Grocery Store Digital Merchandising Falls Short so Whole Foods Feast on Taco Bell

Whole Foods the grocery sector leader in grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food has its pulse on the consumer, industry merchandising trends and fresh prepared food sales.  Whole Foods understands that on par the grocery store sector simply is missing the mark when it comes to digital, mobile, merchandising, driving top line fresh food sales and bottom line profits. 

Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food is something that Taco Bell has been doing for a long time.  However sales at Taco Bell had been flat for several years until they developed the best in-class mobile app.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ highly recommends if you have not used Taco Bells app or tried it you should.  

Last month Jeff Jenkins, the chief architect of Taco Bell’s much-admired mobile strategy and execution, jumped ship.  Jenkins left Taco Bell to become the head of digital strategy and marketing for the Whole Foods you know the best in class fresh food grocery store chain.  

Success does leave clues and Whole Foods knows that the future of its business is in Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food.  Last month Whole Foods made a move to double down on grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food by going Digital, Mobile, focusing on Hand Held Merchandising in a very big way garnering the services of Taco Bell’s Jenkins. 

Jenkins was Taco Bell’s director of digital experiences, responsible for many of the mobile and digital innovations that earned Taco Bell recognition as being among the industry’s best in using those new communications tools. During his tenure, the chain developed and launched the Live Mas smartphone app, and made headlines with a number of social media stunts, including inviting customers to a speakeasy-like spot in New York City to try a new product.

So what can we expect to see from Whole Foods when it comes to mobile merchandising?  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ says “Hand Held Marketing targeted at younger consumers with ‘better for you’ messaging.  That messaging with focus on customization, fun, discovery, mix and match meal component bundling, and fresh ‘Better for You local food fast.’  Hand Held Mobile Marketing is personal and as close as a retailer can get to a customer today.” 

Visit: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  if you are 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 or you can learn more at Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant