Customers and the impact of food labels

Australian Food News reports that an study has recently concluded on the influence food labels have on shoppers in Europe. The study, which questioned 17,300 people from various European countries, both in supermarkets and at home, found that only 18% of Europeans regularly look for nutrition information on food packaging in-store.

A new finding was that people spend an average of 30 seconds selecting a product. By comparison to previous studies, this is substantially more time than previously observed. The UK was lowest at 25 seconds per product, with the highest average time clocked at 47 seconds.

How does this compare with shopper behavior in America?

Learn more: European study highlights impact of food labels

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Green Fashion Goes Mainstream

This recent post on retailwire discusses how many years ago consumers did not believe that eco-friendly fashions were all that stylish, but to the contrary in today's age the opposite is actually true. More and more shoppers are wearing green and clothes made with organic fibers.

Zem Joaquin, founder of ecofabulous.com, mentions "Four years ago, there was very little in the mainstream. Now there are clothing stores devoted solely to environmentally conscious designs like Eco Citizen ... and eco-couture being sold at Barneys New York. Pact showed a beautiful example of organic underwear on the runway. It used to be hard to find, and when you did, it was saggy and unattractive."

Fashion designers are now re-thinking what materials to use in their clothes now that consumers have the environment in mind.

Kimberly-Clark CEO: People Want Value, Innovation

ABC News and the Associated Press report that Kimberly-Clark Corp. CEO Thomas Falk did things most executives ran from during the recession: He plunged money into innovation and marketing, and raised prices. But just as Falk went against traditional means of running a large corporation during a recession, ABC reports that Falk's paid off.

Part of Falk's success lies in how he conveyed value to shoppers:

Q. You said that a lot of consumers are focusing on value right now. How do you convey the message of value to them?

A. I was in the Philippines not long ago, where we do some advertising to consumers on how a Huggies diaper would last 10 hours. A mom who was buying a very low-tier diaper in a market like that would know that a private-label or a low-tier brand wouldn’t last 10 hours. You communicate it that way as a perception of value.

If you look at marketers around the world across all categories, you see more marketing dialing up value messaging. We are all trying to communicate to the consumer that we are a good value relative to their other alternatives.

For more of Falk's interview, please click here.

Designers Working with Fur for a Righteous Cause

Fashion fur has not been big in the US for a several reasons, but with the nutria (a large rodent) quickly decimating the natural habitat of Louisiana's and Maryland's Eastern shore this might be a reason for fur to take off in the running.

This article in retailwire highlights how the quick reproducing species has put a strain in the marshlands of these states and how Cree McCree, founder of an organization called Righteous Fur, recently ran a show putting up products that were made from nutria on display. Will we see other designers using nutria for their products and how will consumers react to this once they see the big picture?

Shopper Marketing is a Supply Chain Partner's Next Marketing Frontier

Industry Week reports that seventy-three percent of consumer product goods manufacturers and 86% of retailers rank shopper marketing as the number one activity that delivers meaningful return on investment.

"Shopper marketing is the hottest issue in retail and consumer package goods," said UT Shopper Market Forum organizer Dan Flint, UT's Proffitt's Inc. Associate Professor of Marketing.

Learn more: Shopper Marketing is a Supply Chain Partner's Next Marketing Frontier

Mark your calendars:

Shopper Insights in Action
July 11-14, 2010 • Marriott Chicago Magnificent Mile • Chicago

Are you engaging your Customers as Partners in the Package Design Process?

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This April, join the leading minds in brand, research and design and arm yourself with the strategies, insights and tools you need to "lead the way" and stay ahead of the competition in 2010.

