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Edwin Pawlowski
 
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Default Grocery shopping

May 09, 2005, Monday 2 STAR EDITION

BUSINESS; Pg. 6

883 words


Americans are increasingly grocery shopping one day at a time;
Stores cater to the quick fix

The Record

JOAN VERDON

HACKENSACK, N.J.

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Do you know what you'll be having for dinner
tomorrow?

If not, then you're a typical American food shopper, according to
research by Unilever.

More and more Americans are shopping for food for today, and not
worrying about what they'll be eating three or four days down the road. And
Unilever, a multinational food and consumer products company with its U.S.
headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., will use that information to help
its retail customers better stock their stores and, in turn, sell more of
its products.

"These insights could really revolutionize the way that retailers
manage and merchandize their stores," said Kimberly Senter, director of
category and customer strategy for Unilever.

Unilever, which has 15,000 U.S. employees, and factories and offices
in 24 states, makes dozens of brands of food and cleaning products,
including Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Lipton teas, Dove soaps, Vaseline lotions
and All detergents.

Unilever will use the results to develop more products geared to the
need for quick dinnertime meals. One of the company's newest food products,
Bertoli frozen dinners, "has gotten off to a tremendous start, and I think
that's because Unilever has really cracked the code," Senter said. "We
understand that it's all about trips. We understand how consumers are
shopping."

The company is also hoping to use the research to market existing
products. As it unveiled its data recently at the Food Marketing Institute
show in Chicago, Unilever suggested that retailers create themed displays
like "The Short Order Chef" - a display case with fresh, refrigerated and
frozen meal ingredients grouped together for the hurried shopper.

Another display could group routine staples like spices and sauces for
shoppers thinking about next week. As for Unilever's Skippy peanut butter, a
classic stock-up item sold in bulk, the display might emphasize price.

In its research, Unilever tracked the shopping habits of 2,400
consumers. Of that group, 900 kept detailed online diaries of their
purchases over a two-week period and turned in their register receipts to
researchers, which Unilever said sets its study apart from previous surveys.

"One of the biggest take-aways from this research is that 62 percent -
almost two-thirds of all the trips - are quick trips," said Senter. She
defines a typical quick trip as "you're on your way home from work and
you're looking for something to either create or complete a meal." And she
said, the "20-20 rule" typically applies to quick trips - 20 minutes or
less, $ 20 or less.

The study found that quick trips were the dominant type of shopping
trip made to all food retailers - supercenter stores and big-box
discounters, as well as to neighborhood grocery stores and convenience
stores.

"I think that surprised all of us," said Michael Twitty, Unilever's
senior manager of shopper insights. "We always suspected that quick trips
were important, but we found that quick trips were the most important trips
in every single retail channel. And supercenters were no exception."

Even though the study found that a surprising number of shoppers will
run into Costco or Wal-Mart for a can of tomato sauce or a loaf of bread,
the supermarket remains the first choice for "quick" shoppers.

Some successful grocery chains and independent food markets cater to
the last-minute shoppers with features like salad bars, prepared meals and
gourmet frozen foods. They have done better in recent years than chains that
concentrate on stock-up shoppers, with aisles of canned goods and staples.

The Market Basket in Franklin Lakes, N.J., has thrived, for instance,
by serving shoppers looking for that night's meal. "Our philosophy is: 'Go
to Costco once a month, get all your basics and then come shop every day
fresh - from produce, to fish, to meat, to prepared cooked things. Our
gourmet-to-go, and prepared dinners - it's amazing how many people line up
for them every night," said Tony Chernalis, owner of the Market Basket.

Chernalis sees more Americans adopting "the European thing - every day
they shop." His store carries premarinated meats to help speed meal
preparation for people who want to cook at home.

A grocery chain that is capitalizing on the shop fresh trend is Whole
Foods Markets, which enjoyed sales increases of more than 22 percent last
year. At the Whole Foods Market in Edgewater, N.J., recently, shoppers like
Licki Frankenthal, 84, of Tenafly, N.J., confirmed the Unilever findings,
saying she shops almost daily for fresh foods. She was visiting Shirley
Feldman, 85, of Edgewater, a frequent Whole Foods shopper. "I find this very
convenient," Feldman said. "I frequently pick up a small amount of something
for a meal."

