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September 2008
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Retailers to the Rescue! But at What Cost?
As The Dark Knight, the latest in the Batman movie series, continues to break records in movie tickets sales across the country, food retailers are emerging as a quiet different kind of knight. In a time of rising unemployment, high food inflation and gas prices, shoppers are turning to food retailers as their knights in shining armor. In a recent Harris Interactive poll, supermarkets came out on top as the industry with the best reputation among consumers. read more
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Gas Price Impact as Expected
In our April 2008 issue of F3, we made the following observations as to how rising gas prices impacted 2007 spending and what we should expect in 2008 as industry experts were predicting regular gas would reach the $4.00-per-gallon price point by spring.
"When we calculate the percentage of total weekly retail spend accounted for by gas (among gas buying households) during 2007, share of spend ranged from a low of 12% to a high of 16%. read more
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Convenience stores that transform
will be stronger against new formats
If food and beverage marketers look beyond the formats of convenience stores today, they could help the channel better withstand new competitive tests from the likes of Tesco Fresh & Easy, Walmart Marketside, Giant Eagle Express, Jewel Urban Fresh and others.
These newcomers will target Quick Trips in formats one-third the size of supermarkets, yet equal to the footprint of a convenience store and gas station, with a heavy emphasis on fresh. read more
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Salad days are back
Safety scares aside, the healthy eating engine is humming again in the growth of prepackaged precut fresh salad mix. The segment has rebounded with vigor to its usual upward patterns in 2008, after E.coli in spinach caused one death and at least 49 people to become ill in September 2006 and as a result, quelled the sales for packaged salad in 2007.
Within the past month, the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of irradiation for spinach and iceberg lettuce with the hopes to further ensure salad safety. read more
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New Product Reviews Now Available on Videocast
You can now see Phil Lempert's new product reviews (Hits & Misses) in a new video format called "5 Products in 5 Minutes". And, starting Thursday, log on to theLempertReport.com for a weekly five minute trends report.
The text versions will still be published on SupermarketGuru.com and soon a video player will be added to the home - but for now - just go to ratefoods.com every Wednesday to watch! The videocast will also be available on Phil's iVillage blog, YouTube and dozens of other video sites. read more
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Private label sales surge prompts
new questions for future of brands
Private label products allure shoppers and retailers, as their transformation escalates. Once the dowdy distant cousin of branded CPG, retailers have made them over into consistently good price alternatives, and more recently into exclusive premium choices as well.
For shoppers, they typically present savings of 15% or more over brandsdollar-stretching alternatives that matter in today's economy. read more
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Eye drops gaining strength
Combine the effects of an aging populace that often wears contact lenses for vanity and function, chooses cataract and LASIK surgery, spends lengthy periods of time in front of computer screens, and withstands air pollutionand marketers have a dramatic opportunity to sell eye care products.
Each driver of eye drop sales is significant. Some 36 million people in the U.S. wore lenses in 2005, noted a 2007 American Academy of Ophthalmology report. read more
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The New Immunity
In the July 2008 Facts, Figures, & the Future, The Culture of Sustainability was presented as one of the top trends affecting the marketplace. Identification of such market and consumer trends is a vital for capitalizing on opportunities. It is also a fundamental strength of Natural Marketing Institute (NMI) - based on almost two decades of observations and over 500,000 consumer interviews.
The New Immunity, another top 2008 NMI trend, examines the importance of purity and the fact that a rise in allergies and other immune disorders is the result of toxic home and work environments, as well as a food supply manipulated by additives, genetic modification, antibiotics, hormones and herbicides. read more
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Disrupt 'auto-pilot' shopping to shape shopper decisions
Shoppers are so bombarded by marketing messages before and during their store trips that brands and retailers have difficulty breaking through the clutter to influence purchase decisions. They'll succeed more if they focus on "moments of truth in shoppers' homes, their hearts and their heads," suggested Liz Mohr of Unilever Shopper Insights in a recent Nielsen Consumer 360 presentation, Driving Synergy With Your Shoppers' Decision Path. read more
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Channel Watch Update: Online, Electronic Stores, & Value Retail Channels Won U.S. Shopping Trips in Second Quarter
Rising gas prices and inflation across a number of fast moving consumer goods categories are having a tremendous impact on how U.S. consumers shop. Comparing changes in channel shopping trips and average per trip basket rings during the second quarter of 2008 versus year-ago, total outlet trips were down 1.0%, and average basket rings were up 3.9%. read more
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Food Safety Warning
Over the past couple of years, the food industry has talked and talked and talked about what we would do to reduce the amount of food recalls and food safety problems. And how we as an industry could correct the problems, self-monitor and rebuild consumer confidence in the food supply.
We talked too long - and now its too late.
Last week, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced legislation for the National Food Tracking System to create a mandatory tracking system for food manufacturing and retail. read more
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The Food Retailing Industry Speaks 2008
FMI's Speaks is the annual state of the industry report a must-have for everyone in the food industry. The report reviews important market trends affecting food retailing and evaluates the industry's performance in sales, profits, margins and a wide variety of productivity measures. Click here for more information.
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Shopping for Health 2008
This report examines shoppers' interest and attitudes, as well as in-store activities, regarding health and nutritional concerns and the ways in which these play out in purchase decisions at the grocery store. Click here for more information.
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U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2008
FMI's best-selling report, U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends, is the industry source for data and knowledge of the grocery shopper to gain an in-depth understanding the role of food and nutrition in today's society. Click here for more information. read more
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Food, Nutrition & Science
We've just launched a brand new monthly newsletter: Food, Nutrition, & Science from The Lempert Report.
Our mission is to provide retailers and brands with the latest food news and the tools needed to better serve and empower our shoppers to make the best food choices possible. Each issue will contain interviews with leading researchers, nutritionists and trend setters. read more
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Facts, Figures, & the Future Newsletter
Click here for your FREE subscription to Facts, Figures, & the Future.
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