Legacy Grocer Store Relevance Continues to Decline

 

When a key food sector funded research project study shows a continued decline in key demographic customer loyalty one thing is obvious.  That is, usually things are much worse that then report found according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.

So, currently supermarkets remain the go-to retail venue for fresh produce, but their pull is weaker among younger shoppers, according to the Food Marketing Institute’s  “The Power of Produce” study.

What other avenues of distribution are consumers migrating? Well, according to Johnson grocerant niche restaurants, dollar stores, and grocerant niche convenience stores.

Shockingly that report found that only 50% of all shoppers cited a full-service supermarket as their primary store for purchasing fresh produce. Wow, have things changed since I was a kid.  All that said FMI’s report gives traditional grocery stores a leg up on other retail formats, given that 55% of grocery trips include fresh produce. Ok, you know what I’ am going to say now.  We told you so! Yes, Grocerant niche fresh food sales continue to drive customer migration.

Here is where the FMI study edified what we have been saying for 1 years.  They found that the younger generation exhibits a greater affinity for buying fresh fruit and/or vegetables at supercenters and alternative retail channels, including online, dollar stores, convenience stores and farmers’ markets. Of consumers polled, just 34% of older Millennials named a supermarket as their primary store for produce.

 Rick Stein, vice president of fresh foods at FMI, said in a statement. “Specifically, the study suggests a need for a renewed focus on strategies for continued growth, including organic, locally grown produce; value-added produce for time-starved customers; produce-based beverages and private branded produce.” What he meant to say is you DONING WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DONE AND DOING THE SAME WAY WILL NO LONGER WORK.

Here is some information from the study all food retailers will find useful.

1.  “Fresh fruit and vegetables also show potential to fit into more eating occasions. Although 36% of consumers polled said they eat fresh produce about three times a week or less, they would like to include it more frequently in meals or snacks, FMI found.
2. 56% of shoppers buy veggie shakes or fruit smoothies, and 53% buy cold-press juices. Those figures don’t include similar beverages people make at home or purchase from other areas of the store, such as kombucha.
3. Nordstroms, Ikea are both now selling fresh foods fast. 

Are you offering more fresh fruit and produce to your consumers as a Hand-Held Food for immediate consumption options?  If not Why? 

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant Niche.

Grocerants: Why This Business Model Is Winning Foodservice

 

Steven Johnson is the Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® who has been researching, pontificating on the growth, profitability, consumer migration from legacy food retail models too the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food grocerant niche since 1991.  

The way consumers eat is changing. In the modern world, getting food is more convenient thanks to things like mobile ordering apps and meal delivery services such as Yumble. This makes it easier for those who do want to stay in to have a good meal without having to worry about cooking. (This is a Guest Blog post provided by Oliva Chang.)

But, according to a recent Nielsen study, Americans are choosing to dine out in greater numbers than ever before. This is one factor contributing to the increasing popularity of grocerants, which are essentially grocery stores offering both shopping and dining options.

This emerging business model offers several major benefits to consumers. Convenience is a major one. Although people are now more interested in dining out than they once were, they still need to buy groceries from time to time. Being able to do both in one location helps them save time. This is very helpful in an age where constant connectivity has resulted in busy lifestyles.

Additionally, statistics indicate traditional restaurant menu prices have been rising, while grocery prices have not. Grocery stores that allow shoppers to purchase items and dine right there in the store may therefore save consumers money.

The following trends help to further explain why and how the grocerant model has become popular in recent years:

Spending Habits

Unlike previous generations, the vast majority of millennials would rather spend money on experiences instead of products. The grocerant model simply caters to their preferences. This trend is likely to continue, given that studies confirm having experiences makes people happier than owning possessions.

Social Media

Social media has given the average consumer greater opportunities than ever to share their opinions on the food they eat. Going to a restaurant or your local grocery store and sharing a picture of a meal (along with a brief review) on Instagram allows anyone to indulge their inner food critic.

Social Awareness

A recent study indicates consumers now prefer to connect with brands that prioritize sustainability. On top of that, the number of farmers markets in the United States has risen substantially in recent years.

