Anyone who has shopped for toothpaste in the past twenty years has probably felt more and more overwhelmed by the number of choices within all the major brands. In the old days, each manufacturer offered one or two flavor choices. Now there's toothpaste for cavity protection, tartar control, whitening, plaque protection, gingivitis protection, breath freshening and sensitive teeth.
You can choose your ingredients - baking soda, peroxide, and fluoride - as well as the texture - paste, gel or a combination. Then there are the flavors: fresh cool mint, fresh clean mint, icy blast, cinnamon spice, vanilla mint, mint zing, spearmint and sparkling mint. All of those are actual choices offered by just one brand.
The technical term for this marketing phenomenon is horizontal product line extension. This is when marketers expand their product offerings within the same category, price and quality range but vary other attributes such as color, fragrance or flavor. Vertical line extension is when marketers vary their offerings in terms of price or quality. Athletic shoes are a good example, or, in the food sector, you might recall that a major soup company offers tomato soup in different packages at different prices.
Horizontal line extension is not limited to toothpaste. Among food products you'll find it in products ranging from cola to coffee to pasta and even to milk. And it's certainly nothing new to farm produce marketing.
In fact you've probably extended your line over the years. How many varieties of apples, tomatoes, sweet corn, or peppers do you sell now compared to ten or twenty years ago? I wouldn't be surprised if it's more.
In agriculture, there's a ripple effect in line extension. As researchers develop new varieties, the seed companies offer more varieties, and farmers can in turn offer more varieties. Apples might be the most prolific in terms of varieties with differing attributes, but tomatoes, sweet corn and pumpkins are catching up.
Marketing experts who study product proliferation believe that there is a maximum number of choices that consumers will tolerate before they give up and switch to another brand with a simpler product line. If you've ever felt dismayed when trying to select a toothpaste or diet cola, you know what they mean.
The rationale behind extending a product line is to retain customers by offering more choice. According to research by business professors at Stanford and Northwestern universities offering new and unusual products can also result in a brief sales spike due to consumer curiosity.
For both reasons, offering more consumer choice makes sense as a marketing tool for farmers. If customers have more choices when buying from you, they won't have to go elsewhere to find a particular variety. And a new or unusual variety will pique customer interest, giving your bottom line a boost and drawing them in to buy your more conventional items.
The Stanford/Northwestern research determined mathematically, that there is a point at which it's no longer financially sound for a manufacturer to continue to expand a product line because of the costs of new product development. Vegetable and fruit growers have a slight advantage in being able to test a variety on a small amount of acreage.
But are farm marketers even close to maxing out and stressing out their customers with too many choices? I would say no, as long as customers have information on the attributes of each variety and how best to use them.
I think that consumers are intrigued by different and unusual produce varieties. After all, unlike toothpaste manufacturers who only have to find different ways to combine ingredients, agricultural researchers must figure out ways to make a tree or a plant produce a product that looks or tastes different. That makes a new sweet corn variety so much more interesting and impressive than a new kind of cola.
So, go ahead, try that new variety and offer it along with the old standbys to give your customers more choice. Add some supporting signage or flyers so they know what to expect and it's likely to be a recipe for marketing success.
This article first appeared in the August 2005 issue of Growing magazine.
Copyright 2007 Diane Baedeker Petit
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Is the customer always right?
One night recently my husband and I went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant that’s part of a national chain. We’d been to that location numerous times before and on many occasions have found the service sub par. On this particular night, the service was once again mediocre and the food was not very good, especially for the price. Why we continued to go back there is anybody’s guess, but this time I swore that we’d never patronize that location again.
Still feeling cheated when I got home, I got on-line, found the company website and filled out a feedback form explaining my unsatisfactory experiences at this restaurant. The very next day I had a phone call from a company representative wanting to know more. She expressed concern, said that a report would be filed with the district manager, and said that she’d be mailing me a $20 gift certificate to come back and dine with them again.
Even without the gift certificate, the speedy and concerned response would have made me reconsider my resolve to boycott the restaurant.
Every business, and farms are no exception, has to deal with dissatisfied customers at some point. Regardless of how good your products are, there is going to be someone, sometime who isn’t happy with something they bought from you. Knowing how you will respond to such a customer should be part of your marketing plan.
Good customer service is a marketing strategy aimed at increasing market share by helping acquire and retain customers.
