Like the annual NFM Market Overview, in the June issue every year, surveys about things happening at retail give store owners (and those in the supply chain) valuable insights. The data found can help you benchmark and plan to either take advantage of marketplace opportunities or avoid imminent threats.
I have six seminars that I will be presenting to retailers on my calendar for the next few months so I found the material to be quite timely!
I encourage you to walk through the entire survey – presented as a slide show on this web site. You can either click on the “NFM/NBJ Retailer Survey Results 2010” link on the main page or click on this link to go directly to them - http://tinyurl.com/23l6drq
Some of the findings that I stood out to me are:
Only 17% of retailers had comprehensive initiatives to help consumers choose healthy foods. Some recent data about how consumers shop for health indicates that label claims like “high fiber,” “reduced fat,” “low sodium,” etc. are more important to customers than “natural” or “organic.”
In-store programs to help consumers find these kinds of foods will help drive sales! The good news about this part of the survey was that an additional 43% of stores did something to help consumers choose healthy foods.
The consumer survey that I am referring to - and that the data chart came from - was some ground-breaking research done by Delicious Living in conjunction with iVillage. Information about this research can be found here - http://tinyurl.com/276grd9.
Store Inventory Levels are Improving! When this survey question was asked last year more than a third of stores had inventory levels down 10% or more from a year before. While this certainly could have been a result of “sharper” purchasing, keeping less backstock and non-selling inventory on hand (which is a huge positive!), the concern was that it was due to economic and credit concerns, vendor issues, etc. and translated directly into out of stocks.
One of the best ways to lose customers is to make them shop somewhere else because you were out of key item.
This year’s data looked a lot better! Most stores inventory levels were the same as a year before and many had increased their inventory!
The “feel good” stat of the survey! 71% of retailers replied that they have a responsibility to ensure the safety and efficacy of the dietary supplements that they carry! They also gave a great number of responses that they are taking to make this happen!
I know that the vast majority of manufacturers in this industry feel this same way. To see this many retailers wanting to take a pro-active stance about the products in their stores is a great thing! The more self-policing that we are, the more freedom we’ll retain to provide top-quality products to our customers!
I hope that I’ve tweaked your interest enough to take a look at the whole survey! (http://tinyurl.com/23l6drq) More than that, I hope that you learn something by reading it that you can put into practice in your business!