A Food Fight in the Produce Aisle

Since Fruits and Veggies Have 'Farm Fresh' Image, Other Groceries Want to Sit Alongside Them - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... eadStoryNA

Huh, interesting.

personally, when I see non-produce in the produce section, I always look past it and assume it's an overpriced, unnecessary item. I'm not sure why, or if that's even accurate. Just my assumption. Then again, I am at Jewel mayyyybe once a month because EVERYTHING there is overpriced, so I might not be their target demographic.

I make the same assumption. If I see a packaged product in the produce section my first thought is "POP/impulse placement=insane profit margins"

This problem isn't just in the produce aisle, it happens all over the grocery store - a while back, I did a nutritional/ingredient analysis of Nutella, using some algebra to determine the ratio of ingredients. Now, I was never thinking Nutella was good for you, but since it's placed next to peanut butter, I had kind of unconsciously framed it as "slightly sugary nut butter."

Turns out, Nutella has more sugar than an equal weight of Marshmallow Fluff, plus a whole bunch of added Palm Oil - but the producers know that if they place it with nut products, people will make the same assumptions I did.

Wait, Nutella's not good for me???

Mhays wrote:This problem isn't just in the produce aisle, it happens all over the grocery store - a while back, I did a nutritional/ingredient analysis of Nutella, using some algebra to determine the ratio of ingredients. Now, I was never thinking Nutella was good for you, but since it's placed next to peanut butter, I had kind of unconsciously framed it as "slightly sugary nut butter."

That's called merchandising. All retailers do it. You shouldn't be surprised. Sometimes it's quite innocuous (boxes of Kleenex next to the cold remedies, caramel and sticks next to the apples, etc.). Sometimes it's not. As they say, buyer beware.

In a Supervalu Inc. survey of consumers in November, 92% of shoppers said fresh produce was the No. 1 factor in choosing a grocery store. (Meat came in second.)

Perhaps this is true for Supervalu customers, but ... a company needs to be careful when surveying its own customers. While a company wants to keep its existing customers, presumably it wants even more to attract the customers of other stores. This data suggests to me a huge gap of understanding why people shop at, say, Aldi.

I somehow doubt that 92% (or even 50%) of shoppers at Aldi would assert that fresh produce OR meat was a primary factor in choosing a store.

-jbn