ROUNDY'S PROMOTES LOW-CARB CARNIVAL 2004-06-21 (2)

STEPHANIE FAGNANI

MILWAUKEE -- Roundy's here helped alleviate some of the mystery surrounding new low-carb consumer packaged goods products by offering shoppers samples during a two-week, in-store event.

From June 2 to 13, about 50 stores under the Roundy's banner, including Copps and Pick'n Save units, took part in the carnival-themed promotion. Major Wisconsin markets in the Madison, Green Bay and Milwaukee areas were covered, and the five-hour events travelled from store to store.

Among the low-carb Center Store products sampled at eight different stations per store were Planters Nuts, Kraft salad dressing, Momentum Bars from General Mills, Carb Options products, Kellogg's Special K cereal, Lewis Bakeries bread, Voila frozen meals from Birdseye, and Carb Fit snacks from Hain. Roundy's also offered samples of its signature sausages from its meat department, including chicken brats stuffed with feta cheese and spinach.

"We are trying to be a resource for our customers about different eating habits [and] health and wellness trends," Whitney Smith, director of consumer marketing at Roundy's, told SN. "There is all this hype in the marketplace around low carb. Customers started asking questions about products and showing an interest in that part of the way the market is headed. At the same time, we see that a lot of the manufacturers are coming out with more and more of these low-carb products. So it puts us in a unique position to be able to have an impact and to bring those two together in a meaningful way."

In-store sampling is effective in helping clear up misconceptions about the taste of low-carb products, according to representatives at The Hartman Group, a Bellevue, Wash.-based consulting and market research firm and publisher of "The Low-Carb Diet and Today's Consumer: Understanding the Low-Carbohydrate Phenomenon from a Consumer Perspective."

"Among our key findings is that dieters view low-carb products with skepticism. They don't believe low-carb products will taste good, and they are skeptical that they may contain 'fake' ingredients," said Blanca Hernandez, marketing sales manager. "Sampling means consumers don't have to take the risk of buying a product that may lack taste." The sampling event was organized by Roundy's and Blue Chip Health & Wellness, the marketing agency for the Low Carb Manufacturers Alliance. The in-store initiative also included magicians, dieticians and the "Carb-O-Wheel," which shoppers could spin for a chance to win a free subscription to Low Carb Energy magazine by guessing the correct number of carbs in the featured products.

For now, Roundy's merchandises low-carb items in the main Center Store aisles of its units, or in the natural and organic store-within-a-store sets, depending on the store. Once customers begin to exhibit more solidified behavioral tendencies or preferences with respect to low-carb products, the retailer will make a final decision on how to merchandise them, Smith said. Until then, Roundy's and its banners remain dependent upon customer input when deciding which new products to take on.

"Our interest in low carb is really being driven by the customers' interest in low carbs. We want to be able to provide programs that our customers want. We get lots of customer service messages: things from, 'Why don't you have a low-carb section?' to 'Why don't you have this product?' We try to respond to those," Smith said. "We want to make sure we are providing the information on all of the different diet trends, and helping people make decisions and choices about what they want to eat. We're in a unique position to be able to do that somewhat objectively."