Reynan Burden
2015
Foodie-Inspired Strategy for the supermarkets
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
3
Shifting grocery industry The way in which people do grocery shopping is changing dramatically. The change poses a critical challenge for the four dominant grocers who have until now found success in the old paradigm.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Average number of grocery shopping trips per annum
89
119
118
62
61
65
64
64
68
69
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
Top-up Shopping Regular Shopping
Source: Kantar TGI (as reported by Mintel), 2012
2013 was the first year in history when all of Britain’s four dominant supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – lost their market share at the same time. Their market dominance began to slip during the recession and now it has reached a crisis point. At the core of this crisis, there are three major types of market transformation that have posed the greatest challenges for the supermarkets —the rising German discounters, the fall of the super-stores and the expanding high-end grocers. The 2008 recession was a moment when consumers began making dramatic shifts in the way they spent their money. As their disposable income dropped, food became a primary target for spending cuts. There was a move from eating out frequently to cooking more at home. This was a positive news for
the dominant supermarkets especially for Sainsbury’s, who grabbed 0.3% market share gain over a year between 2008-20091. However, as recession progressed, the stigma that surrounded shopping at the German discount stores alleviated and people began to shop there. Interestingly, their cheap but good quality products have attracted some of the high-earners as well, and by the end of 2014, half of UK shoppers visited LIDL, ALDI over Christmas.2 The data from Nielsen Homescan has revealed that the combined sales of LIDL and ALDI now substanciate for more than 10% of the market share. Furthermore, tightening budget has forced consumers to hunt around for bargains and has made it more difficult for retailers to build loyalty. In 2014, the market share of the hyperstores and superstores was
5
29.8
UK grocery share data 28.7
12 weeks to 12 October 2013
Percentage Share
12 weeks to 12 October 2014
17.2 17.2 16.8 16.4
11.5 11.1
6.3
6.2 4.8
Tesco
Asda
Sainsbury’s Morrisons
Co-op
Source: Kantar Worldpanel
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Emotional Value
5.1
Waitrose
3.9
4.9
ALDI
3
3.5
LIDL
£73.7bn. However, this is expected to drop to £70.8bn by 2019.3 Many reasons have been suggested for the cause of the changing shopping habits that have forced people to stop going to the out of town superstores. One of the most significant cause has been the rise in the number of convenient stores in cities. As more people now live alone and as people increasingly feel busier, it has become more popular to buy a small amount of things they need as a time. Tesco and Sainsbury’s already have more convenient stores than supermarkets,4 and the number of such stores are expected to increase further. When people need to do bigger shopping, they now have an option of simply ordering online. This means that a shopper now has a choice of when and where to shop. Online retailing was valued at £6.5m in 2013 and is expected to be worth £14.6bn by 2018.5
In unison, there is a disruption happening at the high end of the grocery market. The dominant grocers have managed to tap into the high end market with its premium range such as Tesco Finest and Taste the Difference range. However, their success may have relied more on accessibility rather than superiority. As true upmarket retailers such as Waitrose and Ocado are growing rapidly, this space may not stay vacant for much longer. For the past several decades, the supermarket industry has grown continuously through geographical expansion and price reduction. This growth plan is reaching its limits as 90% of Britons today, regularly shop at supermarkets. With the emergence of the discounters and the premium grocers disrupting multiple fronts, consumers are now given a wider
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EMOTIONAL VALUE
LIDL & ALDI
BIG FOUR
DISCOUNT
choice of where they can shop. The model which the Big Four has used to reach its current dominance is in threat as they no longer represent the best model for efficiency. Competing with price and scale alone could become considerably risky as the discounters gain momentum. Therefore, it is a good time to consider an alternative strategy that goes beyond price and accessibility. This project takes a human centred approach with the aim of connecting the Big Four with their customers on a deeper level. To do this, the project will investigate an
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
WAITROSE
PREMIUM
emergent culture, that is the foodie phenomenon. By understanding the ‘foodie’ phenomenon and the individuals who lead this sub-culture, we can extract the essence that make up this phenomenon and the leading edge trends that could shape the future of how a wider population could be engaged with food. If a grocer can become part of this culture, they can grow as the phenomenon spreads and repels competition.
