Mar 29, 2006
WASHINGTON, DC — March 29, 2006 — Conventional supermarkets can use meat products to gain a competitive edge over other retail formats, suggests a new annual joint study released today by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and American Meat Institute (AMI). The study, The Power of Meat: An In-Depth Look at Meat Through the Shoppers’ Eyes, also finds that price is the most significant factor consumers use in determining what type of meat product to purchase.

“Effective meat marketing and merchandising strategies provide supermarkets with a prime opportunity to differentiate their stores from other venues and grow their customer base,” said FMI Senior Vice President Michael Sansolo.

“American consumers prefer meat with their meals, and the meat supplier community is pleased to work with our retail partners to develop effective meat promotion strategies and deliver the best meat products to customers,” said AMI Senior Vice President Janet Riley.

Meat Purchasing Behaviors

The vast majority (86 percent) of shoppers who do most of their grocery shopping at supermarkets stay loyal to their primary supermarkets when buying meat. When seeking alternative outlets, they tend to prefer a warehouse club or butcher shop (4.7 percent each).

In contrast, just more than half (58.7 percent) of shoppers who typically frequent supercenters to purchase weekly groceries also purchase meat products there, and more than
one-quarter (26.5 percent) skip the supercenter meat aisle and buy their beef, chicken and pork at conventional supermarkets.

Shoppers are equally split on the quantities of meat they purchase and when they use it. Slightly half (51 percent) buy meats in large quantities and freeze it for use over time, compared with shoppers (49 percent) who plan to use meat purchases within a few days.

Price tends to have the greatest influence on the kind (cut or type), quantity and location of meat purchased. Almost 90 percent of shoppers compare meat prices within the store and 80 percent compare prices across multiple stores.

Beyond price considerations, shoppers identified key factors that would increase their overall meat purchases:

  • Better quality of meat products and cuts 50.5 %
  • More/better variety of meat products and cuts 40.9
  • More/better customer assistance and guidance 20.8
  • More information on where meat is produced   17.7
  • More/better recipes      13.9
  • More/better signage for meat categories   11.7

Organic Meats

Nearly one-fifth of shoppers (17.4 percent) have purchased organic meats in the past three months, and nearly half of these purchases (48 percent) were made at conventional supermarkets. Natural and organic food stores accounted for 29 percent of organic purchases, followed by butcher shops (10 percent), supercenters (9.3 percent) and warehouse clubs (1.1 percent). The reasons cited include superior taste, better nutritional value, long-term health benefits, enhanced product freshness and curiosity about the differences between organic and non-organic meats.

Meat Consumption

Survey respondents report preparing 4.3 home-cooked evening meals that include a meat item in an average week, with chicken and beef strongly preferred over other meat options. Nine out of 10 (90.1 percent) respondents say they prepare an evening meal with chicken at least once a week, 83.3 percent report using beef, and 57.9 percent use pork.

Shoppers strongly prefer fresh cuts over meat products that are ready-to-eat (such as roasted chicken or barbecued ribs) or ready-to-heat (frozen chicken nuggets or pre-cooked hamburgers). The vast majority (93.4 percent) prepare fresh meat at least once per week, compared with 42.8 percent for ready-to-heat and 34.8 percent for ready-to-eat. Only 2.8 percent say they never purchase fresh meat, while 28.5 percent never purchase ready-to-eat meats and 28.2 percent never purchase ready-to-heat meats.

Funding for the The Power of Meat: An In-Depth Look at Meat Through the Shoppers’ Eyes, was provided in part by the Cryovac Division of Sealed Air. Highlights of the report were presented at the Annual Meat Conference. Co-sponsored by FMI and AMI, the conference is the supermarket industry’s premier forum for meat marketing and operations professionals. Highlights from future editions of the report will be unveiled each year at the conference.

Methodology

Data for the report were collected through an online representative sample of 1,750 U.S. consumers. Respondents must have been at least 18 years of age with the primary or equally shared responsibility of household food shopping, and not a declared vegetarian or vegan. The margin of error associated with the survey is 2.4 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

To purchase The Power of Meat: An In-Depth Look at Meat Through the Shoppers’ Eyes, visit the FMI Store (www.fmi.org/store, 202-220-0723) or contact AMI (www.meatami.org, 202-885-4000).