The Shopper Is The One Who Holds The Purse Strings So Why Are They Forgotten?
We heard a great presentation by Rachel Chatterton from Holland & Barrett about their new food launch. Clearly Sue Tiller and I were keen to go in store and see how it looked.
Food with benefits is something Holland & Barrett has the brand stretch and a license to do - we love the concept and the fact you are moving beyond the predictable to get competitive advantage.
We feel however, there is more to do to make sure this proposition flies. At The Growth Factors we're advocates of the shopper so here are 3 improvements that jumped out:
1. Chilled: In the chiller cabinet, think about the shopper mission, who the target shopper is and the meal occasion they are buying for. For us the meal occasion wasn’t clear enough.
What if: in chilled the proposition has just one clear targeted meal occasion giving shoppers a clear purpose to engage.
2. Range: As a well-being food specialist, your shoppers should be coming to your stores to seek out products that aren’t available from a standard grocery supermarket. We looked at protein bars and found the choice over-whelming and too generic.
What if: your range is simpler only offering products that give a real point of difference from a well-being perspective, 14 brands of protein bar can’t all be clearly different.
3. Plant points: A whole new concept for the shopper to understand so communication needs to be brilliant. In just one example we got confused around relating the points on pack to the servings in a jar of pasta sauce which wasn’t clear. Despite a colleague trying to help there’s lots of work to do here.
What if: the communication on pack is even stronger ‘x points per serving’ would really help!
Holland & Barrett are having to radically evolve their offer and there is so much potential in what they’re doing. But, not getting it right for their shopper will limit the success it deserves.
If you’d like us to take our fresh shopper eyes and apply them to your business get in touch
