Big food marketers have rediscovered the center store at the very same time consumers have expanded their search there for savings from perimeter departments.
"Center store is back," said Tom Vierhile, a research director at Datamonitor, told Brandweek. "People got away from it in the first place because it lacked the pizzazz and sex appeal" of fresh, frozen and refrigerated categories across the supermarket.
Manufacturers are introducing new products and upping ad budgets to get consumers thinking about the center store and shelf-stable items as alternatives to other areas of the store.
Del Monte has increased its marketing expenditures 30 percent overall and recently began a $15 million ad campaign with a "Stretch Your Dollar" theme for its canned fruits and vegetables.
While many companies have cut back on new product rollouts, shelf-stable has been the exception. According to Mintel, 284 of 376 new products rolled out so far in the second quarter have been center store items.
Krista Faron, a senior analyst at Mintel, told Brandweek, "That's just not something we saw as much of in the past."
Discussion Questions: How would you compare the center store opportunity today versus the past? Are retailers and suppliers in synch on building the center store?