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A still from the show Munchies. A popular food channel that covers a broad range of food culture
Foodies: an emergent food-centred identity The past three decades have seen a speed up of food taking on an additional meaning beyond the provision of sustenance and pleasure. Food has moved towards the centre of our attention, media presence grown, and the focal point of public opinion. The public fixation with food is captured well by its new champion, the foodies. The term has become widely used in recent years and its youthful, international, anti-class attitude have almost entirely replaced its predecessor “gourmet.� The phrase dates back to an article written in 1982 by a British style
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
If food and cooking are now playing a bigger role in identity building in a similar way that fashion has done, there is a growing opportunity for various industries including the grocery industry to capitalise on it. magazine Harpers & Queen. The article used the term to describe “cuisine poseur” who uses sophisticated culinary consumption as means of social distinction.6 The foodie phenomenon is an international one. The term is widely used throughout the world and in particular, in countries with multicultural society such as UK, USA , Australia and Singapore. According to a report by Packaged Facts, there were 31 million foodies in America in 2009 and young adults aged 25–34 are by far the
most likely to be foodies/foodie cooks.7 The foodie culture and its association with young adults are also apparent in Britain. A report written by Deloitte in 2012 showed that consumers among the age of 18 - 34 were going out to drink and eat on average 32 times a month, increasing from 25 times a month in 2011. These young adults were disregarding the recession and were helping to boost pubs, restaurants and cafe sales. The financial director at Deloitte notes that “What we’ve seen is that young people are prepared to cut
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back on expenditure in other areas but not on going out for a bite or a drink, which is seen as a lifestyle and not a luxury.” This defiant spending pattern suggests that food and drink, or at least going out to dine, have become deeply meaningful to these individuals. The growing love for food can also be seen beyond dining out. With watching celebrity chef programme now one of the nation’s favourite past time activities, cooking has been glamorised into an sensual and expressive leisure activity. As a result, various industries have successfully capitalised on this culture. Cookbooks, for example, have accomplish 7 out of 20 Amazon UK’s 2011 book bestseller spots.8 As male celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver have become prominent, cooking is increasingly becoming an activity that both sexes practice. Furthermore, Oliver as well as personalities such as Nigela Lawson has glamorised cooking to an extent in which food programmes are sometimes compared against pornography. What is interesting is this additional role that cooking now plays in people’s lives. Being able to cook is not only about feeding oneself
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
but now playing a bigger role in social interaction. Food now seems to be used more frequently as a “signifier of style.” As Martha Stewart, an American TV lifestyle guru writes, “food is the new fashion.” 8 To give a sense of how much food has come to be used as a signifier of style and taste, one can look at how frequently the word ‘food’ is tagged with a photo on the social networking site Instagram. The hashtag #food is now ranked as the 25th most tagged word on the platform and it is the 2nd
#food The 2nd most popular material goods hashtag, just after #fashion
most popular material goods to be hashtagged, just after #fashion. If food and cooking are now playing a bigger role in identity building in a similar way that fashion has done, there is a growing opportunity for various industries including the grocery industry to capitalise on it. The grocery industry is perhaps responding very slowly to this shift in comparison to the other foodie related industries such as restaurants. Although there have been numerous product releases that have reacted to food trends in the grocery
17,000 vs. 10,000 The number of food blogs vs. the number of fashion blogs
industry, there is no grocer who seems to be at the forefront of the foodie culture. Perhaps this is due to the over reliance on their use of big data, which is collected through loyalty cards. This project will aim to create strategic directions for the grocers that will make them more culturally relevant to the foodies. By becoming aligned with the foodie culture, the grocer has a better chance of connecting with the shoppers on an emotional level.
