One of the analogies we've heard quite frequently is that, for some people, "going to the supermarket is equivalent to having to go to the dentist."
 While the analogy was clearly meant to be pejorative -- evoking images of excruciating pain, a puffed-up face and an overall negative "shopping experience" -- there actually are some lessons the supermarket industry (and perhaps even their suppliers) can learn from the dental profession.
The biggest problem the supermarket industry faces today, as we see it, is the decline in trip frequency. Between 1998 and 2001, the number of household shopping trips to supermarkets plunged from an average of 85 to 75 per year -- that's one billion fewer trips in total -- the steepest drop in trip frequency of any trade class in any three-year period ever registered.
If there's any credence to the POPAI assertion that 70 percent of supermarket purchases are unplanned, this trip loss translates to $37.8 billion -- almost 10 percent of annual supermarket revenues.
If you're a supplier of heavily impulse-driven products and supermarkets are your dominant channel, you're in big trouble.
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The presumption (or wishful thinking) is that consumers are just shifting their supermarket buying patterns -- buying more on fewer trips -- for a zero net effect. According to Progressive Grocer, however, weekly spending has dropped from $73.61 in 1998 to $72.93 in 2001 and spending per trip has dropped $1.43 per trip. Supercenters seem to be the beneficiary, with household penetration growing from 47 percent in 1998 to 63 percent in 2001 and trip frequency rising from 14 to 18 trips per year.
The net: If you're a supermarket, you're in trouble. If you're a supplier where supermarkets are your dominant channel, you're in trouble. If you're a supplier of heavily impulse-driven products and supermarkets are your dominant channel, you're in big trouble.
So, what can we learn from the dentists? Dentists, you see, have faced a similar drop-off in trip frequency. Fluoridation has reduced the number of cavities dramatically. Consequently, we don't need to go to the dentist as often -- so the dental profession has worked judiciously over the past few years to make us want to go to the dentist.
How have they done this? By examining the totality of their "shopping experience" and systematically addressing those things that were not consumer-friendly. First they addressed the physical things:
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- Annoyed by waiting for the doctor? Response: If not seated within twenty minutes of your scheduled appointment time, leading dentists give you $50 off your bill.
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- Afraid of the pain? Response: DVD music via headphones to reduce the sound of the drill and/or conscious sedation to put you in la-la land while you’re being worked on.
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- It hurts! Response: sonic teeth cleaning and lasers that actually replace drills.
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- Hate waiting to check out? Response: computerized/automated EDI directly to the insurance company requiring no more patient involvement that reaching for a copy of the invoice.
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The biggest change, however, is the repositioning of the whole profession as a service to improve your appearance as much (or more than) to address dental problems. Teeth whitening, bonding and cosmetic imagery are beginning to take top-of-mind consumer awareness vs. the fillings of the past. People are actually looking forward to going to the dentist these days.
What seems to be beyond the capabilities of most supermarkets is the shift from needing to go to the supermarket to wanting to go to the supermarket.
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So how can we make people look forward to going to the supermarket? The first step is to identify and address the things that are not consumer-friendly -- whether it's long check-out lines or out-of-stocks or crowded aisles or whatever. To their credit, many leading supermarkets have recognized this and are actively experimenting with solutions to the physical annoyances of supermarket shopping.
What seems to be beyond the capabilities of most supermarkets is the repositioning -- the shift from needing to go to the supermarket to wanting to go to the supermarket. Most supermarket retailers understand merchandising but don't "get" marketing.
Suppliers who still need supermarkets will need to step up to the plate to make this change happen. Supplier Marketing Departments know how to transform perfume from something that smells good to sexuality and desirability, to take colored sugar water with carbonation and have it translate to either "cool" or "nostalgic" -- even to turn noxious household chores into personal pride. It will be supplier marketers that have the best chance of transforming supermarket shopping from "necessary" to "desirable" and regain those lost trips.
Next time you're in the supermarket, take a few minutes to ask yourselves the following questions:
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- What would make my consumers WANT to come here more often?
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- What tie-ins/sponsorships/links does our brand have that could be leveraged to make the supermarket shopping experience more desirable?
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- Are there other suppliers we could partner with to make this BIG without busting our budget?
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- How can we execute in a way that leads to increased trip frequency for the retailers and increased consumer awareness and/or loyalty for our brand?
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If you come up with an idea, talk it over with your Sales Department to work through any in-store logistical problems, then go with the salesperson to talk to the account about getting those lost trips back.
And next time you’re at the dentist, say, "thanks."
Christopher W. Hoyt is President of Hoyt & Company LLC, a packaged goods training and consulting organization based in Scottsdale, AZ. He may be reached via his web site at www.hoytnet.com
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