It was widely speculated that once the government's tax rebate checks started coming in that consumers would spend the vast majority of those dollars on staples such as grocery items sold in supermarkets. That, according to a national survey of consumers conducted by ICOM Information & Communications of Precima, did not happen.
According to the survey, 84 percent said they did not spend their rebates to purchase groceries even though other data from the research suggests supermarkets had a real opportunity to capture more of those dollars.
Eighty-two percent said they've cooked at home more in the past six months instead of going out to restaurants;
Seventy-two percent have made fewer trips to buy groceries in the past six months;
Eighty-nine percent have shopped at the same grocery store for the past six months.
"The grocery industry didn't convince the American consumer that maximum return on stimulus checks could be achieved right in the supermarket aisles," said Brian Ross, general manager of Precima, in a press release. "The average family of four's $1,800 rebate equates to about three months of grocery buying, a prime opportunity for stores to influence shopping behavior. The rebate checks were a missed opportunity for grocers as consumers in this economic environment opted to earmark the funds for other uses - paying down debt, spending on necessities like gasoline and utilities or putting into savings."
Supermarket programs that offered consumers additional savings through gift cards or store credits were off the mark, said Mr. Ross.
"Supermarkets are sitting on a wealth of aggregate inventory, sales and customer data from frequent shopper programs. Instead of limiting their promotions to gift card offers, grocers could have used loyalty data to identify more relevant incentives for shoppers to spend their rebates at the grocery store," he said.
Discussion Questions: How would you rate the effectiveness of grocery marketing efforts around the federal stimulus check program? What could supermarkets have done to more effectively address the opportunity?