7 out of 20 Amazon UK’s 2011 bestsellers are books about cooking and baking
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This project takes a fresh look at the foodies to discover new grocery business opportunities
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Opportunities Research Planning
Research phase Synthesis 5 weeks
Insights
3 weeks
Findings
Research Methodology The methodology used in this project is based on the well-established ethnographic and human-centred design principles.9 A significant proportion of the project was spent on research and analysis of data which sought to undercover attitudes, perceptions and practices around cooking and how it helped to create the foodie identity. The research phase that lasted for five weeks consists of several methods which included: (1) in-depth (contextual) interviews in the foodies’ homes whenever possible, (2) various sight visits and the use of existing
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
products and services to emphasise and to gain a better understanding of the world where foodies inhabit, (3) research on social media to understand how people are curating their food experiences online. This multi-layered approach generates thick data which is distinctive from (loyalty card data) those frequently used in the grocery industry for their R&D. Aiming to get beyond the casual observational insights, the collected data was synthesised thoroughly in a variety of ways. An effort was
Strategy framing
Strategy Development 4 weeks
Testing
7
Interviews
18
Sight Visits
placed on analysing the data within a cultural context in order to understand the insights within a bigger picture. This investment in the research and synthesis phase provided a strong foundation to build the new strategic vision that this report provides. The proposed strategy draws upon a framework often used for brand strategy which aims to define the values and characteristics of an organisation that helps to guide the way in which they behave and act. This foodie strategy works in a similar way by
Deliver
Ideation
475
1 week
Photographs
257 Notes
providing a new perspective onto an emerging opportunity. The grocers can use the framework to imagine new products and services that align with their culture and support their needs. This report closes by providing one actionable direction that has come out of the new strategic framework. This service concept acts as an example of how the framework can be used to develop distinctive new offerings that can attract and even catalyse the foodie market.
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Cooking framework that was used to make all interviews consistent yet flexible.
Planning
Learning
Shopping
Sorting
Eating
Cooking
Research Participants and engagement approach As stated previously, foodies are often associated with young adults. Growing up with the likes of Jamie Oliver and Nigela Lawson, they see cooking as a ‘sensual craft’ that goes beyond food provision. This generation is well accustomed to social media platforms on which they shape and curate their lives and food has a growing role in that self expression. Furthermore, as more young people continue to delay starting a family in order to progress their careers, cooking has become more about self-nurturing rather than about caring for the family. These changing
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
dynamics represent an interesting shift that seems to be transforming cooking into one of the most potent expressions of the self identity. This research focuses on the young adults—those between 18 - 35—who use food as a primary medium for identity building. Many people already call themselves a foodie. However, those who identify themselves as one may not be the leading edge foodies who are living and creating the new food culture. Therefore, it is important to identify this leading edge foodies because they
On occasions when the participants allowed it, the research was conducted in their own environment. Sometimes even observing them prepare food and eating with them.
are the ones who can enlighten the emerging values and practices that the wider population may adopt in the near future. To identify the right participants, individuals were found through personal recommendations. The selected individuals prioritised food related practices beyond social norms. For example, one recommended participant was selected because he allegedly prioritised cooking over social gathering, saying that he had planned to cook a ‘steak pie’ so he could not attend. An unthinkable decision for his peers. Such abnormal weighting
of cooking is a sign that shows these participants are the leading edge foodies. The exploratory research approach was left flexible for methods to be tweaked as it went along. Interview questions were added, rephrased and taken out. New sight visits were added to the list whenever a participant mentioned something new. To conduct a flexible yet consistent investigation of the participants, I developed a cooking framework which guided the design of the interview questions.
Change 19—B
Findings: the extended scope of cooking
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Cooking as identity building Cooking should not be considered as a lone activity. It connects to a wider network of practices that together shape the foodie identity. The following map will present the extended activities (which have come out of this research) that collectively form the foodie cooking practice. By seeing it in this way, it re-frames where a grocer could intervene and extend its services. It also shifts the understanding of what a grocer could be—an infrastructure for identity building—rather than as a food provider.
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Anticipate
Some of the information that foodies collect will explicitly or inexplicitly be collected as inspirations for future cooking. Some keep a mental bookmark, others keep a physical wishlist.
Exploration
Foodies have a general curiosity about food and many enjoy learning about cultures that surround food and cuisine. This includes things like learning about food history, to reading about how a cow is butchered, even without the intention of doing so themselves.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Collection
Plan
Depending on the occasion and the individual, they may already have planned what they are going to buy. For the shopping occasions that aren’t planned, grocery shopping can be about looking for inspirations, hunting for discounts or being engaged with experts to learn and practice their knowledge.
Acquire Ingredients
Planning
Planning is about organising how to eat over a period of time, from what to eat that night, to what to eat over a few weeks. Some of the planning happen pre-shopping, some happen after. Planning can involve lots of skills including planning ahead to save money and using up leftovers creatively. Many foodies pride in their planning ability.
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Action
Foodies showed a curiosity for the new and they regularly try unfamiliar dishes as the experience excites them and they find the learning experience pleasurable.
