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MEAT & POULTRY MEAT CAN BE BETTER FOR YOU The meat department is a strong traffic driver, but are you getting your fair share of the dinner plate? By Shopper Intelligence Senior Insight Director David Shukri. Wondering what to have for dinner tonight? If so, there’s a very good chance some sort of meat will be on the menu, and you wouldn’t be alone. A massive 69 per cent of surveyed meat shoppers buy for the evening meal and 52 per cent will buy and consume on the same day. So, if meat is your business, how can you make sure you capture that spend? Let’s start with the basics. For retailers, the meat department plays the role of ‘hero’. That means it’s a big driver of loyalty and if they deliver it well, shoppers will choose them over others. This is especially true for fresh beef and chicken shoppers. So, in this respect, the department is a strong traffic driver. In fact, fresh meat ranks as the seventh highest traffic-driving category in the store. At the same time, this department also has good basket building potential. Shoppers will often buy because they feel like it at the time. They’re also likely to buy more because of good special offers in-store. Fresh pork shoppers are especially open to a compelling volume deal. So, given this opportunity to establish shopper loyalty, the following must stand out for hero categories: • Maintaining simplicity at shelf. • Focusing on excellent availability. • Landing effective pre-store communications. If you’re looking at fresh beef or mince, you can add a fourth component: getting your premium offer right. Shoppers in these two categories are more open to paying a bit more for better quality. Now, let’s take another look at those dinner shoppers. With seven out of 10 meat shoppers buying for this occasion, getting it right is critical to success. To underscore the point, fresh lamb, beef and pork are the top three ranked categories bought for dinner. Fresh chicken ranks sixth and mince ninth. In terms of the path to purchase, meat shoppers over- index on two important triggers. The first is buying for a particular occasion or purpose. Of those who planned to buy meat, 21 per cent of those surveyed said this was their trigger. This means linking to the occasion through pre- store messaging is a must. The second trigger applies to the unplanned, or impulsive meat shopper. This group is more likely than average to buy because something caught their eye on shelf. Fresh pork ranks highest in the department for this trigger: 12th out of all categories. The important point here is that when buying for dinner, meat shoppers are even more prone to both these triggers. If it’s dinner for tonight, they become even more important still. While we’re on purchase triggers, it’s worth commenting on the effectiveness of catalogues. A hot topic in many categories, the question is always what return you should expect from your investment. In meat, fresh turkey has the highest result for shoppers triggered by catalogue (nine per cent). It ranks only 74th and the next highest ranked meat category is outside the top 100. Therefore, put the emphasis instead on the occasion, get the messaging right and back it up with impactful in-store presence. Finally, what’s most important to meat shoppers and what do they want to see improved? Well, they’re a pretty engaged bunch. They attach more importance than the average shopper to a wide range of factors. These include price, offers, range, enjoyment and environmental impact. So, there’s plenty of scope for retailers and suppliers to engage them. There are, however, unmet needs in the department. Price, price consistency and range are the top three priorities to address. And if you still haven’t decided what’ll be on your plate this evening, consider this for a moment. Meat shoppers buying for dinner are even less satisfied with price and range. That’s a very compelling reason to focus on shoppers’ needs and put your investment behind what really matters to them. Now, who’s for steak? Top three factors to improve in the meat department (% is net favourable agreement with each statement) The prices are great on the products I buy I can consistently rely on a fixed low price There is a good range of products MEAT ALL DEPT. DEPT. 50% 55% 45% 49% 69% 72% Source: Shopper Intelligence 2020 About Shopper Intelligence Shopper Intelligence is the only partner to unlock how and why shoppers buy, then continuously and objectively benchmark every category and every retailer. With a combination of trusted expertise and pioneering techniques, Shopper Intelligence provides the most simple and actionable shopper insights in the industry. For more information contact info@shopperintelligence.com.au. 36 RETAIL WORLD SEP, 2020