Turn left at produce and pass the cereal aisle
More men are grocery shopping -- but as in car trips, the guys are reluctant to ask for directions to various products. And even if they can't find the Clementines, men are unlikely to admit it when the cashier asks if they've found all the items on their lists.
So says a report titled "Men in Grocery Stores" by TNS Retail Forward. That's a growing problem as more males head to the supermarket. In 2002, only about 41 percent of men said they did some of the grocery shopping; a 2006 survey indicates 71 percent of men have wandered the grocery aisles in the past three months.
One of them is my husband Dale, who approaches food shopping like a general invading a small country -- except it's the same small country each time, commonly known as ShopRite Land. Dale patronizes ShopRite because he has mapped out the entire store in his mind. He starts with heavy staples such as rice and ends with frozen foods, as he doesn't want the ice cream getting mushy on his way home.
Best of all, he never has to ask for directions.
But men who won't inquire as to where they can find the frozen pirogi can ultimately cost grocers money because they typically don't buy what they can't find.
Mandy Putnam, TNS vice president, says men are super at picking out items they've purchased before but get thrown for a loop when they have to locate a new ingredient.
That's why some markets are investing in such tools as the Shopping Buddy, a wireless computer mounted on the cart that makes shopping suggestions based on data collected from past uses of shopper loyalty cards.
It might not help locate the nutmeg if the guy hasn't bought it before, but he just might be intrigued by the gadget.
So says a report titled "Men in Grocery Stores" by TNS Retail Forward. That's a growing problem as more males head to the supermarket. In 2002, only about 41 percent of men said they did some of the grocery shopping; a 2006 survey indicates 71 percent of men have wandered the grocery aisles in the past three months.
One of them is my husband Dale, who approaches food shopping like a general invading a small country -- except it's the same small country each time, commonly known as ShopRite Land. Dale patronizes ShopRite because he has mapped out the entire store in his mind. He starts with heavy staples such as rice and ends with frozen foods, as he doesn't want the ice cream getting mushy on his way home.
Best of all, he never has to ask for directions.
But men who won't inquire as to where they can find the frozen pirogi can ultimately cost grocers money because they typically don't buy what they can't find.
Mandy Putnam, TNS vice president, says men are super at picking out items they've purchased before but get thrown for a loop when they have to locate a new ingredient.
That's why some markets are investing in such tools as the Shopping Buddy, a wireless computer mounted on the cart that makes shopping suggestions based on data collected from past uses of shopper loyalty cards.
It might not help locate the nutmeg if the guy hasn't bought it before, but he just might be intrigued by the gadget.
posted by Eileen Smith at 12:58 PM
1 Comments:
I'm a guy who asks directions but I wonder if supermarkets, like malls, arrange things so they're not really easy to find. That way you have to wander and be vulnerable to impulse purchases. In the Acme where I shop the regular old marmalades are in one place, the premium ones in another. The regular rice is in one place, the basmati in another; it goes on like that. They could have had maps, more signs, or whatever—the question is, do they really want such things?
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