Exploitive
Cooking Cooking is the most important activity in which foodies practice their acquired knowledge and skill. Foodies describe cooking as a therapeutic, relaxing and switching off process. By being able to apply their knowledge, they feel joy from the process.
Refinement
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Foodies, just like anyone else have staple food that they always cook. However, their staple food is never finished. It constantly evolves as foodies remix and edit using new, interesting techniques and ingredients. Unlike Exploitive cooking, Refinement is about using personal creativity as well as honing and polishing ones craft.
Reflect
Many foodies, like everyone else, like to document their products. As food is ephemeral, a photographic documentation is often the only way to preserve and to materialise the achievement. Foodies often document their production process as well, it is the most creative process in the cooking activity.
Tasting
Document
To taste is to test. Taste of food is crucial in determining its worth. So being able to create good flavour is a mark of a good foodie. Being able to create a wide variety of sophisticated flavour is every foodie’s goal. Tasting is an important judging process in which they reflect on their product for continuous self improvement.
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Findings: values and meanings that shape cooking
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
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1 Physical
accomplishment Cooking for foodies is a therapeutic activity which fulfills their need to create with their hands. In the knowledge economy, work limits us from utilising some of human capabilities. In particular, the opportunity to utilise our physical capacity has been minimised. As a result, work no longer entails physical exhaustion. Instead, people endure different kind of fatigue which arises from mental exhaustion and stress. Consequently, there seems to be a desire to rebalance our body and mind. For the foodies, cooking is a way in which this rebalancing is done. As one informant describes what she likes about cooking, “Escapism for
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
a start. My mum always says ‘I don’t understand how I can come back after 9 - 10 hour working day and cook for 40 minutes.’ Whereas for me it’s a stress releasing process. It’s about coming in, switching off and focusing on one thing.” Similarly, other informants made a comparison between cooking and therapy. For some, cooking is described in a similar manner to the work of a craftsman. An informant states in the interview that “I get satisfaction when I chop up the ingredients into the same
The participant who was cooking this dish had spent two hours after work preparing this dish.
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This participant wakes up in the afternoon on the weekend and spends the rest of the day preparing food.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
“I get satisfaction when I chop up the ingredients into same shape and size.”
A pantry full of dried herbs. This participant has everything she needs to make her favourite dishes from scratch.
shape and size.” He continues, saying that he would find it “satisfying when [he sees] all of the ingredients nicely prepared… [and] separately placed into bowls.” He is visually seeing his ‘work’ come together and it seems like seeing this progress gives him great pleasure.
“I enjoy the fact that I made this thing from scratch. Like I did all of it. I did not cheat or take short-cuts.”
Although foodies cook regardless of which day it is, the weekends give them an opportunity to be really engaged in cooking. Many foodies spend hours. To make something entirely from scratch, which often takes a long time, seems to hold a significant value to foodies.
As one informant states, “I enjoy the fact that I made this thing from scratch. Like I did all of it. I did not cheat or take short-cuts.” For the foodies, cooking is something that they can actually accomplish in. It is not only a means to eating good food.
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2 Connecting with the origin Pantry filled with various ethnic spices and sources. None of it was purchased from the major supermarkets.
Food has continued to be traded and manufactured on a international scale, and through globalisation, cultural heritage has been lost to a certain extent. Perhaps, as a result, there is a growing desire among the foodies to rediscover the ‘original form’ of cuisines. This ranges from getting to know the culture in which a certain dish or a product was created, to learning about the individual who created a new dish. The desire to find out where certain thing come from even extended to the individual ingredients. One informant mentions that on special
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
cooking occasions, she would visit a particular butcher as they “would be able to tell [her] the history of the meat: the field where it grew up, what it ate, how long did it live” and so on. The foodies who participated in this research showed a strong care and appreciation for the cultural origin of a dish. One informant remarks that to get a correct recipe, he would “research” several versions of the dish to find recurring pattern and compiled the most reliable elements together to form his version. Another informant
Almost as a response to the widening distance between the origin of food and its consumption, foodies are trying to reconnect the two.
One participant cooked spaghetti bolognese which used a mix of minced beef and pork for the source. According to him, it is the original recipe.
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To get the right mushroom for his risotto, this individual cycled 30 minutes to a remote speciality grocer.
