CHICAGO (FNS) -- Supermarket shoppers interviewed via a live satellite hookup during the Food Marketing Institute's closing session here confirmed recent trend reports -- consumers are buying more prepared foods and craving more service.
Billed as a first for a trade event, the live television interviews gave a panel of supermarket executives the chance to directly question shoppers in four cities using the facilities of four of the Tribune Co.'s broadcast stations.
Most of the customers had some type of value-added product in their shopping carts and said they were buying such products more often.
A customer named Jan, shopping a Roche Bros. store in Natick, Mass., acknowledged, "We're addicted to Roche Bros. [prepared] food, especially the squash. The quality is very consistent."
Asked by Michael L. Mulligan, vice president of wholesale sales and marketing for Supervalu, Minneapolis, what was most important to her in a supermarket, Jan replied, "Cleanliness. I want to see clean hands, neat areas. I want to feel confident about that."
At a ShopRite store in Nutley, N.J., a shopper named Marcy was buying prepared chicken kebabs and turkey burgers.
Asked how often she chooses or rejects products based on nutritional labeling, she answered, "all the time."
Debbie, shopping a Harris-Teeter store in Atlanta, named "the wide selection of prepared foods" as the reason she picked that store. "With three kids under three [years old], I don't have time to cook."
Mulligan asked Linda, another Harris-Teeter shopper, why she switched to that store, which is about a year old, from her previous supermarket.
"The extensive selection of prepared food and fresh foods, and so many things in one place" was the answer. Linda shops the store twice a week.
Asked what she most wants in a supermarket, she replied, "Good customer service. I don't want to be treated like an item."
A single shopper, Melissa, also likes the store's prepared foods. "I buy them a couple of times a week." Asked about the private-label products in her cart, she said, "I tend to buy all Harris-Teeter products because the quality is good."
Finally, at a Wild Oats store in Santa Monica, Calif., Angelo, a fitness buff, said he picked the health-oriented store "because it has stringent guidelines for ingredients and I think the animals are treated humanely. I trust it more."
Cynthia, on the other hand, was shopping Wild Oats, "because I live across the street. I'm not a health food nut, but it's starting to grow on me."
Asked what role price had in her choice of Wild Oats, an unidentified shopper commented "the quality of the ready-made food is good though the price is higher. Sometimes I'll pay a premium for the convenience involved."
Another Wild Oats shopper, asked by moderator Phil Lempert, Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist, to list the three most important things in her choice of a supermarket, cited location, price and "what I put in my body is important."
While acknowledging customers want more service, panelists noted hiring is difficult these days.
"We face a dilemma," said Sue Hosey, vice president of consumer and public affairs at P&C Food Markets, Syracuse, N.Y. "We have a number of young people working in the store and a large number of aging shoppers. We have to bridge the gap between them. We have to make young employees see how important these jobs can be to their future."
Michael Sansolo, group vice president of the FMI, urged retailers to phrase their help wanted ads to attract "dynamic, people-oriented" applicants.