And it’s all about communication. According to a fact sheet by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF), customers want to be helpful to you, the grower, by giving you their opinions and letting you know when they aren’t satisfied.
Sometimes you’ll get one-time complaints from good customers who just happen to pick up something that doesn’t measure up to your usual quality standards. Other times you’ll find yourself dealing habitual complainers. But, believe it or not, many dissatisfied customers never say a word.
Experts say that many people just don’t like to complain. Even if they would like to complain, customers may not know to whom to complain or cannot find a venue for offering their feedback. In fact, some businesses not only don’t encourage complaining, they may actually make it difficult for customers to complain.
Getting customer feedback, according to the OMAF, gives a business owner the chance to return the customer to a state of satisfaction so they will be more likely to patronize the business again. Business people who offer the customer a rational explanation and demonstrate sensitivity and concern, will find that the complaining customer will respond accordingly.
No doubt, some customers are difficult, but most customers are just looking for friendliness, fairness, and empathy – in addition to value – when spending their hard earned money. If they feel that they have a relationship with the business, especially the owner, they are more likely to be loyal.
While it may seem like you’re asking for trouble, think about establishing ways that customers can give you feedback, if you haven’t already. Face to face feedback with you, the owner, is great, but since you’re just as likely to be in the field as in the farmstand this time of year, you might want to use other ways as well. These can include customer feedback cards or a feedback form on your website.
And the last piece of this marketing strategy is planning how you will respond to complaints and making sure that all your employees know how to handle complaints.
So, is the customer always right? Research shows that 80 to 95 percent of customers will come back if their complaint is resolved satisfactorily, and they will tell five other people (I’ve told at least that many about my restaurant story). If a complaining customer comes away feeling like he or she was right, you may have bought some priceless word of mouth advertising.
Copyright 2005 Diane Baedeker Petit.
This article originally appeared in the July 2005 issue of Growing Magazine.
Still feeling cheated when I got home, I got on-line, found the company website and filled out a feedback form explaining my unsatisfactory experiences at this restaurant. The very next day I had a phone call from a company representative wanting to know more. She expressed concern, said that a report would be filed with the district manager, and said that she’d be mailing me a $20 gift certificate to come back and dine with them again.
Even without the gift certificate, the speedy and concerned response would have made me reconsider my resolve to boycott the restaurant.
Every business, and farms are no exception, has to deal with dissatisfied customers at some point. Regardless of how good your products are, there is going to be someone, sometime who isn’t happy with something they bought from you. Knowing how you will respond to such a customer should be part of your marketing plan.
Good customer service is a marketing strategy aimed at increasing market share by helping acquire and retain customers.
And it’s all about communication. According to a fact sheet by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF), customers want to be helpful to you, the grower, by giving you their opinions and letting you know when they aren’t satisfied.
Sometimes you’ll get one-time complaints from good customers who just happen to pick up something that doesn’t measure up to your usual quality standards. Other times you’ll find yourself dealing habitual complainers. But, believe it or not, many dissatisfied customers never say a word.
Experts say that many people just don’t like to complain. Even if they would like to complain, customers may not know to whom to complain or cannot find a venue for offering their feedback. In fact, some businesses not only don’t encourage complaining, they may actually make it difficult for customers to complain.
Getting customer feedback, according to the OMAF, gives a business owner the chance to return the customer to a state of satisfaction so they will be more likely to patronize the business again. Business people who offer the customer a rational explanation and demonstrate sensitivity and concern, will find that the complaining customer will respond accordingly.
No doubt, some customers are difficult, but most customers are just looking for friendliness, fairness, and empathy – in addition to value – when spending their hard earned money. If they feel that they have a relationship with the business, especially the owner, they are more likely to be loyal.
While it may seem like you’re asking for trouble, think about establishing ways that customers can give you feedback, if you haven’t already. Face to face feedback with you, the owner, is great, but since you’re just as likely to be in the field as in the farmstand this time of year, you might want to use other ways as well. These can include customer feedback cards or a feedback form on your website.
And the last piece of this marketing strategy is planning how you will respond to complaints and making sure that all your employees know how to handle complaints.
