Consumer Adoption of Organic Products Encouraged by Mainstream Brands, says RetailWire Business Tip
Consumer Adoption of Organic Products Encouraged by Mainstream Brands, says RetailWire Business Tip
(PRWEB) August 8, 2005
According to The Hartman Group, over one-third of grocery store shoppers also shop in natural food stores. However, 78 percent of those would like to find organic products in their conventional grocery store, next to nationally branded items.
As discussed in the RetailWire Business Tip entitled “Bringing Organics into the Mainstream” (http://www.retailwire.com/Campbell_Soup), the new generation of healthy lifestyle retailers, like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, signals a wake up call for conventional grocery operators. It means that there’s a real change occurring in the profile of the natural foods shopper towards more mainstream tastes.
Based on the Food Marketing Institute’s “Shopping for Health” study, it can be assumed that more than half of all shoppers have bought some organic food in the past six months. That means that retailers will miss opportunities to satisfy customers if they continue to isolate organic products in natural foods sections. Other barriers to converting shoppers over to organics are the higher prices, less-than-satisfactory taste and unfamiliar brands that they often find in the natural foods specialty aisle.
As with all other product categories, branding is very influential to consumer purchasing and product loyalty. If given a choice, consumers will opt for the organic version of a product offered by a recognizable, mainstream brand.
As Campbell’s is currently demonstrating with its new organic introductions in the PACE and PREGO brands, retailers can gain organic shoppers’ attention by presenting large brand, organic products. PACE, for example, is the salsa/picante share leader with 36 percent national dollar share. Not only is a national brand like PACE more familiar to this new profile of organic shopper, but price and taste, often barriers to adoption with off-beat natural brands, are overcome in a PACE organic version.
With the introduction of mainstream brand versions of quality organic products, retailers’ lives could get a lot easier as they look to tap into healthy lifestyle trends. Major brands such as Campbell’s can offer grocers far more product development and marketing support. With the confidence that they are no longer simply appealing to niche consumer groups, we should expect to see much more in-store promotional activity for organic products, as well.
See the full RetailWire Business Tip:
“Bringing Organics into the Mainstream”
http://www.retailwire.com/Campbell_Soup
(Free registration required)
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