On one shopping trip, the participant pointed out how inauthentic this Yaki Soba Recipe Kit was. Saying that the original version uses a totally different type of noodle.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
“Not so super interested in the whole master chef because I kind of want the back story as well. Big part of food is about the culture and the place and I kind of want to learn that story as well.â€? talked about his experience of trying to recreate a dish by Ferran AdriĂ , the head chef of elBulli. He said that when he tried, he had to substitute several ingredients since they were not available in Glasgow. Even though his guests found the food to be delicious, he was left unsatisfied. Another respondent said that when he made dumplings, he decided not to make the skin by himself and buy the pre-made ones instead. His reason is that without the right flour, it would not be possible to make the skin to taste the way it should be and that buying a pre-made
While having dinner together, one participant showed me an online food channel he is particularly keen of, Munchies. The show focuses on telling the stories of chefs.
skin would result in a more accurate taste. This has an impact on the way they do grocery shopping as well. One respondent said that whenever she wanted to try cooking Chinese food, she would go to the Chinese supermarket. She believes that even though her local store might have the ingredient she needs, she does not trust its authenticity. So even though the Big Four grocers now have a dedicated international section, the legitimacy of the ingredients are being questioned.
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3 Celebrating
A refrigerator filled with frozen meats and vegetables in order to preserve them for longer.
resourcefulness
The foodie identity is not only created through the consumption of unique food experiences alone. Today, people are shaping their identity by skilfully being a resourceful food consumer.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Shopping for discounts rather than from a predefined list in order to maximise saving.
#clearingoutthefridge An Instagram hashtag used to celebrate creative resorcefulness.
Foodies live within the complexity of everyday life. With work pressure perceived to be intensifying and with sluggish economy holding down their disposable income, it can be challenging to manage an efficient and enjoyable consumption of food. This constraint, however, can also act as a creative challenge which some foodies enjoy and as the skills used to overcome it, even regarded as pride. One informant describes her striking shopping and planning process saying “I shop fortnightly. I come up with fourteen dinners, lunch and breakfast
for the two weeks ahead. Then I write a shopping list based on the things that I’m going to eat so that I don’t over buy or under buy.” She would then freeze perishable goods and take what she needs from the freezer every morning. Although this extreme planning is made fun of by her friends, she takes her capability as pride, which she was managing to do the best she can within her budgetary restraint. Many foodies dislike overt consumption. Perhaps it is due to the fact that they care about food so
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To avoid food being wasted, many individuals avoided having too much perishable items in their fridges. They would aim to use up things they bought on the same day they purchased it.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
much, that they don’t want to mistreat it and to take it for granted. Their consumption is instead, very mindful. One of the most visible ways in which this is manifested is their intolerance towards food waste. As one informant states, “I don’t waste food at all. I will eat a limping celery or a parsley that’s gone a bit yellow. I don’t waste anything.” Another informant expresses that “I really don’t like throwing away food. In fact, I’m quite proud of not creating food waste.” Many foodies also disliked paying premium to eat well, which is how they see the
Some participants cooked some dishes days ahead of eating. This bolognase source was being prepared on the weekend to be eaten during the busy weekdays.
“It’s a waste when I buy fresh vegetables because it’s usually too much and I end up throwing away quite a bit.” people around them consuming. One participant said that “I can eat the most expensive thing and the cheapest thing. For me, its about paying the right amount for what I am getting.” Such activities are not something that foodies do in their back stage. Rather, many people are now celebrating their ability to turn challenges into opportunities. One example of such wit is illustrated by the growing popularity of a new Instagram hashtag #clearingoutthefridge. People are tagging their images of food which was
created by the leftover ingredients from their fridge. These findings show that foodies are not those who purely seek for rare food experiences for social distinction. Rather, in this new light, foodies are building their identity through the practice of mindful consumption and resourcefulness.
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A vodka diffuser given as a gift. The owner has pondered extensively about possible infusions with her flatmate and has tried a variety of mixes.
4 Instinctive
exploration With so much information about food surrounding us, foodies are looking for room to explore it in their own way. Foodie-Inspired Strategy
A photo of a restaurant menu taken by one of the respondents. Her phone had hundreds of similar images which she used as inspiration for her future cooking.
“As far as things like TV chefs and cooking trends go, I don’t really follow them. I don’t follow cooking fads. I like to eat what I want to eat. I don’t jump onto things that other people are suggesting.”