So, is the customer always right? Research shows that 80 to 95 percent of customers will come back if their complaint is resolved satisfactorily, and they will tell five other people (I’ve told at least that many about my restaurant story). If a complaining customer comes away feeling like he or she was right, you may have bought some priceless word of mouth advertising.
Copyright 2005 Diane Baedeker Petit.
This article originally appeared in the July 2005 issue of Growing Magazine.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Ride the multicultural marketing wave
Marketing to targeted ethnic groups has become a major focus of the food retailing industry in general and has great potential for fruit and vegetable growers in particular. The topic has warranted its own track of educational sessions at food marketing industry conventions and experts say that it is one of the most important growth areas in retail food sales.
The market segments that are growing rapidly across the nation are the Hispanic, African American, and Asian communities. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Hispanic and Asian people in the U.S. will triple by 2050.
In a 2003 report, the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) said that over the next two decades, the Hispanic population is expected to grow by 1.2 million annually, compared with annual increases of 500,000 among non-Hispanic Whites and 400,000 each among Blacks and Asians. Hispanics are expected to increase from 12.6 percent of the population in 2000 to 18 percent in 2020, and Asians are expected to increase from four percent to five percent.
ERS pointed out that growing ethnic diversity has contributed to shifts in food preferences as well as expansion of the food repertoire for all Americans. The agency suggests that to profit from this diversity, U.S. food suppliers must be both aware of the differing preferences of ethnic groups and able to creatively tap into Americans' love of novel taste experiences.
And in promoting a recent educational seminar, the Food Marketing Institute similarly stated that ethnic consumers not only comprise an increasingly formidable consumer market, but are also re-shaping the nation's palate through the growing demand for ethnic foods.
The folks at UMass Extension caught on to this trend a number of years ago and have been helping Massachusetts growers find crops typically grown in Latin American and Asian countries that will also grow in the Bay State, despite the shorter growing season. Local growers have been growing crops like ají dulce (a small light green pepper) and calabaza (a type of squash), then marketing them through farmers' markets, farmstands and grocery stores in areas with large Hispanic communities like Holyoke, Lawrence and Lowell.
In fact, UMass Extension has created a website in collaboration with Cornell and Rutgers to help northeast growers find vegetables, fruit and herbs that are in demand by local ethnic communities. The site, www.worldcrops.org, has crop information organized by region - Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe - and by country within those regions, to help growers target specific markets. Included is production information, seed sources, nutrition information and references.
Components of a successful multicultural marketing program, according to Denyse Selesnick of International Trade Information, Inc. in a presentation to food marketers, include knowing the ethnic make-up of your area, learning their food preferences, advertising in their language(s) in publications for their community, doing special promotions around ethnic holidays, and hiring a diverse staff who can relate to these customers.
On the worldcrops.org website, Frank Mangan of the UMass Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, reminds growers to be aware that crops can have different names in different countries and languages, and to label produce appropriately. He also offers marketing tips concerning price and appearance. The best way to research preferences and other considerations, he says, is to visit markets that serve ethnic communities in the area.
According to the Produce Marketing Association, Hispanic consumers average 4.6 grocery trips per week, in contrast to 2.2 trips for non-Hispanic consumers in the United States. The primary reason for that is a strong preference for fresh, high quality fruits and vegetables. That's good news for local growers, who can offer fresh produce just in from the field.
For your customers who are not part of these specific ethnic communities but who are looking for that novel taste experience, be sure to have some recipes and background information on hand.
So, with diverse markets already close at hand and data suggesting that they will only grow in the future, not to mention plenty of informational resources and technical assistance available, Northeast growers are well positioned to ride the multicultural marketing wave.
The market segments that are growing rapidly across the nation are the Hispanic, African American, and Asian communities. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Hispanic and Asian people in the U.S. will triple by 2050.
In a 2003 report, the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) said that over the next two decades, the Hispanic population is expected to grow by 1.2 million annually, compared with annual increases of 500,000 among non-Hispanic Whites and 400,000 each among Blacks and Asians. Hispanics are expected to increase from 12.6 percent of the population in 2000 to 18 percent in 2020, and Asians are expected to increase from four percent to five percent.
ERS pointed out that growing ethnic diversity has contributed to shifts in food preferences as well as expansion of the food repertoire for all Americans. The agency suggests that to profit from this diversity, U.S. food suppliers must be both aware of the differing preferences of ethnic groups and able to creatively tap into Americans' love of novel taste experiences.