Consumers no longer feel satisfied heading to grocery stores to buy products without knowing anything about their origins, the manufacturing process, the supply chain, and various other factors that impact how sustainable a product may be. They’d rather dine at spots where they can learn about how their food reached their plate.

A traditional grocery store typically won’t offer this information, while a grocerant often can and will. It’s also worth noting that dining out can produce less waste than buying groceries, which often use up substantial resources for packaging.

On-Demand Services

It’s clear to see the ways in which on-demand food delivery apps have changed the way consumers eat. Instead of cooking their own meals, people want meals delivered straight to them. A grocerant can offer this service.

These are merely a few reasons people have begun embracing grocerants in record numbers. Traditional grocery stores should take notice. In order to stay competitive, they’ll have to shift their business models to meet changing consumer expectations.

If you would like to be a guest blogger, feel free to reach out to the team at www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869

Sweetgreen Edifies Customer Relevance with Technology

 

Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® thinks that Sweetgreen is elevating its partnership with consumers via its Sweetpass in a way that will drive new electricity into the brand and its customer base. So, Sweetgreen continues to expand its free Sweetpass loyalty program with a new feature that allows fans to get exclusive offers and redeem rewards in-store.

Paying attention to your customers is important and Sweetgreen is simply responding to the No. 1 request from loyalty program customers, members of Sweetpass and Sweetpass+ can now earn & redeem rewards in-store when paying at check out. 

Sweetgreen cofounder and Chief Brand Officer, Nathaniel Ru, stated, "Our customers are the heart of our business. With nearly 50 percent of Sweetgreen customers purchasing in-store, we are excited to offer the best of our rewards across all our owned channel”…. "Starting today, our loyalty program works on all in-store orders, driving unmatched value, customer experience and savings with the simplicity of in-person scanning."

Here is How to Earn & Redeem Rewards when you order at Sweetgreen

Unlocking this new feature as a loyalty member is easy:

·         Open the Sweetgreen app, select "start challenge" under the loyalty tab at the bottom of the screen. 

·         Tap "Scan" to access the QR code and scan at the cash register to begin earning towards the selected challenge.

·         When scanning the QR code to redeem, eligible perks or rewards will be automatically applied to a loyalty member's order after they scan. Members who have multiple rewards can select which one to redeem. 

·         Pay for the order with the preferred contactless or physical payment method.

 

To celebrate the launch of this feature, Sweetpass members can get a free beverage, bag of chips or crispy rice treat with a minimum purchase of $9.95 (calculated before taxes, tips, additional fees and excluding any credits) when they scan the QR code in stores from September 26 through October 1.

Experience Sweetpass rewards: 

The Sweetpass program is designed to benefit every customer at Sweetgreen. Upon joining Sweetpass, Sweetgreen's free loyalty program, customers can enjoy personalized "challenges" as well as access to menu items that will be exclusively available to Sweetpass members. 

Sweetgreen lovers can also upgrade their Sweetpass membership to Sweetpass+, where they will sweet benefits for $10 per month:

·         Perks: Enjoy $3 off daily Sweetgreen orders

·         Merch & Experiences: Be the first to know about limited edition merch drops and exclusive experiences 

·         Support: Receive priority support on your order, ready to assist with any inquiries or concerns

 

Customers can also stay up to date on Sweetpass rewards and challenges, including free Sweetpass+ trials, taking place throughout the year through the app and Instagram, and by signing up for Sweetgreen's newsletter on the company's website.

Is your brand is searching for the new electricity to help drive the brand forward. So, just what is your brands new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, free food / sampling, beer, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, Fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.  Consumer like Eating-Out when Eating-In. It’s time to call the Grocerant Guru®

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit us on our social media sites by clicking one of the following links: Facebook,  LinkedIn, or Twitter

Meal Kits Elevate Family Meal Time

Meal kits invite family interactive participation from the very start as consumers choose what meal to order, and that elevates the meal kit from the very beginning.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®, Steven Johnson based in Tacoma, WA stated “Meal Kits are training wheels for both Gen Z and Millennials”.  However, meal kits are much more than that they have become a platform for couples and families to bond with each other and while discovering new flavors and the joy of cooking a meal at home.