Cookbooks now dominate bestseller ranking and food bloggers have collectively published countless recipes on the internet. This has made it easier for anyone to learn new recipes and improve their skills. As information on food has saturated major media outlets, it has made it possible for one to cook virtually anything without knowing very much about cooking. Some foodies are beginning to find this extreme accessibility too convenient, and are opting out of it. As one informant expresses, “I don’t really use cookbooks anymore. I have a couple of cookbooks
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but I find them really constraining.” Exploration takes on different forms which are more imaginative and personal. One informant says that when he comes across an interesting ingredient, he would often “put it in the back of his mind to meditate over it.” He would imagine what it might go well with and how it might work in one of his accustomed dishes. In this sense, the foodies enjoys being teased with food stimulus, but not being given the full picture. Some informants are looking for recipes
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
“I often stand in the meat shelf and think ‘I can make this, this and this, so what do I want to eat?’ Sometimes I stand there for like 15 minuites.”
A spreadsheet one respondent had created to store her wishlist of everything she wanted to try to cook in the future.
but almost in a hunter like manner. One respondent says that she always looks for an interesting recipe and idea. Whenever she comes across something, whether this is in their cookbooks at her friend’s house, something she finds online or even from a restaurant menu, she would photograph it. A similar behaviour is practiced by others. One participant has collected so much ideas that she has made a ‘wishlist’ in which she collects all of her ideas. These behaviours represent a different way of using the information that now surrounds us. Rather than simply
“I have couple of recipe books but I don’t really like using them. I find it restricting.” following what is pushed towards them or choosing to use the easily accessible information online, the foodies use the entire environment as a trigger for imagination.
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Proposals: Defining opportunities from the emergent values
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
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Emotional Emergant Foodie Market
Speciality
Premium
Discount
Waitrose
Big Four LIDL & ALDI Functional
Rethinking the purpose of the Big Four Brand Positioning The findings show various drivers that shape the way in which foodies cook. By cooking in a certain way, foodies are reinforcing their identity as a sophisticated food consumer. As cooking grow as a marker of identity, there is an emerging opportunity for the grocers to shift from a food provider to
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
a brand that reinforces foodie identity. Regardless of the fact that all of the respondents that participated in this research are not high-earners, they cook and eat in a way that they utilise food as a central component of their identity building process. This suggests that the implications of the foodie phenomenon is much wider than the premium market which is served by Waitrose and other speciality stores. The Big Four have the scale and the infrastructure to respond to the widening foodie culture that the premium brands can not reach. Therefore, by moving into the Emergent
Current Grocer Ideologies
Foodie-inspired Ideologies
Food retailer
1
Cooking experience facilitator
Retailer who respond to food trends
2
Brand that explores food culture
Provider of cheap food
3
Retailer who celebrates & activates savviness
Efficient food retailer
4
A place for Inspiration
Foodie Market, the Big Four can become an emotional brand, distinguishing them from the rest who still compete on price. Breaking industry biases Industry biases develop as a result of over-familiarity with the old way of doing things. The old way has proven itself as a successful model and it continues to do well. Some ways become so prevalent that industry insiders can sometimes forget that there are other possibilities. However, as culture and lifestyles change, there
are always better ways that can serve the new culture more effectively. Here, some of the grocery industry biases are pointed out. These are operational ideologies that shape the way in which grocers behave. By juxtaposing the current industry ideologies with the emerging foodie culture, four cultural contradictions have been identified. These contradictions have resulted in the new ideologies that the grocers can use to reshape the way in which they operate, to align with the emerging foodie culture.
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In response to: Physical accomplishment
Food retailer
As many foodies have stated, they cook to ‘escape’ from their everyday activities, and alleviate their stressed minds. Cooking activates parts of the body and mind that have not been used at work. Although grocers provide ingredients that are integral to cooking, they do not provide much else that compliments and enhances the cooking experience. Grocers must re-imagine themselves as a cooking facilitator rather than as a food provider. This could entail multitude of things. On one spectrum, it could be about easing the barriers that exist, that make cooking
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
1
Cooking experience facilitator
challenging in people’s everyday lives. Foodies may dedicate enough effort to overcome barriers that are too high for the wider population. It may also be about enhancing the experience of cooking and stimulating different senses and parts of the mind that has been sleeping all day.