And in promoting a recent educational seminar, the Food Marketing Institute similarly stated that ethnic consumers not only comprise an increasingly formidable consumer market, but are also re-shaping the nation's palate through the growing demand for ethnic foods.
The folks at UMass Extension caught on to this trend a number of years ago and have been helping Massachusetts growers find crops typically grown in Latin American and Asian countries that will also grow in the Bay State, despite the shorter growing season. Local growers have been growing crops like ají dulce (a small light green pepper) and calabaza (a type of squash), then marketing them through farmers' markets, farmstands and grocery stores in areas with large Hispanic communities like Holyoke, Lawrence and Lowell.
In fact, UMass Extension has created a website in collaboration with Cornell and Rutgers to help northeast growers find vegetables, fruit and herbs that are in demand by local ethnic communities. The site, www.worldcrops.org, has crop information organized by region - Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe - and by country within those regions, to help growers target specific markets. Included is production information, seed sources, nutrition information and references.
Components of a successful multicultural marketing program, according to Denyse Selesnick of International Trade Information, Inc. in a presentation to food marketers, include knowing the ethnic make-up of your area, learning their food preferences, advertising in their language(s) in publications for their community, doing special promotions around ethnic holidays, and hiring a diverse staff who can relate to these customers.
On the worldcrops.org website, Frank Mangan of the UMass Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, reminds growers to be aware that crops can have different names in different countries and languages, and to label produce appropriately. He also offers marketing tips concerning price and appearance. The best way to research preferences and other considerations, he says, is to visit markets that serve ethnic communities in the area.
According to the Produce Marketing Association, Hispanic consumers average 4.6 grocery trips per week, in contrast to 2.2 trips for non-Hispanic consumers in the United States. The primary reason for that is a strong preference for fresh, high quality fruits and vegetables. That's good news for local growers, who can offer fresh produce just in from the field.
For your customers who are not part of these specific ethnic communities but who are looking for that novel taste experience, be sure to have some recipes and background information on hand.
So, with diverse markets already close at hand and data suggesting that they will only grow in the future, not to mention plenty of informational resources and technical assistance available, Northeast growers are well positioned to ride the multicultural marketing wave.
Copyright 2005 by Diane Baedeker Petit. This article originally appeared in the June 2005 issue of Growing Magazine.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Meal Solutions: does this food marketing buzz word work on the farm?
At the annual Food Marketing Institute (FMI) Supermarket Industry Convention held in Chicago each May, a buzz word emerged about a half dozen years ago for a new marketing category: "Meal Solutions." The term can have different meanings to different food marketers, but generally it's based on the idea that meal planning and preparation times have become more difficult for today's busy consumers.
Now, all these years later, the concept is still a topic on the convention's workshop program indicating that it's a marketing concept that's here to stay and which could easily work not only for supermarkets but also for farmstands.
You have probably noticed that some time ago supermarkets began offering more prepared foods, usually near the front of the store or the deli. Offerings often include rotisserie chicken, side dishes, pasta dishes, salad bars, and pre-made sandwiches. Sometimes foods are kept warm or can be quickly heated in the microwave oven.
Meal Solutions aren't just limited to fully prepared foods, but can be defined by several levels of consumer involvement in the meal:
Focus groups conducted by FMI around the country identified six needs related to meals that encompass nutrition, family time, holiday and social gatherings, cultural traditions, and indulging in favorite foods as a reward. Recognizing these needs can help food retailers develop Meal Solutions products to meet these needs and thereby increase sales.
Local turkey farms were onto this idea a long time ago. For as long as I can remember, at Thanksgiving time turkey farms have offered fully cooked turkeys with all the fixings - stuffing, gravy, potatoes, squash, and cranberry sauce - for folks who wanted a fresh, home-cooked turkey dinner but didn't have the time or ability to cook it themselves.
A quick check of some local farmstand websites shows that fruit and vegetable farm marketers have also picked up on this marketing niche either intuitively or by studying marketing trends.
Berlin Orchards in Berlin, Mass., suggests on their website, "If you've had a busy day, pick up a home cooked 'dinner-to-go' such as our famous chicken pot pie."
