Is your Grocery Store Out of Touch

Fast food restaurants continue to garner incremental customers and today account for 80.7% of all restaurant visits in the United States according to The NPD Group. Why? it’s simple 50% of Americans over the age of 18 are single according the US Census.  Fast food is fast and grocery stores are slow and that according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®

In a new study from Phononic titled “The Store of the Future” found “Americans, who shop at traditional grocery stores 3.9 times each month, have some very definite opinions about how the outlets could improve. And a more convenient shopping experience heads the list.” Let see what else they found:.

1.       Eighty-nine percent of Americans (89%) reported they want to shop in a grocery store that understands how to make buying an easier/more efficient experience.

2.        Eighty-five percent said grocery stores should make it easier to find merchandise.

3.       50% of consumers said supermarkets haven’t figured out how to use technology like other retailers.

4.       More than half (56%) said if grocers don’t enter the modern age, people will look for other ways to get their food.

5.       More than three-quarters (79%) of consumers said they should consider smart technology in a refrigerated unit to find recipes, or the right pairings for cheese and other foods.

6.       Over nine in 10 consumers feel it’s important that the layout of the store makes it easy to find merchandise,

7.       85% believe grocers should be making it easier to find items.

8.       68% of shoppers said if grocery stores had new products at checkout, they would be more likely to try them. Meanwhile, 59% said they would like to see healthier options,

9.       46% said there should be more frozen or refrigerated options at checkout, with ice cream and wine and beer heading the list.

Regular readers of this blog know that consumers are looking for meals, meal solutions, they don’t want to shop, they don’t want to cook, and they don’t want to do dishes. So when 50% of consumers over the age of 18 are single it would indicate that food dollars will continue to migrate from grocery stores to fast food restaurants for some time unless grocers change their ways.

Invite Foodservice Solutions® to complete a Grocerant Program Assessment, Grocerant ScoreCard, or for product positioning or placement assistance, or call our Grocerant Guru®.  Since 1991 www.FoodserviceSolutions.us  of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us or 253-759-7869