Case Study: Adidas Run Base Realising that the urbanites found it difficult to find the time in their busy lives to schedule a run, Adidas opened a new facility called the Run Base in several cities. Acting in a similar manner to a gym, the facility has a locker room, shower and running equipments that can be rented. By being located in urban centres, it is accessible to many. Furthermore, Adidas provides route guides and even professional training sessions to help people enjoy and improve running. This facility provides a new infrastructure for people who might otherwise struggle to continue
running. Adidas, who sells running equipment managed to re-imagined themselves as a running facilitator. By doing so, they connected with their consumers and became more deeply involved in their lives. Grocers, who are in people’s cooking could also think of themselves as such facilitators, who provide infrastructures that support people’s cooking.
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In response to: Connecting with the origin
Retailer who respond to food trends
Today, the grocers observe food trends using the data they collect from their customers and responds to the emerging trend with a product just when the market is ready. This has been largely successful but the foodies who participated in this research did not find the products released by the grocers particularly exciting nor genuine. Instead, when a foodie wanted to explore something specific, they would visit a speciality store where they could get the authentic products and richer stories behind the product. Instead of being a reactive
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
2
Brand that explores food culture
brand, grocers should try to become a leading brand. Furthermore, they need to show a genuine interest in the food culture that they explore; otherwise, the increasingly smart and aware consumers will see it as inauthentic. If the grocer can attain this identity, they will become a trusted partner of food exploration that foodies and the wider population will look towards to discover the new frontiers of food culture.
Case Study: Found Muji Muji, a Japanese company widely known across the world for its simple Japanese aesthetics has launched a new concept store called Found Muji. An initiative aims at finding objects around the world that encapsulate elements of the Muji philosophy. Found Muji has been successful as it highlights the progressive nature of the organisation. They are demonstrating that Muji is continuing to explore and developing its rich philosophy around the way of living by learning from the culture around us. Furthermore, by highlighting what Muji sees in the everyday objects,
they are telling the story of Muji in a new light. Grocers can learn from the way in which Muji explores and push the frontier of their interest. By becoming a genuine explorer of food culture, the grocer could help shoppers further their knowledge and the way in which they see the world around them.
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In response to: Celebrating resourcefulness
Provider of cheap food
The research revealed that a major aspect of the foodie identity was based on how well they could manage their food consumption. This means maximising the enjoyment of food with the resources they have at hand and eliminating waste wherever possible. There were lots of planning and sacrificing that have to be done in order to archive this, and foodies are proud of this. In contrast, the way in which such resourcefulness is presented by the grocers today feels very much a compromise rather than something
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
3
Retailer who celebrates & activates savviness
one can be proud of. If one takes a look at the value range, this becomes very clear. It is a product range that doesn’t encourage consumption. Similarly, the grocers do not provide much support nor motivate consumers to reduce food waste. Instead, grocers sell large portions of food, which often ends with the consumer creating food waste.
Case Study: IKEA IKEA hits the perfect balance between affordability and style. By getting the consumers to build the furniture themselves, they have managed to make products affordable. Although the price is an important factor, what IKEA wants people to enjoy is the joy of furnishing and decorating one’s home. They are helping more people find joy in this in a variety of ways. The way in which they design their stores helps customers imagine different lifestyles they could lead while the assembling is made into a lego-like experience. Although the cost factor
plays a large role in their success, the language they use to communicate their brand is spoken very differently. The communication language suggests that we offer a holistic package that enables and inspires the customers to give life to people’s living environments. Grocers can learn from this. Rather than having the focus of the communication special deals, grocers should provide the infrastructure that activates and celebrates cooking, even at the lower end.
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In response to: Instinctive exploration
Predictable retailer
Although one could find thousands of products in a supermarket, the foodies do not find it a particularly exciting place. Although they enjoy doing grocery shopping, the Big Four do not provide an experience that foodies find stimulating. Many of them prefer to visit speciality stores as a place to be inspired. As innovations in the grocery industry has mostly focused on improving efficiency in the past 100 years, grocery shopping has become bland. As food and cooking increasingly become part of people’s identity building, an efficient store
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
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A place for inspiration
model does not fulfill the customer’s needs. As a result, for most foodies, their identity building spaces have been limited to their kitchen and restaurants. To become an additional space in which foodies create their identity, grocery stores need to become a place of discovery. It needs to become a place where one visits to encounter something new. Grocers should not function only as a convenient and efficient retailer, they need to be a place where people might even travel and spend time. Grocery stores could be a place where people slow down and are inspired.
