Page 42 - Retail World March 2021

DAIRY CASE HEALTH, INDULGENCE, COMFORT: A BOOST FOR YOGHURT With more time at home and a shift towards comfort food during the Covid-19 era, Chobani General Manager Sales & Category Julia Clark says yoghurt consumers have gravitated towards larger pack sizes (large tubs are claimed to be up 8.4 per cent in value) and indulgent offers (said to be up 7.1 per cent in value). “\[Chobani’s\] leading indulgent brand, Gippsland Dairy, performed strongly over 2020 with 15.5 per cent value growth, with both the large tub and singles range driving the strong growth,” Ms Clark said. Citing IBISWorld research, The Yoghurt Shop General Manager Operations Brandon Reynolds says annual growth in yoghurt between 2019 and 2024 is expected to be around 1.4 per cent (IBISWorld, ‘AU Industry (Specialised) Report OD5172, Yoghurt Production in Australia’). “We’re seeing natural yoghurt growing much faster than that,” he said. “During, and now in the aftermath of the pandemic, we’ve seen our sales across grocery push well beyond that. “Right now, with work-from-home conditions becoming much more prevalent across Australia and the world, we’ve noticed growth overall in the retail market, but within that growth is the swing from preference of smaller sized units (170g-200g) to our larger multi- serve packs (500g-1kg). This is no doubt as people spend more time at home as convenience takes a back seat to value.” On the topic of health, Ms Clark says Chobani believes most of today’s consumers view food as medicine and have heightened expectations around the functionality of their food. “It should be both ‘good for me’ and taste good,” she said. “Yoghurt is a category that’s viewed as being fundamentally ‘good for me’, giving it a strong halo of health. Consumers also have a heightened awareness of immunity, due to Covid, and this is a positive association for the yoghurt category.” The future, according to Chobani, is flexitarian. “In Australia, 2.5 million consumers prefer an all-, or partially plant-based diet,” Ms Clark said. “This includes a growing number of flexitarians, who aren’t cutting out dairy or meat altogether, but are instead looking for balance.” Chobani goes the extra mile Chobani admits that the yoghurt category can be overwhelming to shop as it is “such a large category”. “While consumers shop the category by occasion,” Ms Clark said, “they look for shortcuts to help them navigate the section, including locating beacon brands to help them find the right segment they are looking to buy within. “Therefore, clearly blocking key brands in the Greek/natural segment, as well as in large fruited and single fruited segments, will help shoppers navigate the layout more easily.” In recent months, Chobani has been supporting retailers to create excitement for shoppers and increase yoghurt consumption, running what is said to be its biggest ever on-pack promotion, giving away 25,000 pieces of “high quality” activewear. Consumers entered through buying any specially marked Chobani products. “While consumers shop the category by occasion, they look for shortcuts to help them navigate the section, including locating beacon brands to help them find the right segment they are looking to buy within.” In January, Chobani brought the promotion to life with a shopper marketing activation at select independent Drakes and Ritchies retailers. The “larger-than- life” activation challenged consumers to take their marks on the Chobani athletics track and race through the yoghurt aisle to get that ‘winning peeling’. “At Chobani we like to go the extra mile and bring some excitement to the yoghurt aisle, and we’re always looking for ways to bring our promotions to life,” Ms Clark said. “We love working with our retail partners to provide a unique and fun experience for our Chobani fans ... This is certainly the biggest and best POS activation we’ve ever done, and the feedback we’ve had from retailers and consumers has been overwhelmingly positive.” Support and advice from The Yoghurt Shop The Yoghurt Shop works with retailers in a “reasonably traditional” way, providing in-store support to attract new customers to the product (ie, shelf talkers and regular promotions). “However,” Mr Reynolds said, “primarily we invest in micro influencer marketing, which results in a word-of-mouth style marketing campaign in the markets we target.” 40 RETAIL WORLD MAR, 2021 He has two key points of advice for retailers. “Retailers need to continue to improve the in-store experience to ensure customers continue to physically enter stores and improve the online experience for those who are heading online,” he said. “Retailers \[also\] need to focus on promoting Australian, and even more localised products in their supermarkets. The more consumers can support local products, the more competitive those products can be on shelf.”