Health, sustainability and snacking were key global trends for produce growers and retailers, according to Neilsen’s Jeanine Sciacca. Ms Sciacca, who is Associate Director in Commercial Development for Nielsen shared her insights at the PMA Fresh Connections conference day.
Globally Australians are on the lower end of fruit and vegetable consumption, in the bottom five, but that represented a massive opportunity, Ms Sciacca said.
Consumers still spend more money on fresh food than they do any other category in the supermarket and it is a way for retailers to differentiate, the audience heard. “Communicate the value you represent on the pack, share a clear calorie count and keep the nutritional information really simple,” she said.
Better value – what it really means
The same three attributes are present in any country Nielsen looked at around the world. Good fresh products, value and convenience. Produce value is up by 6%, however consumption remains steady. “To increase consumption we need offers that meet consumer demand,” Ms Sciacca said.
Coles and Aldi are the front-runners for fresh produce sales in Australia, and Coles has gained more from Aldi than Woolworths in terms of leeching consumers. “If you look at Woolworths, they have lost four times more to Aldi, than what Coles have,” Ms Sciacca said. “It’s about more promotions, more frequent promotions and value for money promotions. The question is, "Is there a better way to promote than what we’ve done in the past?”
Half of consumers are trying to lose weight, Ms Sciacca pointed out. “What we’re finding from the research is that people actually seek out ways to consume more fresh fruit and vegetables.” Difficulty in reading food labels was another issue, and the easier they were to read the more likely consumers were to buy, according to Ms Sciacca.
Fast food restaurants should also include calorie information on their menus, according to the Nielsen survey results discussed. “Calorie info on groceries is actually a heightened factor. This has become an expectation now.”
Again the importance of sustainable business practices for millennials was highlighted. “If you or your company knows anything at all about sustainability shout it out from the roof tops,” Ms Sciacca said.
Convenience will impact the way fresh food is packaged, Ms Sciacca told the audience. Snacking as a category is worth $374 billion, or eight times the annual global turnover of coca-cola. “How does this relate to fresh? We had a look at the top ten products people snack on. Fresh fruit and vegetables is up in the top three. Across the world, fresh fruit and vegetables are right up there in the top ten foods for snacking.” Fresh produce on the go, in easy to grab packs is very important. “Small pack sizes, for kids lunch boxes, gym bag, taking to work. This is becoming a bigger and bigger opportunity for our industry.” Growth can come from combining fresh produce with other products and other flavours too.
Women are also the ones doing most of the snacking. “Women do want smaller portions, but a must have for them is a calorie count on pack,” Ms Sciacca revealed.
Fruit and vegetables have more health benefits than packaged food to display, the marketing is just not often as good, Ms Sciacca concluded.
Online – stay relevant, easy to find
Online retail is still very small today, at 1.6% of total grocery sales, but it’s grown through the roof in just one year – more than 101%, Ms Sciacca reminded the audience. “In the UK they predict online to be responsible for 15% of grocery sales by 2017. That’s massive,” she added. “If you just look at the number shopping at Coles online, 35% of them are between the ages of 16 and 24. The message is we need to be relevant and easy to find.”
Woolworths has a 33% market share, Coles 29%. Woolworths is doing better because their online shopper base is much bigger the audience learned. Average spend at Coles is higher, however, at around $972 per year per consumer thanks to geo targeting. “Relevant and highly targeted offers highlight mobile as a real driver of consumer spend,” Ms Sciacca said. Two thirds of customers who have been targeted are open to being targeted again with such offers, the audience heard. “Omnichannel marketing is a thing of the past. Everything is converging, becoming the way we shop retail,” Ms Sciacca said. “It’s about designing a value added proposition that enhances the shopping experience.”
Pricing and promotions
Luke Oldridge, Senior Manager Marketing and Effectiveness, Nielsen, talked about the relationships between products and price, and how to set pricing promotions to maximize value. Mr Oldridge used the example of apple analysis, and said growers and retailers had to ask “Who am I really comparing prices with? Is the price of cherries important? Is the price of Pears important? How am I changing my behavior with what’s on promotion?” Looking at data and scientific value is very helpful in answering such questions, Mr Oldridge told the audience. The returns could be massive, according to him. “We’re talking about an $800,000 increase in profit based upon $80,000 worth of research.”
Knowing price competitors, and how consumers will react and quantities that will sell are key to success in using the research, Mr Oldridge explained. Data would reveal that 75kg out of 90kg of apples sold were because apples were on promotion that week, and more pre-packaged apples were sold as an example. Pear sales also increased, though not as much. “We can identify what are the products and what are the competitors in your set, so that when they make price changes you understand what impact it’s going to have on your product, and vice versa.”
Prices set too high will lead to waste, Mr Oldridge explained. “We need to make sure the price is low enough that we sell all the stock, but high enough that we still actually make some profit,” he said.
“Is there a better way that we can maximize volume sold and profit? The answer to that certainly is yes,” Ms Sciacca said as the presentation concluded.