• “Most restaurants would rather serve you a meal. But the world is changing.”
• “Many young people who keep late hours prefer to text their orders and eat at home.”

• “Too often, refrigerated and frozen foods are hidden behind foggy doors in cold, dreary, boring and uninviting aisles.”
• “You have to engage the consumer. That might entail putting some frozen foods in smaller units and merchandising the items in different areas of the store.  Demos also can be done in the middle of the refrigerated and frozen food aisles to keep shoppers in the area.”
• “We have to get rid of the silos, be creative and start being complementary rather than competitive.  Shopping should be made exciting and fun.”
• “Educating shoppers about the wide arrays of refrigerated and frozen food offerings also will spark interest.”
• “We don’t tell people that everything needed for a full meal is behind the doors, such as entrées and bread.  The emphasis should be on communicating what the product will do for the consumer.”

• “Value” also means other things to shoppers besides product cost.”

• “We have an ongoing interest in value and it’s not going away.”  “But it is not just the pricing, but what you are getting as well. Frozen steamed vegetables, for instance, [which come in bags that can go directly in the microwave and thus are easy to prepare] provide value beyond that of price.”
• “Convenient grab-and-go salads that are pre-washed and contain dressings, croutons and a fork also are given high value by some shoppers.”

• “Fifty years ago, mothers couldn’t serve spaghetti out of a can—it would make them the worst mothers in the world!”  But the ad’s copy about “real hearty eating” and its domestic tabletop presentation “gave them permission to do it.”
• Today’s ad—still about convenience and still aimed at mom—bestows a similar kind of permission, but now the product is okay to serve because it won’t make Junior fat. “It’s no longer a question of guilt assuasion.”  “It’s about health—a full serving of vegetables.”

• “C-stores have breakfast and lunch figured out, but they still haven’t figured out dinner.”
• “Dollar stores are fascinating because they are the only format that can survive what I call the scorched earth syndrome, when Walmart comes in and wipes out the competitors.  Look around the country.  You’ll see a dollar store near a supercenter all the time.”

Listen to Dr. George’s insights into the challenges confronting traditional supermarkets in a rapidly changing world.

http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2011/01/12/whats-going-on-with-supermarkets/

1. Shop from a list.
2. Think about meals and menus, not just individual ingredients.
3. Check inventory before you go.
4. Look out for loss leaders. Every supermarket has items that are deeply discounted.  They’re designed to bring people in to the store and show a point of difference versus another retail chain.
5. Read the fine print. Look at the price per ounce. The best deals aren’t necessarily on the endcap where products like cookies or soft drinks are prominently displayed.
6. Be flexible about brands.  Every week, either the Cheerios or the Cornflakes are on sale.  Either Coke or Pepsi is on sale. Never at the same time.
7. Set a budget and stick to it.
8. Eat “plannedovers.” Make a double recipe of something on the weekend that you can freeze and pull out during a busy weekday.
9. Plan to splurge on occasion. Americans have been suffering from “frugality fatigue.”

• “Mature Millennials represent a number of significant opportunities as well as potential threats to food retailers. While better than nine out ten of the Mature Millennials regularly eat lunch or dinner, one-quarter of all Mature Millennials don’t regularly eat breakfast. Even fewer eat breakfast on weekends. However, the group strongly believes that they should eat a healthy breakfast each day. Since more than 85% of this generation source breakfast from grocery stores or supermarkets, stimulating primary demand for breakfast could translate into real breakfast sales growth.”
• “A potential opportunity or threat for traditional food retailers comes from Internet/online food shopping. While only 4% of older shoppers purchase groceries online (U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends, FMI 2009), almost 15% of Mature Millennials have shopped for groceries online in the past 30 days. If these younger consumers are shopping on Amazon.com, this represents real lost business for the traditional food retailer. Even if the online food shopping is conducted via a supermarket website, this takes visits out of the store. This issue needs to be addressed regardless of shopper age, but especially so for the Mature Millennials.”
• “Mature Millennials may eventually behave like their parents and older consumers. However, at this stage of their life, their attitudes and lifestyles are sufficiently unique to suggest that the development of specific marketing strategies and tactics by food retailers that will capture a greater share of their total food needs. Their sheer numbers represent untapped potential if we can get them to perceive “your supermarket as their supermarket.”

• “With the economy the way it is, it’s a bit expensive to go out to dinner.”
• “But you can get your food prepared at these new markets and take care of a couple of things, like your beverage and side dishes, at home. And you can save the tip.”