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Keynote Jim Stengel, Retired Global Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble shares his experience with Applied Leadership, Amazing Results

Featured session by Coca-Cola, "Busting the Burst" Optimizing On-Pack Promotional Messaging Brand"

Industry leading corporate practitioners sharing case study presentations, including: Kimberly-Clark, Sherwin Williams, HP, DuPont and more.
Presentation of the 1st Annual Packaging Awards brought to you by The Dieline and FUSE

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1-800Flowers reminds users of their abandoned carts

In an article recently published at Internet Retailer, they share how 1-800 Flowers successfully reminds shoppers of unpurchased items in their online carts. The open rate of the email reminding them that there are still unpurchased items in their boxes is 5 times higher than regular marketing emails. On the downside, the opt-out rate is significantly higher than on regular marketing emails. To find out more about 1800Flower's online customers, read the article here.

A&P to Adjust Pricing Strategy

The Wall Street Journal reports that Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., which owns A&P and Pathmark grocery chain is working with shareowner Yucaipa Cos. to develop new marketing strategies to lure tight-fisted consumers. Christian Haub, the executive chairman and interim chief executive said that A&P is discontinuing several marketing programs and reinvesting those funds into lowering shelf prices on everyday foods. New advertisements also will focus on those lower-priced shelf items.

Sales at the supermarkets have fallen by a reported %5.8 percent as the grocery chain has not had success and connecting with customers.

Learn more: Supermarket chain A&P to shift its pricing strategy

Key Growth Drivers as Identified by Tesco CEO

Chief Executive of Tesco PLC, Sir Terry Leahy, recently identified six drivers for growth coming out of a recession. With global economies still in the picture this will be crucial in reaching consumers. Here are the drivers as posted by this article in retailwire. Enjoy!

Trust: Consumers will begin to shift to organizations that they trust during difficult times. Companies that show consumers that they are genuinely interested in doing better things will gain long term loyalty.

Information: Businesses must become transparent and hold nothing back from consumers.

Health: Products that focus on fitness, cosmetics, and fashion fulfill the need that consumers have of looking great and feeling great forever.

Convenience: Convenience stores like 7-11 and Tesco have thrived with more and more people having time constraints on a daily basis.

Simplicity: Consumers do not need 1,000 products but answers and solutions to the problems in their lives.

Climate change: Businesses must be able to adapt to changing times and different consumer needs as time goes by.

Sam's Club to Sell Private Label Vodka

The popular bulk retailer, Sam's Club will soon debut its own brand of premium vodka. The New York Times reports that the wholesaler will sell their vodka to approximately one third of its stores. The vodka, named Rue 33 is coming to the shelves, to join private-label wines and beers that the chain already sells.

Learn more: Sam’s Club Adds a Private-Label Vodka

What do you think about the move by Sam's Club to add more spirits to its private label offerings? Will other wholesalers do the same?

Warner Brothers and Netflix partner to delay DVD releases

According to The Street, Netflix and Warner Brothers have come to an agreement about the release of DVDs. Netflix will now release new releases 28 days after they've hit store shelves.

According to Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, "We're able to help an important business partner meet its objectives while improving service levels for our members by acquiring substantially more units than in the past after a relatively short sell-through window. At the same time, we're able to extend the range of choices available to be streamed to our members."

How do you think the Netflix customers react to this? While it will help boost in-store selling of DVDs, will Netflix customer retaliate and drop the service? How many other major motion picture companies will follow through with the same thing?

Target Bulk Promotion Competes with Warehouse Clubs

According to this article in retailwire, Target will be giving consumers all the benefits of bulk deals found at stores like Costco and BJ's without the need for any membership fees that these warehouse clubs usually charge.

"The Great Save" event will run from January 3rd through February 21st and it will give consumers a treasure hunt experience on designer brands, and a way to stock up post holiday season. There will be "Great Save" location inside roughly 1,000 participating Target stores across the U.S. It will be interesting to see what other huge stores will follow suit.

Shopper outlook for 2010

With food sections of stores outperforming all others, forecasters at Nielson believe that consumers are going to continue to cook at home instead of eating out. Many other stores are also seeing benefits of frugal Americans: super centers, club stores and dollar stores.

Other highlights for the 2010 consumer forecast:

- Restraint remains the new normal
- Value is a top priority
- Store brand growth continues

- Grocery consolidation intensifies

- Assortment wars escalate.

Read the full article about Neilson's forecast for shoppers here.