Shoppers want the facts, just the facts, to make a basic decision…will this purchase satisfy a need. Persuasive wants are for better times. IRI’s Times and Trends report examines the shoppers’ fixed focus on their household bottom lines and its impact on CPG and retailer messaging.  They suggest the following to marketers:

* Product Marketing: Collaborate with key retail or manufacturer partners to facilitate consumers` list-making efforts with innovative programs combining convenience and savings, such as buy one/get one and discounts on combined meal ingredients/components, etc.
* Customer Marketing: Work with key retail or manufacturer partners to create cross-merchandising and cross-promotional programs which feature products that are complementary to targeted trip types.
* In-Store Marketing: Closely tie in-store efforts with externally-targeted
promotional campaigns to reinforce/solidify purchase decisions made prior to entering the retail environment.

In short, focus on real and practical benefits.

The question is will these changes be permanent. We keep asking this question, because, well, trying to predict the future is kind of fun, but also, because the answer seems to change as does the evidence to support the possible outcomes.

Dechert-Hampe and RetailWire released a study in their Retail Next series entitled “Fad or Trend?: Will Recessionary Shopping Behavior Continue?”  In this report, researchers concluded that shoppers have made short-term adjustments that will likely revert back to a level of normalcy once the recession trauma subsides.

Take a look at this report and then weigh in here. Do you believe that this generation will be defined by the current events in the way that the depression generation was or is frugal the new black?

A Webinar presented by The Food Institute & Miller Zell — August 6, 2009

Featuring

Curt Johnson, SVP Consumer Industries, Miller Zell

Moderated by:

Brian Todd, President, The Food Institute

In the study, Gone in 2.3 Seconds, Miller Zell surveyed 999 shoppers to understand which in-store and out-of-store elements most influence brand perception and purchase behavior. In today’s economic climate, retailers and manufacturers cannot rely on rote routines to motivate shoppers to buy. They must understand the core sensibilities of shoppers and engage them based on their own predispositions.

This webinar will examine the data gathered through that research and provide guidance on how to more effectively target food and beverage shoppers in the grocery and mass channels by using the store as a valuable media.

DATE: August 6, 2009 12 PM Eastern Time

WHERE: Via your Internet connected computer and telephone

LENGTH: One Hour

Who should Attend: Food and beverage retailers, manufacturers, restaurants, suppliers, distributors, consultants to the industry and trade press.

In-Store Marketing Triggers Webinar – $149

**Special Discount: Food Institute Members Register For $99** (Contact Sue at santista@foodinstitute.com or 201-791-5570 ext. 212 to request promo code) The webinar will begin promptly at 12:00 PM on August 6, 2009. Registration entitles you to participate in the webinar from one PC, so the direct contact information must be provided for the person who will be attending. Once you register, you will be receiving an email from Boston Conferencing with instructions for attending the webinar, so please add the bostonconferencing.com domain to your list of accepted e-mail, otherwise the e-mail from Boston Conferencing could be held up by your spam filter.

About Curt Johnson & Miller Zell, Inc.

Curt Johnson is Senior Vice President for Miller Zell’s Consumer Goods Division. Mr. Johnson was promoted to this role in November 2006 after serving as Vice President Client Strategy for Miller Zell’s Consumer Packaged Goods accounts. In his current position, Mr. Johnson is responsible for managing the activities of several consumer goods clients including Hershey’s, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Crayola and Kraft Foods. Prior to joining Miller Zell, Mr. Johnson headed up the Roswell, Georgia office of BEN Marketing for 5 years prior to BEN Marketing being acquired by Ogilvy & Mather. After the acquisition he stayed on as Vice President Customer Marketing for Ogilvy Action Marketing Services. Mr. Johnson has served in a variety of brand management and marketing service roles over the past 18 years, managing and growing blue chip clients such as Procter & Gamble, General Mills and S.C. Johnson Wax to name a few. Johnson speaks fluent German and spent a year abroad working and studying for his MBA at The Koblenz School of Economics and The Pennsylvania State University, earning his graduate degree from Penn State. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Johnson graduated from University of Northern Iowa with honors and a BA in Communications.

Miller Zell is a leader in strategic retail consulting specializing in retail design, graphic design, shopper marketing, shopper insights research & analysis, and store implementation, serving some of the world’s best known brands. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. for more than 30 years, Miller Zell designs and builds award-winning selling environments across retail sectors including grocery, financial institutions, dealer-based businesses, restaurant chains, consumer products and mass merchandise. More information can be found at www.millerzell.com

About Brian Todd & The Food Institute

Brian Todd became president of the Food Institute in 2002 and has worked for this 81-year-old organization since 1980. Mr. Todd oversees the day to day operations of the Elmwood Park, NJ-based association which disseminates industry information through its weekly report, daily e-mail updates, seminars and webinars, reaching over 100,000 industry professionals. Mt. Todd graduated from Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ in 1980 with a B.A. in Political Science and serves on the New Jersey Food Alliance of Rutgers’ Food Policy Institute.

The Food Institute is a nonprofit organization with a single purpose: providing information. The Food Institute strives to be the best “single source” for current, timely and relevant information about the food industry from “farm to fork.” The association serves as a trusted source of information, providing balanced coverage of the issues. It delivers information through multiple media so that industry professionals worldwide can tap in when and how they choose. For more information, visit, www.foodinstitute.com.

The strategy that made Starbucks famous was a focus on the retail environment. Rather than selling coffee in the traditional wam-bam-thank-you-ma’am fashion of most coffee shops, Starbucks created a retail environment where customers felt comfortable sitting and enjoying a cup of joe, or latte. Eventually the stores become a destination for meeting friends and kicking back over coffee.  Spend more time, drink more coffee. Howard Schultz, founder of Starbucks, says he was inspired by cafes in Italy that seemed to be more of a communal center than a retail store. Genius!

But in comes the recession and down goes the king. Starbucks has suffered tremendously due to the economic downturn and shopper retreat. Last week, they announced plans to introduce a new global store design strategy in an effort to get back to the basic strategy of infusing the store environment with the customer’s lifestyle. The new design strategy involves several components including redesigning and building stores to reflect the local market and emphasizing sustainability in store design. For instance, the redesign of their Pike Street location (not far from the original Seattle location) includes wood cabinets made of fallen Seattle trees, a community table re-purposed from a local restaurant and preserved columns, floors and ceiling.

There are some pros to Starbucks’ approach.  They are getting back to the thing that defined the brand — creating a unique experience.  Allowing some diversity in the store design, tailoring each shop to the local flavor, could generate interest in visiting different Starbucks locations. In addition to creating goodwill, the sustainability program will save the company money over time (although the initial outlay could be hefty). However, Starbucks has an uphill battle on pricing. They are now competing with McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts and even Wendy’s in the specialty coffee arena and some say that the product is comparable. If you read through comments on the Seattle Post’s website, customers don’t appear to be impressed with the plan. At this point price is of much greater concern to the average buyer. We’ll see how they fair.

ABC News ran an interesting story on the coffee wars. Click below for video.