CHICAGO -- Supermarkets must determine ways to appeal to the 70 million "echo boomers" or risk losing them to other classes of trade, Michael Sansolo, senior vice president of the Food Marketing Institute, Washington, told the Speaks '99 audience here last week.
the industry must pay more attention to the 70 million people born between 1977 and 1994 who followed the 77 million baby boomers.
"We must find ways to reach out to them -- we must win them over," Sansolo said. "For us to satisfy their needs, we must listen to them. That means we must be flexible and find new ways of doing things."
Sansolo was joined on stage during the Speaks session by Odonna Mathews, vice president of consumer affairs for Giant Food, Landover, Md., a division of Ahold USA, Atlanta, who said she agreed with him. "We need to listen to our customers more, and utilizing our store managers is a key way to keep in touch."
She talked about one store manager who said he was subscribing to the "5 a Day" program -- "not a reference to the produce industry's advice to eat five fresh fruits and vegetables a day but taking the opportunity to meet five new customers a day," Mathews said.
"Meeting customer expectations is a continuing challenge," she said, noting that Giant is launching a new campaign -- "Outstanding Customer Service: Let's Make It a Habit" -- for store managers and department heads, "so we can take better care of customers' needs because people have many choices, and we need to keep their loyalty."
Referring to the FMI statistics that show older shoppers with more store loyalty, Mathews said the reason they're more loyal is "they're used to a particular store, so they don't shop around as much. But what younger shoppers want is fast and fresh -- they rate us on service, quick selection and quick checkout."
When Sansolo noted that customers are concerned with nutrition, Mathews said supermarkets can provide quick responses for nutritious meals by offering recipes in ads that tie-in ingredients on special.
