09Mar2011
Good News And Bad News
According to projections by the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics will be the fastest growing segment in the country between 2010 and 2050, with a 167% increase. The black population is expected to grow by 56%, while the white, non-Hispanic population will rise by a puny 1%.
That would be just fine if everyone bought the same kinds of foods, but they don’t. Right now, according to The Nielsen Company, total U.S. household average $314 in annual purchases of frozen foods. But the number is only $286 for blacks and $263 for Hispanics.
Over in the dairy department, things are quite different. The total U.S. household average is $334 per year. But while blacks average $234, the fast-growing Hispanic segment averages $350. Household penetration numbers, in our other chart, help tell the story here.
While the degrees to which stores are affected will obviously vary by location, everyone’s bound to be affected by this tsunami of population change. Many marketers are already underway with plans, Nielsen points out. Giant Eagle, for example, recently held a month-long Latin food celebration with in-store sampling, and General Mills has launched a Spanish language app for the iPad.
IN-STORE PROMOS BEAT MOST MEDIA
Are you neglecting the power of in-store promotions and ‘word-of-mouth?’
Sure, coupons still rule when it comes to influencing grocery purchases, but in-store merchandising comes in second, followed by word-of-mouth, according to the BIGresearch Simultaneous Media Usage Survey (SIMM 17, December 2010).
In-store promotion, in its many forms, may be one of the most effective and efficient ways to build incremental sales, but it often gets lost in the shuffle of planning advertising inserts and newspaper ads, neither of which scores as high in influencing purchases. So it may be worthwhile to put more time and effort into planning and executing promotions.
And word-of-mouth has come a long way since it meant neighbors chatting over the picket fence. Today, word of mouth includes texting, Facebook, Twitter and online searches of retailer/manufacturer websites and sites such as www.yelp.com.
Some 94.2% of adults 18+ regularly or occasionally give advice on products and services they’ve purchased, while 90.9% seek advice, according to the BIGresearch SIMM data (www. bigresearch.com). So building buzz via new media can certainly help build differentiation and additional sales.
Finally, actions by retailers can have tremendous influence on purchase decisions. BIGresearch asks questions on 22 different in-store factors, and finds that the leading influences, in order of importance, are: product samples, in-store flyers, loyalty cards, online coupons, shelf coupons, information shoppers get from reading product labels and special displays.
