Are Large Grocers Connecting With Locavores?
Accounts of grocery chains proclaiming their links to local producers abound and have for several years although consumer confidence — and conviction — varies.
According to AT Kearney’s report, Buying into the Local Food Movement, demand for local food "is spreading — from rural farm market stands to supermarket shelves." But, they ask, are large grocery retailers capturing the growing "locavore" market?
Researchers used an online survey to question some 1,300 Americans last November. Of those, 69 percent were their household’s primary grocery shopper. Respondents across all income groups said they were prepared to pay premium prices for local food, one possible reason chains want their market share. Kearney points to Walmart’s intention of increasing its proportion of local produce to nine percent by 2015 as well as Supervalu’s estimate that "it buys 25-40 percent of its produce locally."
Kroger linked up with Michigan State University (MSU) Product Center in 2010 to promote products made and grown in Michigan. Walmart tested a similar partnership in Oklahoma the same year.
Annisa Farese of neat-os.com published a convenient roundup on her blog in April. Sprouts Farmers Market, she says, specializes in "seasonal produce from local and regional farms." Wegmans has its own farms while Whole Foods Market is launching a "commercial scale greenhouse with its own retail grocery space" in partnership with Gotham Greens.
Miles matter, particularly because produce can be harvested and sold in a shorter time span. Defining "local" is an important issue that chains struggle with in terms of communications, operations and profit. Shoppers gave Kearney different interpretations, ranging from 100 miles from the store (64 percent) to grown within the same state (37 percent). Ranked by trust, online grocers came in last but only just behind national supermarkets and big box retailers.
The Kearney report did suggest possible improvements. As perceptions of quality and affordability are low, emphasizing freshness and quality are "paramount." Displays, information and "co-marketing" with local producers would help build trust, the authors say. Digital media could also facilitate access to information about local suppliers, sometimes directly from grocers’ websites.
- Buying into the local food movement – AT Kearney
- Got Michigan? Kroger joins with Pure Michigan to push local groceries – ClawsonPatch
- Pure Michigan: MSU product center and Kroger team up to showcase Michigan food – ANR Communications
- Made in Oklahoma coalition partners with Wal-Mart to promote local products – MIO
- When food miles become food footsteps; the movement for grocery stores to sell local product – neat-os
Discussion Questions
Do retailers need to do more to convince consumers of the quality and value of the local food they have on offer? Are trust issues, particularly as they relate to the largest chains, restraining the local opportunity?
As the research showed, consumers have varying definitions of local. The same concern for most consumers is what the retailer means when they say locally grown. I discovered that the corn I buy at one of our local supermarkets is from the grower whose farm store I shop. The retailer had done nothing to indicate the corn was locally grown.
In other cases, I see the term locally grown, but nothing to indicate if they mean in the county, state, or the Midwest. I can appreciate the difficulty in managing the varying signage requirements and logistics to make sure the consumer knows what local really means, but believe the payoff for the retailer would be well worth the effort.
Ran across this issue at my favorite big box retailer over the weekend, sort of. Bought a watermelon that, while grown in Florida, was not ripe and tasted one shade better than cardboard. I have noticed this with strawberries, grapes, and tomatoes, too—the produce looks great but has minimal flavor compared to true local produce we remember growing up. Whether this has to do with genetic engineering, mass production, a supply chain that is great at delivering safe produce, but has given up on flavor…I don’t know.
The good news is, produce is available year-round now, but the bad news is, it is often nearly tasteless. My opinion is that consumers will pay more for better taste.
In my opinion, most large grocers do a horrible job in promoting local products. When they do, it’s only by default. Such as supermarkets in California promoting local produce, claiming it comes from within 350 miles. That could also mean it comes from a large commercial producer in Mexico. Local does not mean organic and nor does it mean that it comes from small independent farms. The definition of local can vary greatly and that’s where trust issues come in.
Woodman’s in Wisconsin seems to carry every possible locally made product such as wine, cherry products, honey, specialty meats, pizzas, beers, etc. But good luck finding Door County fresh cherries. Even the supermarkets in Door County, the cherries come from Chile or Washington. Whole Foods will often put a picture of the local farmer, the exact location of the farm, right next to the display. Its doesn’t get more clear than that. Will that happen at the plain vanilla grocery stores? Probably not.
Equating “local” with “healthy” or “good” is not always justified. Concepts like “freshness” are also as misleading as “organic.” If you are consuming “local” produce that’s covered in Roundup or similar, fed chemicals to stimulate growth, grown in soil that’s been exhausted for years, watered with lord knows what in the water…I’m sorry but that is NOT going to help build trust. Locally grown crap isn’t any better than imported crap.