Green River Farms in Williamstown, Mass., not only sells fresh produce, dairy products, cheeses and pasta, but also tells customers that "You can also look forward to an expanded selection of salads, soups and entrees prepared in-store for you to conveniently pick up on your way home for dinner, or on your lunch break from work, or any time!"
Bolton Orchards in Bolton, Mass., offers a large selection of prepared foods including appetizers, entrees and desserts, including sandwiches made to order, homemade soups, stews, chowders and chilies, dinner entrees, side dishes, salads and desserts, and party platters.
Offering fully prepared foods may not be right for every farmstand. You'll need the equipment, ability, packaging and personnel to do the preparation, or if you buy-in, you'll at least need the proper equipment to keep them hot or cold. Perhaps the ready-to-prepare or ready-to-create categories would work better.
The Meals Solutions concept can be as simple as displaying together items that can make up a meal, along with a recipe or two. That way, harried customers don't need to think about putting a meal together. All they have to do is grab and buy the items you've put together, and go.
If customers know that they can not only pick up fresh ingredients for a salad or dessert, but the entire dinner as well, without having to make an extra trip to the grocery store, that gives them all the more reason to stop by your farmstand on the way home from work.
Copyright 2005 by Diane Baedeker Petit
This article originally appeared in the May 2005 issue of Growing magazine.
Now, all these years later, the concept is still a topic on the convention's workshop program indicating that it's a marketing concept that's here to stay and which could easily work not only for supermarkets but also for farmstands.
You have probably noticed that some time ago supermarkets began offering more prepared foods, usually near the front of the store or the deli. Offerings often include rotisserie chicken, side dishes, pasta dishes, salad bars, and pre-made sandwiches. Sometimes foods are kept warm or can be quickly heated in the microwave oven.
Meal Solutions aren't just limited to fully prepared foods, but can be defined by several levels of consumer involvement in the meal:
- Ready-to-eat: convenient meals for immediate consumption, usually prepared food.
- Ready-to-heat: partially or fully prepared meals requiring heating for later consumption.
- Ready-to-prepare: meal requires assembly but minimal planning, purchase and preparation.
- Ready-to-create: refers to retailer programs designed to build consumer cooking interest and capability.
Focus groups conducted by FMI around the country identified six needs related to meals that encompass nutrition, family time, holiday and social gatherings, cultural traditions, and indulging in favorite foods as a reward. Recognizing these needs can help food retailers develop Meal Solutions products to meet these needs and thereby increase sales.
Local turkey farms were onto this idea a long time ago. For as long as I can remember, at Thanksgiving time turkey farms have offered fully cooked turkeys with all the fixings - stuffing, gravy, potatoes, squash, and cranberry sauce - for folks who wanted a fresh, home-cooked turkey dinner but didn't have the time or ability to cook it themselves.
A quick check of some local farmstand websites shows that fruit and vegetable farm marketers have also picked up on this marketing niche either intuitively or by studying marketing trends.
Berlin Orchards in Berlin, Mass., suggests on their website, "If you've had a busy day, pick up a home cooked 'dinner-to-go' such as our famous chicken pot pie."
Green River Farms in Williamstown, Mass., not only sells fresh produce, dairy products, cheeses and pasta, but also tells customers that "You can also look forward to an expanded selection of salads, soups and entrees prepared in-store for you to conveniently pick up on your way home for dinner, or on your lunch break from work, or any time!"
Bolton Orchards in Bolton, Mass., offers a large selection of prepared foods including appetizers, entrees and desserts, including sandwiches made to order, homemade soups, stews, chowders and chilies, dinner entrees, side dishes, salads and desserts, and party platters.
Offering fully prepared foods may not be right for every farmstand. You'll need the equipment, ability, packaging and personnel to do the preparation, or if you buy-in, you'll at least need the proper equipment to keep them hot or cold. Perhaps the ready-to-prepare or ready-to-create categories would work better.
The Meals Solutions concept can be as simple as displaying together items that can make up a meal, along with a recipe or two. That way, harried customers don't need to think about putting a meal together. All they have to do is grab and buy the items you've put together, and go.
If customers know that they can not only pick up fresh ingredients for a salad or dessert, but the entire dinner as well, without having to make an extra trip to the grocery store, that gives them all the more reason to stop by your farmstand on the way home from work.
Copyright 2005 by Diane Baedeker Petit
This article originally appeared in the May 2005 issue of Growing magazine.
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