SURVEY: SUPERMARKETS FADE IN NONFOOD SALES

American consumers are shopping supermarkets less for nonfood products, according to a national study commissioned by Supermarket News. The survey, conducted for SN by America's Research Group, Charleston, S.C., polled 1,000 shoppers by telephone, asking them about their spending habits on health and beauty care, general merchandise and video products.

two to one against them," said Britt Beemer, chairman and founder of the research firm.

This finding coincides with industry statistics that show a loss over the last few years in nonfood sales at supermarkets. Willard Bishop Consulting, Barrington, Ill., for example, has reported supermarket dollar volume going from 44.2% of all HBC sales in 1986 to 41% in 1992, representing about a $1 billion loss.

This trend also is seen in an HBC consumer survey conducted for SN by America's Research Group last year. That survey indicated

that consumers preferred to shop at drug stores and mass merchandisers over supermarkets for their HBC needs. In last year's survey, 39% of the consumers said they went to drug chains for their health care products, and 28.8% to discount stores. Close behind were supermarkets, as 28.2% of the consumers said they went to food chains for health care items. For beauty care products, the survey said discount stores were the preferred choice for 35.2% of the consumers, while 28.8% went to drug stores and 22.6% to supermarkets. The remainder said they preferred department stores, clubs and warehouses.

Consumers are not inclined to change their shopping habits anytime soon, according to those questioned in this latest survey. One in six predicted they would be buying more health and beauty care products at supermarkets in the coming year, while more than twice that number, 35.1%, said they would be shopping at supermarkets for such items even less than they are now. Slightly over one in five shoppers said they are currently buying more general merchandise from supermarkets than a year ago, but 41.8% reported they were shopping supermarkets less for general merchandise. Those buying about the same accounted for 36.1%.

When asked if they expected to buy more or less general merchandise from supermarkets in the coming year, 15.5% answered more while 36.2% said less. Price appears to be an important factor in consumers' shopping decisions. More than half of the respondents said price was the main reason for purchasing nonfood items in supermarkets. Selection was most important for 22%, followed by convenience at 17.6%. There were some surprises in the fast-paced supermarket video business despite another year of healthy sales gains, reported in SN's State of the Video Industry Survey, published March 27.

Supermarkets ranked fourth among outlets selling videotapes of movies. To the question, "If you wanted to buy a video movie, where would you go first?" more than half those surveyed answered, "discount store." Video stores were the choice of 27.9% of those surveyed, while 5.9% opted for membership warehouse clubs. Only 4.8% listed supermarkets as their first choice for video purchases. Yet, SN's survey of supermarkets reported that same-store video sell-through volume rose 41% last year to $66,200 per store.

When it came to video rentals, one in 10 surveyed said they were renting more video movies from supermarkets than they were a year ago, but 45.6% of shoppers said they rent less today. "Supermarkets face a selection dilemma when compared to specialty video rental store operations," Beemer explained. When asked if they expected to rent more or fewer videos from supermarkets in the coming year, the trend continued. Only 9.3% predicted they would rent more, and 42.0% said they expected to rent fewer. Although supermarket rentals are expected to be flat this year, retailers surveyed in SN's annual video report said their same-store rental business shot up 26.1% last year to $139,677 per store.