consumers Growing Increasingly Concerned About Climate Change
The recent Live Earth concert event that offered simultaneous concerts around the world in an effort to create greater awareness about global climate change - and develop momentum that will force both governments and industry to do something about it - was derided by some as a publicity stunt by former Vice President Al Gore, who was the driving force behind the concerts, with some skeptics doubting whether consumers really have any commitment to the global climate change issue. read more
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It's all bright for dark chocolate
In the movie Sleeper, Woody Allen awakens in the future to learn that every food he believed was bad for health was actually good. In a turn of events that seems too delicious to be true, he becomes free to enjoy much of what he deprived himself.
Now a new study by German researchers in the July 4 JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that dark chocolate should be eaten regularly, and not just as an occasional treat. read more
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GPS Technology Utilized to Find Products at Local Retailers
The launch late last month of the iPhone has, if nothing else, awakened the mobile phone industry to the various possibilities that innovation will make possible...as well as creating an apparent hunger on the part of consumers to be "wowed" by new applications.
For example, what would happen if consumers were able to use Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology on their cell phones not just to find out where they are on the map and how to get where they need to go, but also to find specific products at nearby retail locations?
It is timely, then, that Sprint Nextel has teamed with GPShopper to offer just such a product - Slifter, described as the "first mobile local product search application" that essentially brings the combined experience of a phone book, the Internet and a map into the cell phone. read more
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Natural cheeses take command
Who's the big cheese in cheese? And why are retailers smiling over the natural varieties today? It's a two-fold answer.
Specialty/imports had the greatest percentage sales lift over the four years ended May 19, 2007 in food-drug-mass (excluding Wal-Mart), according to Nielsen Strategic Planner data. These higher-end varieties nestle in new cheese showcases proliferating by deli, wines and prepared meals, where people find familiar treats and experiment with new tastes. read more
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Made in U.S.A
In its most vivid admission of food safety problems yet, the Chinese government announced just a week or so ago that it closed 180 food manufacturers, mostly small, unlicensed food plants with fewer than 10 employees. Paraffin in bean vermicelli and carcinogenic malachite green in flour, candy, pickles, biscuits and melon seeds are typical of the unsafe elements found in China food production. read more
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Phil's Supermarket
Give your products a Second Life! Where can more than seven million consumers connect with your brand around the clock? CLICK HERE for more information.
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Food, Nutrition & Science
We've just launched a brand new monthly newsletter: Food, Nutrition, & Science from The Lempert Report.
Our mission is to provide retailers and brands with the latest food news and the tools needed to better serve and empower our shoppers to make the best food choices possible. Each issue will contain interviews with leading researchers, nutritionists and trend setters. read more
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Management Compensation Study for Retailers and Wholesalers 2006-2007
The 2006-2007 Management Compensation Study is the industry's most comprehensive source of salary and benefits data. Representing nearly one million employees, 56 companies located around the country shared their salary and benefits information.
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U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2007
FMI's best-selling report, U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends, tracks the consumer environment as well as the attitudes and behaviors of American consumers as they relate to and impact the food industry. The report focuses on better data and knowledge of the grocery shopper, understanding the role of food and nutrition in today's society and providing retailers and suppliers with operationally useful information needed in serving, communicating and improving relations with their customers. read more
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Speaks
FMI's Speaks is the annual state of the industry report a must-have for everyone in the food industry. The report reviews important changes affecting the industry that took place in 2006 and evaluates industry performance in sales, profits, margins and productivity measures. It presents detailed information on supermarket operations, store-level benchmarks and outlines strategic and competitive issues. read more
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