Kristina Carcich of Cliffside Park, N.J., a student at Montclair State
University, and her husband, Salvador Rentas, said they go grocery shopping
about twice a week. Carcich, who is studying to be a dietician, plans menus
in advance. That's a habit that most time-pressed Americans have given up,
according to the Unilever research. Rentas said the couple will shop at
other supermarket chains for on-sale staples.

"We're label-conscious but also price-conscious," he said.



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Bronwyn
 
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A bit of a long article to read all thru' but I get the idea <g>.
I don't work, but I shop every day in the 20/20 fashion. That way I get
the freshest vegetables and or idea for meat/fish for the evening
dinner.
Today was a good example. I had beautiful chuck steak in the fridge.
Looked at a few recipes - beer or redwine, texas chili. Decided on the
latter. Had everything 'cept the beef stock and fresh chillies. Bought
beautiful green beans for the side dish.
Dessert- how about an apple and raisin baked dish topped with a cake
sponge (made from scratch) and cooked over the apples: sounds yummy,
the apple mixture has raisins, toasted pine nuts and rum in it!
(Anyone want the recipe??? Or wait for the verdict tomorrow....) Just
needed to purchase the raisins which I was out of.
Shopping daily if this option is available to you, also enables me to
look at items on special rather than having a single 'window' available
once a week.
I combine this excursion with other errands, picking up the mail etc.,
so tend to go out around 8.30/9am.

Cheers
Bronwyn
Oz

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Sheldon
 
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Bronwyn wrote:
> A bit of a long article to read all thru' but I get the idea <g>.
> I don't work, but I shop every day in the 20/20 fashion. That way I

get
> the freshest vegetables and or idea for meat/fish for the evening
> dinner.


The greater number of occasions the merchants can get consumers to shop
the greater their profits... returning to the pre 50s shopping habits
when housewives did daily shopping now that nearly everyone uses
plastic would prove disasterous for most consumers. Anyway, I read the
article... it won't happen... not with the time constraints of two
worker households and with the cost of energy going through the roof,
folks will actually shop less often, in fact that's what's already
happening and why the big conglomerates are touting their hype, they're
desperate to get people back into the stores (malls are suffering)...
won't work, folks are dumb but not that dumb. I've actually gone to
shopping once a month.

Sheldon

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Bronwyn
 
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That's very true too Sheldon. I'm a bit odd here in my habits - but
the store is 2 min drive away. I certainly don't do mall shopping
daily (~ twice monthly) - perish the thought <g>.
B.

  #5 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dee Randall
 
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"Bronwyn" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>A bit of a long article to read all thru' but I get the idea <g>.
> I don't work, but I shop every day in the 20/20 fashion. That way I get
> the freshest vegetables and or idea for meat/fish for the evening
> dinner.


> Bronwyn
> Oz


You are lucky that you can find the 'freshest' vegetables, etc. Where I
live, when shopping, its more like trying to figure out the day of the week
that the grocery store might have fresh vegetables, not daily. Having never
been in that habit, I buy weekly or bi-weekly and buy the freshest I can
get, storing all appropriately. Also I live 30 miles away from the
'necessary' grocery store shopping & 70 miles from "real" grocery shopping.
At those more-crowded grocery stores 70 miles away, I find produce as a
whole not much fresher than those at my less-crowded grocery store 30 miles
away, but more selection and perhaps a 'little' cheaper.

I recall several decades ago in Flagstaff, AZ at a big-name grocery store --
mostly out of business now-- I complained to the produce mgr. that there
wasn't an item that wasn't decayed and my daughter was embarrassed (for me)
for complaining. This was the worst I remember seeing. It's still in my
memory. I know the best thing to do is just not buy the produce that isn't
fresh, but I've been told that they don't make money on produce, but it is
there because it 'has' to be there. I try to buy produce at a big
Asian/Mexican market 50 miles away when I go, but I get too greedy/ecstatic
and have to throw half of it away, but it's fun having it on hand, and as it
costs no more to buy, including the waste, I go ahead and buy more than I
know that I'll need.