Clever marketing does not build trust…honesty does.
I happened to catch a Walmart commercial this weekend featuring a store in Warner Robbins, GA. The store was identified in the ad to create context for the message, which was a ‘blind taste test’ of produce in a farm stand environment. The payoff was consumer’s surprise at being told the produce was ‘locally grown’—but all from Walmart.
It was an effective spot—congrats to Walmart and their agency. But somehow I don’t think this is the same “locally grown produce” that Stoney (the produce man) used to go pick up every morning in his station wagon back in my bag boy days at the Candler Supermarket. He even bought stuff from local gardeners with an excess of fresh corn or green beans. One of them was my father.
So, Al, does the locally grown produce and fruits you can get in December and January in Florida taste like the stuff out of my dad’s garden? Hardly. And they don’t even really bear that much resemblance to each other in HOW they were grown—which matters a heck of a lot more than WHERE they were grown.
As in so many instances, locally grown is an appealing concept but the product won’t live up the imagery. So locally grown will most likely end up as just another flavor of the month.
Human beings trust what they understand. One hundred years ago, one-third of the U.S. population lived on a farm. Consumers throughout most of the country understood the value of fresh produce and other products from the ground to the table in quick order.
Today, 1% of the population lives on a farm. Another 1% plays the game of farming and investing. This isn’t a question of “Do retailers need to do more?” It’s a question of, can the locavores and retailers work together and do more? Don’t grade merely the retailers. Grade the balance of the individuals in this portion of the food channel.
The food manufacturing industry has partnered and worked with the retail industry to tell the story of healthy eating and value. The locavores have to pull their weight in this cause.
In-store merchandising and promotion has greatly increased the ability to influence and move merchandise. Locavores have to develop the signage, videos, “come see us on the farm,” farm to table message, etc. right along with the retailer.
My intuitive response is that the concepts of local sourcing and national chains are at odds with one another, since the latter usually became such with economies of scale (in buying, among other things). As to whether “locally grown” is better than “grown in _ _ _,” I think that’s a(n overly) broad generalization. Try and find a head of locally grown lettuce — or anything else — in Minnesota in February.
I know Maryland produces some of the best locally grown produce anywhere. But, of course, only in the summer. Most of this produce is bought and sold from local producers at a market near the farm. You know you are buying and supporting local neighbors. You also know you are getting the freshest produce available. But if you try getting local produce from a grocery store/chain in the fall or winter, it is not going to be the same locally grown produce you expect in the summer.
What is the benefit of doing “more to convince consumers of the quality and value of the local food they have to offer?” First, there’s no “value” if the products are sold for “premium prices” as mentioned in the research. Logic tells us that shorter transportation distances mean lower prices, and claims of “locally-grown” have not been shown to increase sales. And second, the “quality” (everyone has their own definition) of products sourced from far away and even other countries is often excellent.
No matter where you live, Colorado’s Rocky Ford cantaloupes are the best, apples from Washington state are usually the wise choice, onions from Walla Walla, Hawaii, and Vidalia reign supreme, and spuds from Idaho are superior. And the #1 revenue generator in the produce department is bananas, none of which will ever be “local.” What you’re left with for local appeal are tomatoes (usually crummy wherever they’re grown), leafy things, and stone fruits (aka “tree fruits”). All very seasonal.
It seems that most of the “local” issue has to do with seasonal produce. Here in NorCal we have excellent access to the best stuff in season, so we may be a bit jaded. (And we have premium Harris Ranch Beef.) But having been in the grocery business for decades, having lived all over the U.S., and being a foodie, I haven’t seen a noticeable difference in fresh produce offerings geographically. We take it from where we can find it.
In ’87 my team won an “Effie” award (for advertising effectiveness) for a multimedia campaign for BI-LO supermarkets in South Carolina that featured a fictional produce guy named Walter. Nobody ever saw Walter, but shoppers would often ask department employees if they were him. What they did find in the produce section were tiny stickers attached to various items that said, “I recommend this — Walter.” (This was waaaay before the stickers found on produce today.) Sales escalated — hence the award — without claims of “grown nearby.” That sort of claim is unnecessary.
But if you want to emphasize “locally grown,” no one was ever better at it than Frank McMinn, my friend and the voice of Raley’s supermarkets for many years. His descriptions of eating fresh, uncooked sweet corn right in the field — naming the farmer and location — are legendary. I succeeded Frank as VP Advertising at Raley’s, but persuaded him to continue speaking for the company. While I can’t offer an audio sample of Frank’s talents, the following was written about him a few years ago: Frank McMinn gives food tips AND saves marriages.
The benefits of offering local foods are myths, like “organic” and “all-natural.” Why waste time and resources to promote it?