NEW YORK — Supermarkets continue to be the format that the majority of shoppers choose for meat purchases and primary shopping trips, according to an SN-hosted webinar The Top 5 Consumer Insights From the Power of Meat. Panelists included Jerry Kelly and Susan Clark, national retail account managers for Cryovac, a division of Sealed Air Corp., and Anne-Marie Roerink, founder and principal of 210 Analytics.
NEW YORK — Supermarkets continue to be the format that the majority of shoppers choose for meat purchases and primary shopping trips, according to an SN-hosted webinar “The Top 5 Consumer Insights From the Power of Meat.”
Panelists included Jerry Kelly and Susan Clark, national retail account managers for Cryovac, a division of Sealed Air Corp., and Anne-Marie Roerink, founder and principal of 210 Analytics.
The 2011 Power of Meat report, published by Food Marketing Institute and American Meat Institute, was conducted by 210 Analytics and sponsored by Cryovac.
Full-service supermarkets have a 63% market share as consumers' primary store, Roerink said.
“That has held steady compared with last year's number. And that is also the first time in about six, seven years that we did not see the supermarket share decline,” she added, explaining that supermarket and supercenter shares plateaued.
When shopping for meat and poultry, shoppers also prefer supermarkets to supercenters by a wide margin. Supermarkets have a 68% market share as the primary store that most shoppers use for meat/poultry purchases, while supercenters have an 18% share, according to the report. And, nine out of 10 shoppers who prefer supermarkets as their primary food retail format will stay at the supermarket instead of going to another format to buy meat products. By contrast, only six out of 10 primary supercenter shoppers stay in the supercenter buy their meat products, Roerink said. Often, those primary supercenter shoppers will go to supermarkets for their meat purchases.
The webinar also shed light on organic and natural meat buying habits.
“Overall, it's interesting to see that natural and organic consumption has been stable” compared with last year, Kelly said, noting natural/organic is a strong category for upscale and specialty retailers whose customers are often less impacted by the economy.
However, high prices remain a barrier for many shoppers. Since 31% of consumers only bought natural and organic meat and poultry items when they were on sale, “that tells you there's pent-up demand for natural and organic, but the regular price is a little too high,” he pointed out.
Even as the economy improves, shoppers are still looking to cook at home but don't know a lot about meat, poultry and seafood preparation. Kelly said consumers expressed interest in cooking classes, recipes based on sales promotions in weekly fliers, and smartphone apps and videos with preparation ideas.
Shoppers are also concerned about how to get meat home without a mess. Clark said “leak-proof packaging is in demand” and that a third of shoppers have bought a leak-proof package in the past three months.
