There have been plenty of studies on the importance of supermarkets winning back meals each week. But, in The Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council study http://www.cokesolutions.com/BusinessSolutions/Studies/Eating_In_2010.pdf you will find a lot of practical ways to do it. This newest study shows food retailers how to put a deeper understanding of shopper “need states” to work in winning meals to be eaten at home.
The NPD Group www.npdgroup.com authored-study takes need states down to meal occasions; i.e. the needs that households want to satisfy during different types of meals. There are actually more meal occasions than you may think; the study defined seven specific meal occasions and that is just for dinner including:
- Last-minute no-brainers
- Thrifty repeats
- Tasty creations
- Nourishing fare
- Kid’s delights
- Family entertaining
- Hearty fare
I think the power of using need states becomes even clearer when you look at building promotions targeting the most common dinner occasion; i.e. last-minute no-brainers.
Turns out consumers know that when members of their households are in this need state they:
- Are hungry and want something fast
- It can be simple, but must be easily at hand
- May be eating alone or just earlier or later than the rest of the family
- Are more interested in finishing than enjoying the meal
- Are more likely to be eating this way on weekends
When you look at upside potential for all the dinner need states, it adds up. For a food retailer doing $500,000/week in a store, it’s worth more than $5,100/week.
Bill Bishop
Research Director
NACS/Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council
Founder, Willard Bishop Consulting and Chief Architect ClickMeetsBrick http://www.brickmeetsclick.com