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June 2008
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Retailers Focus on Pinching Pennies Alongside Consumers
While most shoppers enjoy the grocery trip, the past few years have seen a decline in the average number of trips taken each week. In 2007, shoppers averaged fewer than two trips per week for the first time in the history of FMI's U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends. The number of shopping trips remains down in 2008, again averaging 1.9 trips per week. An increasing percentage of shoppers purchase groceries only once every two weeks, from 10 percent in 2005 to 18 percent this year. read more
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Economic Impact Update: Private Dollar Sales Growing at Twice the Rate of Branded Sales, but...
Consumers have been telling us one of the ways they are dealing with high gas prices is by purchasing less expensive brands and private label. As a result, more and more retailers have either been increasing their focus on private label or making public claims about their intent to use private label to help shoppers cope with higher gas prices and rapidly escalating prices across many food, beverage, and non-food categories. read more
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Will organics keep vibrant in a challenging economy?
Are foods and beverages with organic claims (and higher prices) immune to the deepening economic plague of 2008? Nobody knows for surethough recent surveys show consumers are less confident and expect to shop thriftier to nourish their families, which could prompt more purchases of conventional consumables at the expense of organics.
Yet the counter-trend to eat healthfully, even if it costs more, remains strong. read more
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Dairy, eaten all day long, secure as a dietary staple
While dairy commands one dollar out of every six that Americans spend on food and beverage, according to Nielsen, the spirited image of Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon drinking the traditional bottle of milk in victory lane tells more about our national connection to the #1 dairy category than statistics could convey.
Consumers have an ongoing love affair with domestically grown dairy products. read more
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'Kings of the road' in speed, c-stores approach $600B in sales
Convenience stores offer a lot of what other retailers wish they could: quick in-and-out visits in compact layouts, versatility to serve shoppers on many eating occasions, merchandising tactics to snare impulse sales, and one-stop efficiency to fill up the gas tank and the belly.
Big-box operators have sought to capture these Quick Trips through the years with c-store boutiques under their roofs and the promise of prompt shopper satisfaction. read more
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Barbecue sales flame highest in spring and summer holidays
As outdoor cookers flock to their patios, re-ignite their barbecues and grills, and send smoke wafts into the air after a dormant winter, spring is in full swing. Robins and crocuses may be nature's call to warmer weather ahead, but man's appetite for savory foods under the big sky creates twin peaks of demand for sauces, marinades and tenderizersfor the Memorial Day and July 4th holidays.
Data for the weeks leading up to these perennial backyard feasts show each holiday produces more than $40 million in sales of barbecue sauces, and more than $20 million in sales of meat marinades and tenderizers, according to Nielsen figures for U.S. read more
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Eating healthier, many shoppers rely on package claims as purchase guides
More than three-dozen different kinds of health and wellness package claims adorn products at the shelfevidence of vigorous attempts by brand manufacturers and retailers to segment and target shoppers who search for foods appropriate to their individual dietary objectives and physical conditions.
While the presence of these claims may please millions of shoppers, they could easily frustrate too, by: being hard to spot in a sea of product labels; or by items being inconsistently available when shoppers want them because of the enormous assortment pressures they add to categories at the shelf; or by quietly substituting one less healthful ingredient for another in order to make a marketable claim. read more
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Most allergy OTC buyers "very satisfied" with Rx medications, yet opt for self-care
The legendary sales popularity of Rx-to-OTC switches was evident again this year in the allergy relief segment, as the Zyrtec brand moved to store shelvesand became widely available without prescriptions to give 24-hour relief to millions of allergy sufferers.
Lower-cost generics and private labels competed quickly with OTC versions of both blockbuster drugs Zyrtec and Claritin (2002 switch) because FDA granted neither brand any market exclusivity with their OTC status. read more
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CHANNEL WATCH
Among the key findings...
Not unlike the two previous years, average dollar sales within Food, Mass w/Super and Warehouse Club channels started to decrease at the end of January 2008
- However, this trend is continuing into the 2nd quarter of 2008, most likely due to the impact of increasing gas prices
Some of the lowest shopping trips per household occurred during 3/29/08-5/3/08 versus the prior three years within the Food, Mass w/Super and Warehouse Club stores
- A stark drop in shopping trips is likely to be the result of consumers combining their trips due to increased gas prices, as suggested by Todd Hale, senior vice president, Consumer & Shopper Insights, Nielsen Consumer Panel Services, in the Gas Monitor Report
- Over a longer period of time, since January 2008, household shopping trips continue a steady decline throughout the Dollar channel, hovering just below 1.5 trips per month
After reaching a high of $40.11 dollars per month within the Drug channel during the beginning of 2008, an extended decrease in sales is exhibited during 2/2/08-5/3/08
Click on thumbnail to enlarge, or click here.
Click on thumbnail to enlarge, or click here.
Click on thumbnail to enlarge, or click here.
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The future of "Carbon Footprint"
In our latest SupermarketGuru.com Annual Consumer Panel Survey, 60% of respondents said they knew what a carbon footprint was; and 73% said they would like to see a carbon footprint rating on foods. Let the games begin!
With all the talk (and conferences) about sustainability these days, there is little doubt that while major efforts are being made to help save our planet's resources, there will also be those opportunistic and misleading efforts that will do little more than confuse and mislead shoppers. read more
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Facts, Figures, & the Future Newsletter
Click here for your FREE subscription to Facts, Figures, & the Future.
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The Food Retailing Industry Speaks 2008
FMI's Speaks is the annual state of the industry report a must-have for everyone in the food industry. The report reviews important market trends affecting food retailing and evaluates the industry's performance in sales, profits, margins and a wide variety of productivity measures. Click here for more information.
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Shopping for Health 2008
This report examines shoppers' interest and attitudes, as well as in-store activities, regarding health and nutritional concerns and the ways in which these play out in purchase decisions at the grocery store. Click here for more information.
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U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2008
FMI's best-selling report, U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends, is the industry source for data and knowledge of the grocery shopper to gain an in-depth understanding the role of food and nutrition in today's society. Click here for more information. read more
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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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