NEW FOOD

David Merrefield

One of the generalities that has been true about the retailing of food is that, for the most part, the nature of what's being sold in supermarkets -- the food itself -- remains more or less the same for long periods of time. But now it looks as though that could change. There are at least a couple of forces gathering that could work to fundamentally change the basic constitution of food products being offered at retail.

Let's step back for a moment. In broad terms, here's how the retailing situation might be viewed: In some forms -- such as the retailing of electronics -- products being brought to market are constantly going through permutations that result in the products being significantly changed. There are several other channels of trade where change is common, although perhaps less dramatic. These include apparel, automobiles, housewares, furnishings and similar items that have a strong fashion component. The product changes affecting these channels of trade allow retailers to make fairly credible claims of change, opening the way for merchandising and promotional activities that call attention to newness or improvement of products. The food industry has long attempted to benefit from the psychology of change through constant new-product introductions, the so-called "lifeblood of the grocery industry."

In actuality, discerning consumers understand fairly easily that many new products are little more than modifications of flavor or packaging. There are exceptions to the "nothing is really new" rule, of course, exceptions such as the introduction of artificial sweeteners or low-fat entrees. But for the most part, the rule is true enough. Now, though, there have been two developments that may usher in an era of greater and more genuine change in products supermarkets sell.

One development that portends change has to do with biotechnology, the other has to do with nutrition labeling.

The change of biotechnology is straightforward and has offered an example to consider: Genetic tinkering has produced a tomato that has sufficiently different qualities to arouse a good bit of consumer interest. As is known to many, the tomato is genetically altered in such a way that it has three weeks' shelf life, better flavor and better color, according to its boosters. The new MacGregor tomato, approved for sale by the Food and Drug Administration in May, is already being sold at a couple of retail locations. The product is perceived by shoppers as being something that's really new and improved, sparking sales. Although it's early in the day, I think the new tomato will be accepted by consumers and many more genetically altered -- indeed, genuinely improved -- products will follow.

Now let's look at the potential for nutrition labels to foster new products. Here, the effect is less direct, but is just as potent, or more so.

Change will be driven because for the first time consumers are offered a dose of full disclosure about the nutritional content -- or lack of it -- across a broad range of products. The information is presented in an easily understood and uniform format that is compelling a lot of consumer readership and a lot of new understanding about what's in food.

In many instances, the news is good and the nutritional content of products, such as bread, looks better than might have been imagined. Other products, such as some snack items, frozen items and others, may fare more poorly than anticipated when it comes to net caloric content. Some look even worse in the "calories from fat" measure.

So it seems to me that, as time goes on, nutritional labeling will emerge as an extremely potent force for change as manufacturers refigure products to make them look better on the nutritional label, and make them sell better too. The bottom line is that whether change is inspired by biotechnology or a reformulation inspired by nutritional labels, a wave of genuinely new and improved products will be in the making. As that happens, food retailing can join its more change-driven retailing cousins in using marketing strategies based on a good number of really new or improved products.