Stir fry packs, easy access parking, and ‘ready to go’ avocados are some of the ways retailers and brands are targeting convenience grocery shoppers.
As detailed by Herb Sorensen in Inside Shopper last week, quick trip shoppers are a sometimes neglected part of the modern supermarket experience.
Yet this state of affairs is changing as brands embrace simple instore solutions, such as quick grab dinner packs and ‘ripe now’ vegetables.
Norrelle Goldring, head of shopper insight and retail strategy at GfK, says the classic shopping trip can be broken down into five categories: stockup, top up, dinner tonight, destination, and entertaining.
“Where a stockup shopper is looking for a week’s worth of variety and meal ideas, the dinner tonight shopper wants the protein, carbs, and vegetables all in one bundle,” she says.
IGA is one local retailer targeting this group, with its new Xpress stores offering various meal solutions for time poor Sydney shoppers.
Coles and Woolworths are also noticeably ramping up their homebrand meal bases and packaged produce, such as pre-sliced stirfry vegetable packs.
Goldring says retailers should look at offering all the components for one meal in a central area, so quick trippers don’t waste time racing around the store.
This is an idea executed by Arnott’s in Woolworths this year, as part of Vita-Wheat and Cruskitt’s campaign around busy mum’s healthy lunches.
Marketeers should also look at bundling dessert options into their convenience displays, so people can grab entree, main, and sweets all at the same time.
“Dessert as part of the dinner occasion has been declining for some time. All the focus is on the main meal,” says Goldring.
Another trend is offering ready to eat now produce; most notably via ‘good to go’ stickers on the skins of avocados.
This simple solution means impatient shoppers won’t forego purchasing because an ingredient isn’t ripe enough for that night’s meal.
Goldring says the principles of quick trip retail are making it easy for shoppers to know where things are located, and letting shoppers leave and pay quickly.
Longer term strategies include easy entry access, such as stores located nearer to the front of a centre, and prime parking spots for 15 minute quick trips.
