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Emotional food lifts at tax time?
Perhaps some day accountants will open side practices as shrinks to
help customers cope with the anxiety of April 15. It's not only the
complexity of complying, but the prospect of paying, that makes
people wish this day would go away.
As it is, however, there's a barrage of service solutions
commercials that keep tax time top-of-mind for a prolonged period.
Whether people choose a professional accountant, a storefront service
or an online source for help, or whether they shop retail stores for
tax software, books or the manual tools to compute and complete their
tax forms, one thing seems certain: they also need an emotional lift
to get through the process. read more
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Private label grows fastest in smoking cessation
Public service ads against smoking are more graphic than ever, and
cities across America have curtailed public smoking since medical
evidence against second-hand smoke has mounted.
Sentiment on both sides runs high, but clearly the discourse has
already caused many smokers to reconsider their habit, and many
non-smokers to never start. There's a growing sales opportunity in
smoking cessation products that take many forms: gums, patches,
lozenges, tablets, chewing tobacco as a substitute, and more, even a
nicotine hand gel from abroad that could enter the U.S. read more
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It's the new spring cleaning
Spring cleaning hasn't been the sole domain of homemakers for some
time now. With the rise of blended families, single-person households
and dual-income couples, to name a few, the traditional definition of
spring cleaning is as old hat as the nuclear family. Cleaning
function may be the same, but the responsibility often falls to
different household members today. Consumers are also smarter and
more demanding of the sanitizing, scent, bacteria-control, ergonomic
and environmental aspects of the products they select for the task. read more
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Tequila is tops with Hispanics
Maybe it's not surprising at all that Hispanics, the fastest-growing
ethnic group in the United States, favor tequila, a spirit with roots
in Mexico. Most notable about this, however, is the power of Hispanic
demand to make tequila the fastest-growing spirit in America by far.
Dollar sales of the popular social drink soared by 12.5 percent
in the 52 weeks ended November 18, 2006, according to Nielsen
Scantrack and LiquorTrack data, to achieve a six percent share of the
total U.S. read more
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Affluent consumers want and use broad range of shopping choices
A new study by The Nielsen Company suggests that affluent households
with annual incomes of more than $100,000 make their food shopping
decisions based on both value and quality, patronizing "club stores
like Costco and Sam's Club and upscale mass merchandisers like Target
in search of a deal, as well as national and higher-end grocery
chains that meet their need for fresh produce, meat, poultry and
seafood, along with a great deli section and alcoholic beverage
aisle."
According to the study, "While the affluent shop all the
mainstream retail channels, they are more than twice as likely to
patronize a warehouse club store and nine percent more likely to
frequent a mass merchandiser when compared with households who earn
$20,000 or less. read more
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Craft brews gaining traction in stagnant beer market
"The worst beer I ever had," Robert B. Parker's fictional
Boston-based detective, Spenser, once said, "was wonderful."
Wonderful, indeed. But sales in the beer category have been slow
of late, and major breweries, such as Anheuser-Busch, Coors-Molson
and Miller, have been scratching their heads about how to attract the
red wine and spirits crowd back to their products. There is
continued growth seen in the so-called "craft beer" segment, which
experienced almost 12 percent growth in 2006. read more
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Mixed bag for no-calorie, reduced-calorie segment sales
When it comes to no-calorie and reduced-calorie products, it's sort
of like the old joke:
We have some good news, and some bad news...
Basically, it comes down to this - people's consumption of
no-calorie and low calorie soft drinks may be down, but that doesn't
mean they're cutting back on such treats as reduced calorie ice cream
and teas, according to the Nielsen LabelTrends survey of all US food,
drug and mass retailers (excluding Wal-Mart). read more
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CHANNEL WATCH
An index of 100 means there has been no change
Among the key findings...
-The Grocery Channel held its own during the busy holiday season
with average sales per household indexing a modest 101 versus year ago
- Notably, competitive chains saw weaker $ sales per household as
consumers took advantage of specialty outlets
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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A very busy first quarter
Here we are just eleven weeks into the New Year, and the challenges
abound.
Growth indicators continue to disappoint and new home sales
plunged by 16.6 percent as compared to the previous year; all fueling
even more uneasiness from our shoppers. McDonald's reported same
store sales up by almost six percent and for the first time in who
knows how long it seems that Starbucks is at risk of losing its
luster. 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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Consumer 360
Don't miss the #1 marketing conference for the CPG industry!
Consumer 360: Winning Today, Transforming Tomorrow
May 15 - 17, 2007 at
The Westin Diplomat
Resort and Spa in
Hollywood, FL.
Click here
to register today!
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FMI Annual Financial Review
This annual report provides you with a complete financial picture of
the supermarket industry as well as the external business
environment, including key ratios, balance sheet, income statement
and statement of cash flow. The results are provided for the entire
industry as well as by annual sales for more accurate benchmarking. read more
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Shopping for Health
This national survey examines shoppers' interest and attitudes, as
well as in-store activities, regarding health and nutrition,
consumers' efforts to manage their health, and the ways in which
health and nutritional concerns play out in purchase decisions at the
grocery store. This report brings a practical understanding of the
relationship between food shopping and health. read more
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Speaks
FMI's Speaks is the annual state of the industry report for food
retailers. The report reviews the important changes and trends and
puts them into an industry perspective. It presents detailed
information on supermarket operations, store-level benchmarks and
outlines strategic and competitive issues. read more
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Xtreme Retail 23 Newsletter
XR23 will provide you with the latest information and analysis of
technologies designed specifically for the retail environment.
CLICK HERE for
your FREE subscription.
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Interest in organic food is on the rise for shoppers in nearly every
category of the supermarket. FMI's new
Shopping for Health study, completed jointly with
Prevention magazine found that nutritional value is the top
reason shoppers are looking to organic products. Yet, price can
remain a powerful deterrent to even greater use of these products.
Speaking at an industry retailer conference earlier this year, I
mentioned that I haven't seen a data set that I didn't want to
segment. Not a surprising statement from someone who has been
involved in consumer panel analytics for almost thirty years. For
many years, CPG manufacturers have been using segmentation schemes
around how consumers buy and use products to help them set strategies
around new products/line extensions, pricing, advertising and
promotion support. 
