Finding Food Sales Success at the intersection of Share of Stomach and Share of Wallet.

 

Retail food sales success can be found at the intersection of growing your share of stomach and your share of wallet according to Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® who stated these two metrics play a crucial role in understanding consumer behavior and competitive dynamic driving success today within the food industry.

The grocerant niche is filled with Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food that can be portable and is found at all of the sectors listed below. Let’s first try to understand the term Share of Stomach.  So, Share of Stomach refers to the portion of a consumers food spending allocated to different types of eating options.  It answers the question: “Of all the money a consumer spends on food to eat themselves, where does the consumer spend it.  

The various options include but are not limited to:

1.       Fast food Restaurants

2.       Convenience Stores

3.       Dollar Stores

4.       Grocery Stores including Service Deli

5.       Meal Kits

6.       Full-Service Restaurants

7.       Stadium Food

8.       Street Fairs

9.       Limited-Service Restaurants

10.   Third Party Food Delivery Companies

So, just why is Share of Stomach important?  All food retailers need insights into what the consumers is eating in order to identify emerging trends consumption to evolve their menus, meals, and snack options to maintain customer relevance.

These insights include preference of consumers for the ilk; Hand Held Food for Immediate Consumption vs Sitting down at a table to eat. Drive-thru and pick up a meal vs Walk-in and Order a meal too go at a counter, Burger vs Pizza, Chicken vs a Steak, Spicy vs Bland.

Measuring share of stomach is done by data aggregators use polling or publicly available sources including U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics to collect share of stomach data. In addition, some firms track consumer credit and debit card transactions, segmenting them by establishment type / fast food, service deli, convenience store, grocery, bodega, online aggregator, stadium, street fare, etc.

Share of Wallet on the other had focus on how much a consumer spends within a sector aka grocery, convenience, restaurant, dollar store etc. With emphases on “how much a consumer spends on a specific brand’.  That is done within sector for example grocery Walmart, Kroger, Publix, Aldi then the same within Fast food example McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, KFC etc. Then in Grocery for example companies drill down on category brands the ilk of Hunts, Hines, Kraft, Tyson, etc.

Share of Wallet answers the question “What portion of a customer’s total spend does a business capture?” While share of stomach looks at a broader food buying habits, share of wallet zooms in on specific brands. 

All that said, its where Share of Stomach and Share of Wallet intersect that brand value can be found and that is the intersection that can garner new customer if the retailer is leveraging relevant messaging that edifies both the consumers need set along with the undercurrent food trends.

The need to understand both metrics is required to maintain customer relevance as these metrics provide insights into consumer behavior, guide menu and product planning, and help brands adapt to changing trends.

Don’t over reach. Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing ideations look more like yesterday than tomorrow? Interested in learning how Foodservice Solutions® can edify your retail food brand while creating a platform for consumer convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit us on our social media sites by clicking the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter