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Meat marketing tactics change with consumer trendsBy Jennifer M. Latzke The grocery advertising inserts are a familiar staple of every hometown newspaper. Chucks, ribeye steaks, ground beef--all so tempting, and at the right sale price for the season. Consumers are familiar with this communication tactic grocers have used for decades to entice buyers into their stores and ultimately move product. But, with changing demographics and changing consumer habits, meat retailers are becoming more invested in using new and improved methods to reach their target audiences. New faces in the store In the past 50 years, consumer demographics at the grocery store have changed, and the meat counter has had to adapt to these trends. For example, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of women 18 years and older working outside of the home rose from 33.4 percent in 1950 to 59.3 percent in 2007. These working parents of active children are looking for convenient items in the meat case to simplify mealtime between driving their children to and from after-school activities. Additionally, American households are shrinking. U.S. small one- to two-person households--who have vastly different shopping lists than four-person families--have risen from 42 million in 1960 to about 56 million in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. But the one trend on the radar of many grocers is the rising number of Hispanics and Asian-Americans in the country. Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show the population of these two ethnic groups will triple in the next 50 years. Its projections show in 2050 the U.S. population will be 50 percent white. America's beef ranchers and farmers have taken note of these new faces showing up at grocery store meat counters. And, as a result, they have funded several initiatives and projects through the Beef Checkoff Program to help U.S. retailers adapt their meat cases and services to aid their new shoppers. One such initiative offered to retailers is the "Hispanic Pilot Program Webinar" available at www.beefretail.org/hispanicwebinar.aspx. The webinar--an online seminar--explains the special needs and concerns of Hispanic shoppers. "Food and food preparation are a vital part of the Hispanic identity," according to the webinar. Special dishes--which include beef as a central ingredient--are a way to maintain family traditions among Hispanics who primarily identify with Spanish culture, it explained. Bringing customers to the counter But, if retailers are going to attract these new shoppers to their meat cases, they have to go beyond the pages of a four-color advertising insert in the Sunday paper. Retailers like Dillons, a division of Kroger Company, with the help of the checkoff-funded retail marketing programs, are conducting pilot tests of new meat sales displays, signage and product lines that target Hispanic shoppers. Steve Kuntz, director of Meat and Seafood for Dillons, Hutchinson, Kan., said his company's participation in the next phase of the checkoff-funded Hispanic Retail Pilot Test has been a positive activity for his company and a boon to their customers. Ideas like bilingual package labeling, and others, give Hispanic consumers and those folks celebrating the Latin culture, a better way of communicating with their meat cutters. Wendy Timmerman is associate director of Channel Marketing, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, a contractor for the beef checkoff. She works with retail partners like Kuntz. "Our main objective is to build demand throughout the channel," Timmerman said. The Hispanic Beef Initiative began as a way to present to different retailers ways that they can easily market to their Hispanic shoppers, she explained. Checkoff-funded research shows retailers that while their Hispanic customers were shopping at their stores, they were buying their beef in smaller bodegas or local carnicerias, she said. And so, the first Hispanic Retail Pilot program was conducted in Albertson's stores in southern California and Las Vegas, and the results were positive enough to entice Kuntz to authorize Dillons to conduct a second study in stores located in Hispanic markets in Wichita, Liberal, Garden City, Topeka and Dodge City, Kan. The Hispanic Retail Pilot uses consumer intercepts and retailer surveys to show the effectiveness of several point-of-sale elements, including: bilingual peel-off recipe labels; a bilingual Dictionary of Beef Cuts; bilingual Beef Cuts and Dishes posters; "Mini-Carniceria" case section elements; labels for the three most popular Mexican beef cuts; and a manual, "How to Appeal to Hispanic Beef Customers." This second phase of the pilot test, currently underway in select Dillons locations in Kansas, is set to wrap up in December, but so far the results have been positive as before, Timmerman said. The original study showed 88 percent of test store respondents bought beef at the test store