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09.01.2010

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From Eating Occasion to Store Shelf

Uncovering the Missing Link in Shopper Marketing

In case you missed it, American culture and the American family are changing. 70% of U.S. households these days have no children under 18 and 28% of U.S. households are single-person households.

Yet, today's food retail environments, for the most part, haven't evolved much beyond the early notions of grocery store design. They are set up as giant neighborhood pantries, which dutiful moms can use to fill their own pantries at home. This design neglects the most likely folks to switch brands, even whole categories, at the last minute. These are the same folks who are least likely to be involved in extensive pre-planning of their trips, least likely to have well-stocked pantries, the most open to emerging food trends and the most open to challenging notions of the traditional food shopping experience.

Many are Millennials living their pre-family existence.

We’re not suggesting that shopper marketers abandon their interest in the Great and Powerful Mom. But, clearly, there is something to be gained in exploring non-family households where shopping is much less complicated and where the gulf between shopper and consumer is minimal (e.g., shopping for a couple) to non-existent (e.g., shopping for singles living alone). Longer term, more malleable shoppers, and long-term profit engines, among those 70% of non-Mom households out there — young single households, dual income childless households, empty nester Boomers, aging matures — all get tragically ignored by most shopper marketers, especially by the very mid-market grocers who will never be able to fully capture lost share of Mom’s wallet that has gone to everyday low price and deep discounters in this recessionary environment.

Shopping for promotions, not for occasions, is what food retailers have trained shoppers to do. This is how, week after week, consumers come home from their pantry-stocking trips, feeling righteous about their savings on promoted items and, yet, still have no idea what they’re going to have for dinner.

Occasion-based shopper marketing is all about starting with everyday cultural understandings of food that drive what shoppers think when they enter a food retail environment. It’s about making sure that good shopper marketing for food and beverage never forgets to connect directly with the joy of eating.

Want more insights into occasion-based shopper marketing for the food industry? Download our free white paper >>

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In Case You Missed It

The first step to seeing hidden variation in shopper eating patterns is to add a crucial variable, the variable of culture.

Download the whitepaper now >>