May 09, 2005, Monday 2 STAR EDITION

BUSINESS; Pg. 6

883 words


Americans are increasingly grocery shopping one day at a time;
Stores cater to the quick fix

The Record

JOAN VERDON

HACKENSACK, N.J.

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Do you know what you'll be having for dinner
tomorrow?

If not, then you're a typical American food shopper, according to
research by Unilever.

More and more Americans are shopping for food for today, and not
worrying about what they'll be eating three or four days down the road. And
Unilever, a multinational food and consumer products company with its U.S.
headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., will use that information to help
its retail customers better stock their stores and, in turn, sell more of
its products.

"These insights could really revolutionize the way that retailers
manage and merchandize their stores," said Kimberly Senter, director of
category and customer strategy for Unilever.

Unilever, which has 15,000 U.S. employees, and factories and offices
in 24 states, makes dozens of brands of food and cleaning products,
including Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Lipton teas, Dove soaps, Vaseline lotions
and All detergents.

Unilever will use the results to develop more products geared to the
need for quick dinnertime meals. One of the company's newest food products,
Bertoli frozen dinners, "has gotten off to a tremendous start, and I think
that's because Unilever has really cracked the code," Senter said. "We
understand that it's all about trips. We understand how consumers are
shopping."

The company is also hoping to use the research to market existing
products. As it unveiled its data recently at the Food Marketing Institute
show in Chicago, Unilever suggested that retailers create themed displays
like "The Short Order Chef" - a display case with fresh, refrigerated and
frozen meal ingredients grouped together for the hurried shopper.

Another display could group routine staples like spices and sauces for
shoppers thinking about next week. As for Unilever's Skippy peanut butter, a
classic stock-up item sold in bulk, the display might emphasize price.

In its research, Unilever tracked the shopping habits of 2,400
consumers. Of that group, 900 kept detailed online diaries of their
purchases over a two-week period and turned in their register receipts to
researchers, which Unilever said sets its study apart from previous surveys.

"One of the biggest take-aways from this research is that 62 percent -
almost two-thirds of all the trips - are quick trips," said Senter. She
defines a typical quick trip as "you're on your way home from work and
you're looking for something to either create or complete a meal." And she
said, the "20-20 rule" typically applies to quick trips - 20 minutes or
less, $ 20 or less.

The study found that quick trips were the dominant type of shopping
trip made to all food retailers - supercenter stores and big-box
discounters, as well as to neighborhood grocery stores and convenience
stores.

"I think that surprised all of us," said Michael Twitty, Unilever's
senior manager of shopper insights. "We always suspected that quick trips
were important, but we found that quick trips were the most important trips
in every single retail channel. And supercenters were no exception."

Even though the study found that a surprising number of shoppers will
run into Costco or Wal-Mart for a can of tomato sauce or a loaf of bread,
the supermarket remains the first choice for "quick" shoppers.

Some successful grocery chains and independent food markets cater to
the last-minute shoppers with features like salad bars, prepared meals and
gourmet frozen foods. They have done better in recent years than chains that
concentrate on stock-up shoppers, with aisles of canned goods and staples.

The Market Basket in Franklin Lakes, N.J., has thrived, for instance,
by serving shoppers looking for that night's meal. "Our philosophy is: 'Go
to Costco once a month, get all your basics and then come shop every day
fresh - from produce, to fish, to meat, to prepared cooked things. Our
gourmet-to-go, and prepared dinners - it's amazing how many people line up
for them every night," said Tony Chernalis, owner of the Market Basket.

Chernalis sees more Americans adopting "the European thing - every day
they shop." His store carries premarinated meats to help speed meal
preparation for people who want to cook at home.

A grocery chain that is capitalizing on the shop fresh trend is Whole
Foods Markets, which enjoyed sales increases of more than 22 percent last
year. At the Whole Foods Market in Edgewater, N.J., recently, shoppers like
Licki Frankenthal, 84, of Tenafly, N.J., confirmed the Unilever findings,
saying she shops almost daily for fresh foods. She was visiting Shirley
Feldman, 85, of Edgewater, a frequent Whole Foods shopper. "I find this very
convenient," Feldman said. "I frequently pick up a small amount of something
for a meal."

Kristina Carcich of Cliffside Park, N.J., a student at Montclair State
University, and her husband, Salvador Rentas, said they go grocery shopping
about twice a week. Carcich, who is studying to be a dietician, plans menus
in advance. That's a habit that most time-pressed Americans have given up,
according to the Unilever research. Rentas said the couple will shop at
other supermarket chains for on-sale staples.

"We're label-conscious but also price-conscious," he said.