Path to Purchase in the Meat Case

October 19, 2016
Retail Industry Insights

Article Sponsored by the National Pork Producers

As a retail dietitian, knowing how your consumers make purchase decisions can help you position products more effectively in the meat case while working with your meat department. National Pork Board's recent "Path to Purchase" research studied the factors that influence consumer’s path to purchase and their decisions when purchasing fresh meat. Below are key takeaways from this research that you and your meat department can implement in your store to increase fresh meat sales, like pork. 

Pre-Trip Path to Purchase: 
Before going to the supermarket, 78 percent of shoppers make a list. Of those consumers with pork on their list, the impact factors of where they shop include: 

• Perceived Value
• Familiar Meat Counter Staff 
• Product Variety and Product Quality 

During the planning process phase, you can influence your customers through multiple mediums including newspaper FSIs, sale circulars and coupons on your website.  Mobile apps offer another opportunity to reach shoppers as 42 percent use an app to make a shopping list.  In addition, 64 percent of consumers use smartphone apps during the planning process phase, 58 percent use an app to look up recipes and 57 percent of shoppers look up sales or special deals. You can benefit by having consumers put pork on their shopping list as 38 percent of consumers who buy pork also buy beef and chicken, yielding even higher total meat case sales. 

In-Store Path to Purchase: 
Once your customers are in the store and cruising the meat department section, they will notice the freshness and expiration dates of the fresh meat. Freshness was noted as the number one deciding factor when purchasing fresh meat; even more so than price.   

An impact point for consumers for the in-store path to purchase is noticing sales in the meat department. For example, a pork tenderloin on sale will remind consumers pork is a great option as pork is less of a staple item on their lists. Signs, ads and other point of sale materials will help stimulate a purchase. Pork is a stronger impulse buy over beef or chicken, with 52 percent of consumers saying they buy pork specifically when it is on sale.  Signage is vital for impacting decisions as 52 percent of pork shoppers say an ad got their attention, while 25 percent of shoppers said store ads made them buy something in addition to what they had planned. 42 percent of shoppers deviate from their shopping list due to in-store sale ads.  Shoppers who buy pork spend about $13.00 more per trip than those who don’t. 

The Great Take-away: 
Use your online and in store resources to keep pork top of mind with your shoppers. Motivating customers to think about pork can help you reap the benefits of increased fresh meat sales and a better bottom line.