Technomic: Differentiate or Lose Market Share

Industry Icon and CEO of Technomic Ron Paul was an early leader studying the ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared food market place known today as the Grocerant Niche.  Technomic has some new and interesting views on this sector and you will find them below.

What Foodservice Solutions® has found of late is consumers continue to be time-starve, price conscious, seeking new avenues of distribution for  ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat meal components including from restaurants, grocery stores, C-stores, and retail drug stores as regular readers of this blog know. The differentiation driver is product, price, packaging, portability, and placement yes, Foodservice Solutions® 5P’s of food marketing are the leading drivers in successful food service market share growth.

Leveraging legacy data as a benchmarking tool Technomic found in a new  Retailer Meal Solutions Consumer Trend Report (RMS). The Interesting findings include:

Some of the top RMS menu trends include signature fried snacks; more variety for vegetable sides; higher-quality pizzas; a distinct specialty focus for sandwiches and burgers; and a move toward ethnic flavors.

More than two-fifths of consumers who purchase RMS at least once a month (43 percent) say they do so four or more times per month, meaning they purchase RMS at least once a week.

More consumers today than those polled two years ago place a high importance on many attributes, including the value, price, convenience, taste, freshness and quality of prepared foods.

Opportunities exist for retailers to leverage their customization options to compete with restaurants; only 38 percent of consumers agree that retail prepared foods allow for more customization than food purchased from a restaurant.

At least four out of five consumers who visit each retail chain measured for prepared foods purchase RMS items at these locations at least once a month, reiterating the strong role routine and convenience plays in the RMS purchasing decision.

Though half of consumers think the quality of prepared foods has greatly improved since 2010, nearly two-fifths call for more name-brand foods that typically denote a higher quality perception.

Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions 5P’s of Food Marketing can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization contact us via Email us at: grocerant@q.com or visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant