Supermarket strikes seen as lose-lose but backlash
unlikely.
We asked one group of shoppers what they thought and how they felt
about the strikes by employees at major supermarket chains; we asked a
second group whether they thought the strikes were related . . .
Supermarkets not responding.(Brief Article)
Shoppers see restaurants as doing a better job of responding to the
new weight focus than supermarkets. They are sympathetic with
supermarkets on the one hand, but blame them for advertising . . .
What's different now?(Brief Article)
1. First and foremost is the fact that today's consumers have
gotten the health message. The "new" health message is that
calories count so much that too much food is unhealthy, even if the . . .
Just how difficult is losing?
Just how difficult is it to lose weight? To lose weight and keep it
off? For a great many women, losing weight is much harder than diet
experts or marketers tend to acknowledge, as hard or harder . . .
Overweight-health message working.
What shoppers are telling us is confirming the latest statistics:
More Americans are getting more serious about their personal and
family's weight and waistlines. Restaurants are selling more . . .
Advertising claims.
At least in Puerto Vallarta, both beer and tequila were advertised
as good for you and good for what ails you. It was fun to see those ads
just after having read about Johnson & Johnson's . . .
Coffee shop culture.
Today's coffee shops are turning into yesterday's cafes
and cutting into the sales of food servers and sellers. One of our
shoppers says: "These days, the best quality fruit is at
Starbucks." The . . .
Wal-Mart notes from Mexico.(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)
Even on a week of R&R at the mountain-hugging beaches of Puerto
Vallarta, this writer can't not visit some stores for a first hand
look at what's happening.
From the Puerto Vallarta airport, . . .
Privacy concerns growing.(identity theft)(Brief Article)
Concerns about privacy are approaching the kind of tipping point
that makes it worthwhile for everyone who serves consumers to consider.
News about privacy breaches at ChoicePoint and Bank of . . .
It's great, but is it easy?
There are times when I learn as much at dinner parties as I do from
surveys and focus groups. I had the fun and good fortune of hosting one
and attending two over the Easter weekend. The most . . .
Convenience and supermarkets.
The biggest news in convenient food shopping may be AutoCart claim
that they will open 1500 drive-thru supercenters in the next decade.
Until you are ready to consider a drive-thru service, . . .
Retain-the-name questions.
Is it really wise to retain traditional name banners when ownership
changes? Does it make solid business sense, or is it done because the
old name is assumed to have equity for which the new owners . . .
Work worth avoiding.(Brief Article)
Cleaning is still the work that most people say they would like to
avoid doing. They dislike cleaning floors, windows, toilets, kitchens,
bathrooms, walls, showers, cars, desks, even computers. . . .
Help for the common cold.
In response to a cold-season question about whether anything really
works to lessen the duration of a cold, over 75 percent of our
respondents answered No. In response to a follow-up question on . . .
Color opportunities.(influence of color)
Unexpected colors are generating excitement in enough different
spheres to suggest a color opportunity window that many marketers would
do well to look through. New York's Central Park is flagged . . .
The quality disconnect.(Brief Article)
A business-to-business research project we just conducted sheds
some out-of-the-industry light on the gap between what shoppers say to
us and what many of the people and companies that serve them . . .
Perceptions of Equate.(Brief Article)
We also asked our shoppers if they'd used Wal-Mart's
Equate brand and what they thought of it. Their responses confirm that
lots of people try it, and many use it regularly. The surprise . . .
Not trusting big food.
Trust in big food is very low. In a free-association word game we
recently played with a large cross section of consumers, no food or food
product was freely associated with the word "trustworthy"! . . .
Split on Wal-Mart, too.(Brief Article)
February being a time for saying nice and loving things about
companies as well as people, we also asked our shoppers if we should
praise Wal-Mart for banning the word "Free" from their ads . . .
Consumers divided on food company initiatives.
Some consumers are beginning to think parts of the food industry
have begun moving in the right direction. The payback for this positive
perception could be large in the short term and enormous in . . .
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