There are times that looking back, helps us look forward.  This is one of those times. In previous research we have learned that Meal kit sales continued to showed strength in 2018, according Nielsen. “There has been a massive shift to the in-store space in the last year,” said Meagan Nelson, Nielsen’s associate director for fresh growth and strategy, at the Annual Meat Conference recently

Nelson said “growth in meal kits has been fueled in part by online subscription companies partnering with brick-and-mortar groceries, supermarkets offering their own packaged options and even restaurant brands dipping their toes into the market. Retail food partnerships can drive new electricity in a category or for a banner.

The Nielsen data indicated meal kits had seen a 36% growth in just under a year. A survey of 43,000 consumers in late 2018 found 12% of consumers had purchased meal kits in the past six months and 23% of shoppers would consider trying a kit in the next six months, Nelson said.

A number of customers buy in both the online and in-store channels, Nelson noted, but in-store purchases accounted for 60% of the growth in meal kit sales.

Why food retailers should care; meal kit customers tended to be higher income and younger than typical shoppers, she said. Demographics indicate meal kit purchase growing among those in households with incomes of $100,000 or more. They also saw appeal, both online and in-store, among those aged 35 to 44, Nelson said.

In-store growth rate for meal kits was $93 million in 2018, up 51% from 2017, and 7.3 million units were sold, an increase of 42%.  About 87% of in-store meal kits included meat in 2018, with beef leading the way among animal proteins at 52%, followed by pork at 17% and chicken at 16%. The team at Foodservice Solutions® believes that kind of growth within the meal kit sector can be seen again.

Is your brand is searching for the new electricity to help drive the brand forward. So, just what is your brands new electricity? According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods,  meal kits, beer, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, Fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment and brand and menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant 

Food Fight Underway It Is A Battle for Share of Stomach

 

The seemingly never-ending battle for food dollars has blurred the lines of retail foodservice. Today, Restaurants, Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores, Dollar Stores are all battling Ikea, Costco Wholesale, Ralph Lauren, and Nordstrom’s for a larger Share of Stomach according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

Legacy established food retailers and start-up fresh food retailers both strive to create or maintain consumer relevance while evolving their own food brands.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru® believes that the following ten clues to build a contemporized food brand can help any food retailer maintain relevance.

In a Battle for

Share of Stomach

Focus on the Customer 

Purpose:   Why you are there contemporized relevance! The most successful brands are inclusive include values greater than themselves. A lifestyle, a philosophy, an emotion a point in time today that means better for you.

A story: Most major brands have a story. Examples: if you like Ford vehicles, you might be familiar with the story of Henry Ford or if you love your Nikes, you probably know how the Nike swoosh logo was created.

Consumer interaction: When your business is first starting out, don't fool yourself into believing that your marketing efforts are 'brand building' efforts. They're not because to build a real brand, you have to have an extensive track record with consumers. Consumer will build the brand and the story for you.

Trust: When you've consistently delivered for your customers long enough, you'll gain the type of trust that many brands have.  Would you buy a Toyoda today? Maybe so, but how long do they have to rebuild that trust?

Consistency:  When a consumer chooses a product or service because of brand association, he or she is buying an expectation. Perhaps it's the expectation that the branded product is of higher quality or that the service will be provided in a more efficient manner. The expectation must be met time after time.

Differentiation: Expectation is often borne of differentiation. Many brands offer products and services that are commodities but they're successful in developing some differentiation for their products and services that consumers are sold on.

Imitators: Imitation is the sincerest of flattery and you're probably not a 'brand' until you have competitors trying to copy you. Do what you do best and lead your niche don’t follow.

Market leadership: Top brands are usually looked at as leaders in the markets they compete in. Own the space, and understand why you do.

Grow:  The best brands are flexible and capable of reshaping and reinventing themselves and their messages over time. Brands are either growing or dying. Consumers are not static!  Your brand must be dynamic and grow, change and adapt over time.

A strong marketing presence: The information super highway is evolving; your message must follow the traffic.  Don’t get stuck on the road less traveled

For corporate presentations, confidential engagements, educational forums, or keynotes contact: Steven Johnson Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions at: Linkedin.com/in/grocerant Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us