more than seven times in the past two months, versus 68 percent in control stores. And 51 percent of test store respondents rated the new meat department at the test store as "excellent" versus 32 percent for control stores. Kuntz said the tools used in the pilot project have helped his staff better communicate with their new shoppers. "We have a Spanish/English dictionary that shows different beef cuts that are familiar to consumers and their English translation for our meat cutters," Kuntz said. These dictionaries aren't only helpful to consumers unfamiliar with English, but those shoppers who want to try new recipes that celebrate Latin culture, he added. The goal of the total project, though, is to help retailers not only bridge the communications gap, but to also understand what beef cuts Hispanic shoppers may use in popular Hispanic dishes, and track their beef purchase cycle to improve overall sales. Turning the page Sheila Lowrie, spokeswoman for Dillons, said her company is taking the next step in reaching their targeted Hispanic audience--adapting a whole store's format to welcome Hispanic customers. Dillons recently acquired a grocery store located at 21st and Amidon Avenue in Wichita, Kan. Lowrie said this particular location was previously a grocery store that had a traditional Hispanic focus. Dillons, she said, is taking the opportunity during the store's remodeling to use marketing data it gleaned from its sister division--Fry's stores in Arizona--to create an overall look and product offering that will appeal to customers. "It's an opportunity for us to add new cases and update the store and continue to expand on the products we offer there," Lowrie said. "We'll have some signage in Spanish, but the majority will be in English. Department markers and aisle markers will be available in Spanish. We'll have additional offerings in the deli department with Hispanic flair." Lowrie said Dillons as a company puts the customer first. "We listen to our customers," she said. Whether they are requesting newer items like flavor-sealed cuts of beef, or new cuts of meat, like skirt steak the store traditionally hasn't offered, Dillons associates are trained to listen to their shoppers' needs. "Listening to our customers is our main source of deciding what products to offer in our stores," she said. "We look at the uniqueness of the areas we operate in, and take into account what our customers want--whether those are specialty foods in the grocery or in the meat case. We offer products to help them celebrate their heritage and culture." Lowrie also explained the increasing popularity of food magazines, celebrity chefs, and The Food Network have created a new class of customers who are exploring different cultures through new recipes. "Customers are being more adventurous," she said. Discovering countries and cultures through recipes and specialty food items is becoming more and more popular, she added. An example of a new product Dillons now offers in its meat cases is a smaller packaged portion of skirt steak, Lowrie explained. "Traditionally we didn't offer skirt steak in many stores because it comes in as such a large chunk of meat," she said. "But, with new packaging, we can cut it down to size in our stores. We went to our vendors to see about offering the product in smaller cuts to facilitate the requests our meat cutters were getting." The new smaller portion is flying off the shelves. Beyond the bottom line, though, is the corporate stand towards diversity and acceptance. And helping Hispanic customers find the products that make them feel welcome is one step in achieving that corporate goal, she explained. "One of our company's core values is diversity and inclusion, and recognizing all cultures and ethnicities and the things that make us each unique," Lowrie said. Exploring new ways to offer Hispanic consumers the products they enjoy, to celebrate their heritage and culture, is, therefore, a good fit with the company's goals, she said. Ultimately, retailers, producers and consumers all benefit with these new marketing and communication tactics--both on and off the pages of the weekly sales insert. Timmerman said her organization knows to fuel beef demand in the future will mean increasing their communication and marketing efforts to new consumer segments. "We are very pleased with the outstanding support Dillons put behind making a success of the beef checkoff-funded Hispanic Pilot Program," she said. "America's beef producers, who fund the Beef Checkoff Program, listen for feedback from the marketplace from retailers such as Dillons. We knew there was a need to communicate with the growing Hispanic population in a bilingual manner and thereby help fuel beef demand. "We want to make choosing and enjoying beef easy for everyone, and this beef checkoff-funded initiative has succeeded in doing just that," Timmerman said. Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com.
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