A CONSUMER COMPOSITE

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

The most efficient supermarket distribution system in the world isn't worth much if the store has no shoppers.

That simple logic is now compelling many retailers to augment the rush to efficiency that has been under way for a year and a half with a new imperative: making sure stores provide the image, merchandise and service consumers demand. To that end, many retailers are paying closer attention to what their own consumer affairs executives are finding out with their research into consumers' minds -- and retailers are acting on the experts' findings more and more. So what do consumer affairs experts know and what are they recommending?

To find out, SN conducted a series of extensive interviews with 10 leading experts to gauge how supermarkets view national consumer trends on a wide range of issues. The result is a sweeping presentation of what the customer wants -- and how stores will respond -- as the 1990s continue to unfold. The findings form part of a larger consumer outlook package in this issue of SN, which includes exclusive market research and interviews with shoppers. Other sections of this issue will focus on consumer trends in various product categories.

The interviews with consumer affairs experts are broken into sections on specific topics. Among the findings:

Consumers see supermarket variety as a major plus, but operators will be hard-pressed to keep satisfying the insatiable demands for wider assortments.

Aging baby boomers will build up an endless stream of expectations in areas ranging from the look of stores to the appearance of product packaging.

Consumers may be turned off if the sizes of stores continue to escalate. Instead, operators need to focus on making the existing spaces more consumer-friendly.

While Efficient Consumer Response is intended to make a difference to the consumer, it will be a long time before consumers ever feel the benefits.

Supermarkets are increasingly seeing themselves as educators on the nutrition and food safety fronts. They are taking on a bigger role by developing instructional brochures, holding shopper seminars and other means.

Supermarkets, aided by improved scanner data, will need to better tailor assortments to local markets.

The consumer push for convenience items and fresh, healthy choices will lead to many innovative merchandising efforts.

Consumer experts interviewed by SN stressed that the health and nutrition issues will loom large in consumer purchases, and stores need to be up front about the facts.

"More customers are aware of how to read labels and more knowledgeable about what products they want and don't want in their diets," said Pat Nowak, director of consumer affairs and public relations for Seaway Food Town, Maumee, Ohio. "So supermarkets can't bluff them. We have to be sensitive to their needs in the health field."

Supermarkets were also urged to counter negative publicity on food safety by stressing to consumers that quality control is enforced.

Margaret McEwan, vice president of consumer services and quality assurance for Shaw's Supermarkets, East Bridgewater, Mass., said the industry must tell consumers about the positive aspects of the store.

The best way to handle safety issues is to be preventative -- provide customers with high-quality products, train personnel how to handle them properly, demand high levels of consistent store execution and constantly monitor and reinforce the importance of those programs.

In catering to the consumer's demands for convenience, many operators are attempting to anticipate how far retailers can go to satisfy shoppers.

The day may come when we have to take orders for meals by phone, prepare them and have them

ready for customers to pick up at a drive-through window, said Ann Crowley, the Iowa City, Iowa-based director of consumer affairs for Nash Finch Co., Minneapolis. The job of luring the consumer isn't made easier by competition from alternative formats, but supermarket operators said their job will be easier if they stick with their traditional strengths.

We need to keep stressing that we are food experts, said Shari Steinbach, consumer affairs and public relations supervisor for Spartan Stores, Grand Rapids, Mich. We need to keep our stores focused on food and on offering food solutions that consumers can't get at other formats, such as meal planning, recipes, nutritional information, quality and variety.

As stores keep a focus on efficiency, the ECR initiative is presenting some paradoxes for consumer marketing.

Mary Moore, director of public affairs at D'Agostino Supermarkets, Larchmont, N.Y., said, "If we can be more efficient and lower our costs, then consumers will benefit in the long run because prices will hold. One tricky thing about ECR, though, is the difficulty of eliminating items to be more efficient without alienating some customers that might buy those specific items in small quantities."

Following are the comments of the consumer affairs executives: