Five Pillars of Food Retail Sales Success

At the intersection of the consumer, fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food you find retail food sales success and the Grocerant Niche.   Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ Steven Johnson identified a set of universal commonalities, developed the 5 P’s of food marketing which are: Product, Packaging, Placement, Portability and Price to help explain the success of the Grocerant niche. 

When grocerant Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh and prepared food is thrown into the mix of consumer retail food options, retailers find that consumer frequency and customer loyalty both increase driving incremental top line sales and bottom line profits.

When you review the US retail foodservice unit growth or sales leaders of today you can see that it is driven by participatory and interactive Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food. Trader Joe’s, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Wawa, 7-Eleven are all growth leaders.  Trader Joe’s leads in sales per square foot at over $1,750 per Sq. Ft. Chipotle, Wawa and 7-Eleven are each growing units and garnering share of stomach from everyone else.  All are members of the grocerant niche. 

Consumer are dynamic not static and leading the way in the bundling of the meal components with a “better for you” focus.  It’s a mix and match game that is very empowering for the consumer, according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™.

Family meal assembly consists of multiple components from multiple retail outlets assembled into a customized family meal.  Consumer’s select by meal occasion what “better for you” attribute they want.  It can be fresh hamburger, low salt, cooked to order, or green packaging.

Don’t discount the value of consumer choice or limit the world of “better for you”.  Mix and match of small portion, fresh products, green packaging all contribute to making meal time a time of convenient meal participation, differentiation and individualization.

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  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?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

Are Grocery Stores Needed?

When the kids say I’m hungry, What’s for Dinner? There is a very slim chance that dinner is going to be cooked from scratch.  Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ has documented the explosive growth of the Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food Grocerant niche since 1991.  

Today consumers are increasingly adopting grocerant niche mix and match meal components assembly into a customized family meal.  The undercurrents of an evolving retail food marketplace may be leaving legacy grocery chains in the lurch. 

New Non-traditional fresh prepared food channels have garnered customer adoption so succesfuly that many people simply do not go to the grocery store any longer.  Chain drug stores, convenience stores, liquor stores, and now dollar stores are selling fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food.  

In fact in a new report from the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association found:

1.        Non-traditional channels such as drug stores are meeting shoppers' needs through fresh offerings and grab-and-go lunchtime strategies, 

2.       Convenience stores are providing customers with more variety and healthy items,

3.       Small-box formats, while at a disadvantage because of limited product selection, have the advantage of proximity over big-box operators.

4.       Traditional food retail channels will experience a decrease market share of 1.2 percentage points by 2018 (44.8%), while non-traditional grocery and convenience store channels will command 40.1% and 15.1% of the market, 

5.       Non-supermarket channels fueled almost all growth in food retailing over the past 17 years, with supercenter sales almost twice those of supermarkets per square foot,

Fresh prepared Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food offerings are expanding points of distribution, evolving with customer relevance, enhancing the family meal all while changing the retail food landscape. Success does leave clues.  Clue number one is follow the customer.  Are you still doing what you have always done? So, are grocery stores needed?  Maybe not. 

Success does leave clues outside eyes can deliver inside sales. What are you bundling with you core products? Who are your customers?  Where and how can you sell your customers more? For more Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  or http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or twitter.com/grocerant 

By-By Boomers, Campbell’s Soup, and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes

The evolving Grocerant niche is causing disruption within the retail space and maybe an even greater disruption within the ranks of legacy CPG manufactures.  Companies the ilk of Campbell’s Soup and Kellogg’s are experiencing first-hand what customer migration can mean for a legacy brand.

Millennials, Asian Americans, and Hispanic each are adopting new habits in retail buying.  The most specific and noticeable changed is an increase in consumption of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared grocerant niche food.  

Nielsen recently reported that Hispanic and Asian American consumers are a growing demographic in the fresh food departments. Nielsen reports that Hispanics will have $1.5 trillion in buying power by 2015, a 50% increase from 2010, while the average Asian American household expenditure in 2012 was $61,400, 19% more than non-Asian households.

Not unlike 20, 30, and 40 years ago consumers and parents migrated from scratch cooking to prepackaged foods the ilk of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Campbell’s Soup to save both time and money. Today Millennials are once again migrating this time to new avenue of fresh food distribution, focusing one Ready-2-Eat or Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food that can be customized and personalized according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™. 

When outlining the power of Millennials Acosta Sales & Marketing reported; “The 77-million-strong Millennial generation and their $200 billion in buying power Millennials will outspend the Boomer Generation by 2018 as over $65 billion in grocery spending will shift from one group to the other.” 

Kellogg’s is oddly headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan and it has a battle on its hands today to evolve with consumers.  Regular readers of this blog know “Consumers are dynamic not static” brands must be dynamic as well.” Slotting fees are out, fresh prepared food is in. 

Are you trapped doing what you have always done and doing it the same way?  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?  Email us at: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit:  www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information

Grocerant Niche Disruption Expanding

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ first outlined the growth of new non-traditional points of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh food distribution in 1997.  Today, the retail food sector is witnessing some of the most rapid customer migration ever from channel to channel and new-nontraditional offerings. 

Most notable is the successful integration of Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food within the convenience store sector.  That integration is driving new customers, expansion, and copycatting from other non-traditional fresh food retailers the ilk of dollar stores, liquor stores, chain drug stores according to our Grocerant Guru™. 

Legacy grocery stores are feeling the pain from this migration, and it does not look like it will ebb any time soon.   According to Willard Bishop, “These non-traditional channels will continue to chip away at the market share of traditional grocery channels” 

Bishop, projects a “decrease in market share of 1.2 percentage points by 2018 in the traditional channels, which will equate to 44.8% of the market. Non-traditional grocery and convenience store channels will command 40.1% and 15.1% of the market, respectively. Supercenters will also experience dramatic growth, an estimated 19.4% share by 2018.”

Foodservice Solutions® team has stated previously on this blog that Millennials desire for discovery and all things leveraging technology will continue to drive trial, adoption, and migration for new, online shopping, Timed-Pick-Ups, Timed-delivery, and “drive-thru concepts where customers order online and pick up their product right from their cars at a designated location. 

Dollar stores, Chain Drug stores, Liquor stores, and C-stores will all continue to garner new customers as they expand Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food offerings.  This has become a battle for share of stomach that is leaving some legacy retailers behind. 

Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  a Tacoma, WA based retail foodservice consultancy has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Is your company ready for a grocerant niche scorecard? Could outside eyes help you drive inside profits? 253-759-7869 Email: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us