CPGmatters: Meal-Planning Center Provides Incremental Sales Opportunities
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is an excerpt of a current article from the monthly e-zine, CPGmatters.
What's for dinner?
Whether meal-planning takes place in the aisle or at home, simply coming up with what to prepare for dinner each night can be a stressful challenge. Most shoppers have a basic routine consisting of four or five center-plate items prepared three or four different ways, with the average shopper preparing the same recipe four times a month.
Not surprisingly, this typical behavior provides incremental sales opportunities for retailers and food makers.
ShoptoCook, provider of recipe content for supermarkets, has kiosks installed in supermarkets across the country, including Schnucks, Spartan and Bloom and leading independents such as Penn Dutch and Wellfleet.
"Interactive devices engage shoppers," said Frank Beurskens, president of Buffalo, N.Y.-based ShoptoCook. "A touch of a finger can provide ideas selected by the shopper, printed out with an ingredient list and aisle location."
ShoptoCook Recipe Centers are typically located along the perishable perimeter in the supermarket's meat, seafood, produce, wine or cheese departments where meal-planning takes place. The kiosks provide printed recipes, accompaniment ideas, information and recipes on a variety of health & wellness conditions such as diabetes and gluten free foods, as well as information on the preparation and storage of all fruits and vegetables.
ShoptoCook Answers includes thousands of recipe ideas associated with every item sold in the Fresh department and are designed to increase loyalty and incremental sales. Optional solutions, designed to make shopping easier, include integrated Item Locater maps, Ingredient Nutritional Scoring, Price Checker, Wine Pairing, and Health & Wellness modules. Solutions are available for in-store kiosks and digital signage, with the latest developed for service counter weigh scales and retailer web sites.
How do retailers like Schnuck Markets benefit from the ShoptoCook solution?
"The bottom line is that recipes sell," said Mr. Beurskens. "We recently concluded a three-month, chain-wide promotion. The Holiday Baking menu button featured seven branded ingredients in 25 unique recipes. Sales increased 3,900 units, or 18 percent versus control stores for just the 7 ingredients tracked. There were over 1,699 additional ingredients featured in printed recipes during the promotion."
How do manufacturers benefit?
"Solution selling positions a new product in the context of a solution the shopper is searching for," said Mr. Beurskens. "ShoptoCook works with leading manufacturers to promote new products in the context of a recipe. With more and more supermarkets promoting private label brands, it becomes even more important to get a branded ingredient in front of a shopper in the context of a recipe."
Discussion Questions: What do you think of the potential for meal-planning kiosks? What hurdles toward greater adoption do they face? Are the benefits bigger for retailers or manufacturers?