Food: The Social Network Of The Ages

Sure, we have Facebook and Twitter, but when you think about it, isn't food the real social network of the ages? Food is, and always has been, that special bonding agent that connects family and friends — with no electronic device necessary! Whether we gather for special occasions, holiday celebrations or the traditional family dinner, food, plain and simple, brings people together.

And as the U.S. economy experienced one of the worst downturns in recent history, consumers showed a renewed focused on back-to-basics in-home cooking. Are you truly taking advantage of this trend with your store brands?

When money is tight, food matters most — and this bodes well for store brands. Consumers are placing more attention on at-home meals and in-home entertainment options, as evidenced by more time spent surfing cooking-related websites, watching food-related TV programming and reading cookbooks.

Nielsen reports that each month, food and cooking websites are visited by an average of 70 million unique online visitors, taking into account home and work online activity from the year ending September 2010. The number of households tuned to the Food Network during primetime reached more than 1.1 million viewers in the first quarter of 2010 — an increase of 9 percent versus the year-ago period. Moreover, although total book sales saw a year-to-date decline of 4 percent, cookbook sales rose 5 percent.

Seize the opportunity

An all-out food fight is taking place in the industry as grocers attempt to grab a share of soft restaurant sales through innovations related to ready-to-eat foods for consumption in and out of store. With many retailers offering higher-quality prepared foods and in-store foodservice programs, the initial phase of lifestyle retail formats is emerging. Retailers are looking to enhance the entertainment value of a traditional shopping trip and entice shoppers to spend more. Make sure your store brands are part of this lifestyle equation.

Meal-deal programs that help families save can be described as the next generation of recipe marketing. And most grocers are playing "follow the leader" by making recipes ideas and easy meal solutions — featuring manufacturer and store brand offerings — a prominent part of their websites.

Many retailers and some food manufacturers also are doing a great job of merchandising or co-promoting with complementary food categories during key selling periods. Use these categories in continuity-based loyalty programs by rewarding shoppers with discounts based on spending levels to get them to spend even more!

Another way for grocers to enhance sales of groceries (and cookware) is to teach shoppers how to cook. Since cooking schools won't work in all banners or locations, retailers should explore options for online cooking lessons — highlighting store brands.

Food for thought

While our economy has many consumers thinking about the prices they pay for just about everything, it seems that too much emphasis is being placed on low prices instead of benefits and solutions (real and emotional) consumers can receive. Here are some actionable ideas to help you capitalize on these trends:

1 Consider meal solutions for breakfast, lunch and dinner that leverage your store brands from both center store and perimeter categories.

2 Collaborate on meal solution formats and arrange the store aisles so shoppers don't have to walk the entire store to find one-stop items.

3 Leverage cooking classes and recipes both in-store and through multimedia (print, online, smart phone apps) outlets.

4 Try in-store and mobile demo and sampling stations so consumers can smell and taste what you have to offer.

5 Cross-promote against complementary food and nonfood categories to provide value along with solutions.

6 Look to social media sites to attract recipe ideas and feedback from shoppers/consumers and use banner or store brand advocates to speak for you.

7 Explore celebrity chef or restaurant alliances to build equity with people who enjoy cooking.

8 Use advertising copy that embraces the joy of cooking and celebrations with family and friends. Be sure to make the banner clearly visible and leverage banner and store brand advocates in your ads.

Straight Talk delivers monthly store brand insights from The Nielsen Co., New York. Todd Hale is Nielsen's senior vice president, consumer & shopper insights.