Dee







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cathyxyz
 
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Bronwyn wrote:
> That's very true too Sheldon. I'm a bit odd here in my habits - but
> the store is 2 min drive away. I certainly don't do mall shopping
> daily (~ twice monthly) - perish the thought <g>.
> B.
>

I agree too. I do weekly shopping, but that's only because I have to go
out for other reasons, and do it on the way home... even then I avoid
the bigger malls and go to the smaller shopping centers. After all, most
people have freezers these days, so daily shopping is not as necessary..
  #7 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dean G.
 
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I buy frequently, and usually what is on sale. I'll hit a few different
stores a week, and get different sale items from each. In addition to
that, some stores just have lower normal prices on certain items, or a
better selection of a give item. Sunday, I found country style pork
ribs for $1.69 a pound (US weight and dollar). I bought more than I
needed and froze the extras. I can always find a use for a pork rib.
Also I found an oldish but not too bad package of Shitake's for $0.99
for 8 oz. Slightly over-ripe tomatoes, apples, and bananas are useful
for the right recipe, and often a discount can be had. I found snow
peas on sale at a different store. I shop at four or five different
stores on a regular basis, and hit Jungle Jim's about once a month.

Aldi's has cheap walnuts and olives and pantry items, Kroger's has
cheap broths and other Kroger brand items (and fairly good produce and
meat), Bigg's has decent produce, GreenMarket has all kinds of oddities
and a cheap(er than the supermarkets) deli/meat counter. The IGA also
has a good deli/meat counter and a surprising number of sale items.
Humbert's is the local butcher, and they are way better than the
supermarkets for meat. Jungle Jim's is good for everything, but
produce, ethnic items, cheese and, wine in particular.

I found some slightly over-ripe roma's on sale the other day that were
perfect for a London Broil (same day). Feta was on sale, so I stuffed
some belgian endives with feta and grilled them with the pork ribs,
which were basted with pineapple juice, honey, parsley, rehydrated
chanterelles, and a bit of cinamon. Sounds a bit odd, but it was good.

The day before we used a bit of the feta in some stuffed (anaheim and
something slightly hotter) peppers with a bit of crumbled BlueGrass
bacon on top (also found on sale.)

It is often easier for me to find fifteen minutes to run through a
store a few times a week than to spend an hour or more once a week. I'm
always in the express line, and I eat better than most people.

Dean G.

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Siobhan Perricone
 
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On Tue, 10 May 2005 23:23:44 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" > wrote:

> Americans are increasingly grocery shopping one day at a time;
> Stores cater to the quick fix


Not this shopper. We shop every other Thursday night. During late spring
and summer we do go to the farmers' market every week for produce. We go to
two supermarkets and Walmart most trips, sometimes stopping at the drug
store or Blockbuster to drop off videos on the way. I go through the
circulars and buy my meats on sale, and I buy a lot. We go to Costco
roughly every four to six weeks and stock up on things that are treats and
a little cheaper in bulk (like canned beans).

--
Siobhan Perricone
"I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what ya do in the name of your god"
- Holly Near
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Curly Sue
 
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On Tue, 10 May 2005 23:23:44 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" >
wrote:

> May 09, 2005, Monday 2 STAR EDITION
>
> BUSINESS; Pg. 6
>
> 883 words
>
>
> Americans are increasingly grocery shopping one day at a time;
> Stores cater to the quick fix
>
> The Record
>
> JOAN VERDON

<snip>
> Some successful grocery chains and independent food markets cater to
>the last-minute shoppers with features like salad bars, prepared meals and
>gourmet frozen foods. They have done better in recent years than chains that
>concentrate on stock-up shoppers, with aisles of canned goods and staples.
>
> The Market Basket in Franklin Lakes, N.J., has thrived, for instance,
>by serving shoppers looking for that night's meal. "Our philosophy is: 'Go
>to Costco once a month, get all your basics and then come shop every day
>fresh - from produce, to fish, to meat, to prepared cooked things. Our
>gourmet-to-go, and prepared dinners - it's amazing how many people line up
>for them every night," said Tony Chernalis, owner of the Market Basket.


Not me. If I see a line when I go in for a quick stop, I turn and
walk out the door. (Fortunately, there is a local store with short
lines). What's the point of wasting time in line just to pick up a
few items?

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!
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