Category: Meal Solutions - frozen entrees - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Brandweek,  May 7, 2001  

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Meal solutions offer consumers a quick and easy way to eat, whether it's lunch for one person or dinner for an entire family. Along with frozen meals, meal solutions include dry dinner that are easy to prepare. In short, meal solutions help answer the question "What's for dinner?" with a quick, easy meal.

Home-meal replacement options add fresh food into the equation. Once the hottest word in the supermarket industry, HMR hasn't been as profitable as food retailers would like, according to Phil Lempert, a columnist for Brand Marketing and the Los Angeles Times, and correspondent for NBC's Today" show and MSNBC's "Home Page."

"Retailers invested a lot of money going after HMR before fully understanding what consumers want from it," Lempert says.

What consumers want is an HMR program that's in the front, not the back, of food stores, with a separate checkout.

That's because HMR shoppers are time-starved and don't want to stand in line behind someone who's doing weekly grocery shopping. A separate checkout in the front of the store enables them to get in and out quickly.

Lempert and other industry observers say that with the new types of merchandising and packaging -- and sampling -- HMR could live up to what its creators wanted it to be.

While the goal of most in-store sampling events is to give consumers a taste of the product, for meal solutions they should also focus on the ease of use.

"It's important to convey how convenient and easy to prepare these products are," Lempert says.

Meal-solution sampling should cater to the estimated 40% of American adults who are still deciding what they're going to eat for dinner at 4 p.m. every day. Sales of certain products that help consumers make this decision are on the rise. According to AC Nielsen, dry pasta dinner sales increased 3.5% to $1.47 billion for the 52 weeks ending Oct. 7, 2000, and refrigerated entrees moved up 23% to $695 million for the same period.

Sales of frozen dinners and entrees grew 10% to $6.4 billion for the same period. Two segments that are doing especially well are frozen bowl dinners and meals in a bag. The former items come in an easy-to-heat bowl that can be microwaved or baked in minutes. The latter items are prepared by stirring in a skillet.

Along with helping to spur interest in new meals solutions as these, sampling could easily fit into existing HMR menus that many retailers are offering their customers. Such menus often include theme nights like Italian, Cajun and Tex-Mex.

The key to a successful HMR program is offering a convenient, customer-friendly merchandising scheme that provides an entire meal in a single stop. Retailers should avoid sending consumers searching throughout the store to find various components for a simple pasta dinner.

Some of the more savvy food retailers are bundling items in displays, promoting meal solutions and HMR on the Internet and in advertising circulars. Several chains feature recipe racks that greet consumers as they enter each location. Such recipes often include a list of ingredients that can be found within the store.

Some retailers are even revamping their Web sites to include recipes, nutritional information and, occasionally, links to an in-house dietitian who can offer advice on cooking temperatures, food preparation and food handling tips.

Meal solutions have prompted brand marketers and retailers to rethink their merchandising strategies. For instance, some have taken dry goods out of their designated aisles and are merchandising them with perishables. Another trend is the addition of freezer and refrigerated cases to dry goods aisles.

AT A GLANCE

Results: ACNielsen analysis of the Meal Solutions sampling event(s) submitted showed sales lifts ranging from 5% to 15%.

Execution Dates: Between first quarter 1999 and spring 2000

Coupons: Ranged from $5 cents to $1 off not off. Not all events featured coupons.

Coupon Duration: Six months

Comparison: In general, events that included a coupon did better than the ones that didn't.

COPYRIGHT 2001 BPI Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group