Our recent audience research found there's one thing retailers can't get enough of.
Hint: It's not additional stockkeeping units or product recalls.
Answer: It's valuable insights about consumers.
While this finding isn't surprising, the intensity of demand for consumer information raised some eyebrows here. This week, SN addresses the subject with an issue-wide theme presentation called “Food Shoppers 2010.” It includes a look at 10 shopper types, ranging from the techno-consumer to the channel surfer, in this feature story.
Other stories focus on the challenges of marketing health and wellness solutions to ethnic shoppers, and how changing consumer preferences are impacting prepared foods in supermarkets.
Here's one interesting insight from this week's reporting: Despite continued challenges from the economy, “indulgent shoppers” are still active and need to be targeted by supermarkets. Otherwise, conventional food retailers risk losing this business to competitors such as Whole Foods.
Meanwhile, SN is now bringing you deeper consumer insights through another resource. That is supermarket industry analyst Phil Lempert, known as the “Supermarket Guru,” who is an expert on consumer trends related to food. Phil has just been named a contributing editor of SN. Our magazine and website will showcase his exclusive columns, and the first one appears on this page.
SN's website has begun to make available Phil's videos — “The Lempert Report” and “New Products Hits and Misses” — which analyze new consumer products and industry trends. Moreover, SN and Phil will collaborate on consumer surveys that leverage Phil's extensive SupermarketGuru.com consumer panel.
Phil is well known both in the industry and as a media personality, and we couldn't be more excited about this collaboration.
SN continues to add other resources to help your businesses. These include tools that make it easier to get information and perform tasks with mobile devices.
We recently announced an interactive smart phone application designed for this week's FMI 2010 Show in Las Vegas. The app, launched in collaboration with FMI, is now available as a free download. It links to SN's FMI Total Access show blog, in addition to providing interactive floor maps, social media capabilities, conference program, time schedules and other features.
To download the app, iPhone and iPod Touch users should go the iTunes App Store and search for “FMI 2010.” Users of all other types of Web-enabled phones should point their mobile phone's browser to http://m.core-apps.com/FMI2010.
Meanwhile, we'll soon launch a mobile site that is optimized for viewing on multiple devices, and another smart phone app that will provide an ongoing feed of the latest news, with additional features to be rolled out later.
We know you'll benefit from all these resources, and we look forward to building on them in the months to come.
Respond to SN's Viewpoints online at supermarketnews.com