Case Study: City Market Markets provide cities with an interesting layer of shopping experience. Shoppers visit markets to find interesting items through chance. Furthermore, with many small retailers doing things slightly differently from each other, the experience changes throughout the market. This makes every visit unique and thrilling. Grocers could find inspirations from the way in which markets create thrill. For example, grocers can became a place where there is constant change throughout the month, week or even during the day. There could also be
stronger variations across different stores, with each store specialising in certain elements. By becoming more unpredictable, they could create a sense of anticipation that is missing in the current model of Big Four supermarkets.
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A framework for shaping a new grocery landscape This brand framework should act as an anchor in which new product and service innovations should be grounded. The four corners of this framework provides different approaches a grocer can take to be engaged with the foodies. Furthermore, these corners can be combined to create further diversity in idea creation. By using this framework to drive the brand behaviour, a grocer can become ‘so differentiated and powerful that they deflect competition.’10
Relaxed To Create Cooking Cooking experience experience facilitator
facilitator
A place for serendipitous A place for inspiration discoveries To Inspire Serendipitous
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Attitudes Ambitions Characteristics Genuine
This framework is an adaptation of Brand Positioning developed by Brand Engine
To Explore Brand that explores food culture
Retailer who celebrates & activates savviness To be Savvy Proud
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The framework in relation to the extended cooking To demonstrate how the framework can be used to create new opportunities, one corner has been selected for further exploration. The third corner has been selected as it is the opportunity area that is fundamental to pushing the Big Four towards the accessible emotional
grocery brand that has been identified as the ideal positioning. To open up the framework for concept development, the strategic implications are discussed against the extended cooking process that foodies practice to building their identity.
Anticipate
Plan
Get customers excited about cooking in a resourceful way before they arrive in store. Reassure customers with the knowledge that shopping with this grocer will mean that they will be able to become more resourceful, creative and feel good about doing so.
Help make it easier for people to plan ahead so that they can effectively use their resources with ease. Provide instore services that help people become more resourceful. Make people feel good when they shop in a resourceful way. Perhaps even provoke customers with a challenge that gets them engaged.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Retailer who celebrates & activates savviness To be Savvy Proud
Action
Reflect
Put a positive spin on cooking that involves resourceful ingenuity. Sometimes, one only needs to realise that they are doing something great. Grocers can help them realise.
Create a platform to share the achievements and ideas. Build an infrastructure on which a community based on the idea of creative resourcefulness can grow.
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From framework to concepts
Service and product concepts were sketched over the extended cooking process in order to generate ideas across the whole process. Mapping the ideas in this way also helped to identify connections between different ideas. The best concepts were taken forward and developed into storyboards in order to explore the idea further and to help decide which direction would fit the Big Four supermarkets. Here are three concepts that were drawn out.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Ideas sketched over the extended cooking process.
21 ingredients Each month, 21 ingredients are selected with consumer involvement. These ingredients are then bought by the grocer in huge quantity in order to force down the price. With a reduced price, consumers can explore new ingredients while also being given a challenge to cook using the 21 ingredients. Challenger Shelf Currently, when an ingredient is nearing its sell by date, it is put on a discount. The Challenger Shelf concepts add to this experience by asking customers
Storyboards drawn to make ideas more tangible.
to help them clear out their fridge. The grocer could set additional challenges so that the shopper becomes more engaged in this initiative. Super Fresh Shoppers can already buy ingredients in large bulk to receive discounts on their shopping. However, they are forced to carry the burden of worrying about the expiry date. Super Fresh creates the option that allows customers to keep their shopped items in-store and collect it whenever they wish. In a sense, the grocer becomes an extension of one’s
fridge. The Super Fresh concept was selected to be taken further as it managed to alleviate one of the aching problems that foodies faced, while also proposing a new mechanism that locks in customers to return to the store more frequently.
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Proposal: Super Fresh
Super Fresh is a new product-service system that could be developed by the Big Four supermarkets. Super Fresh removes the need for customers to freeze meat for preservation while managing to keep the cost low. It is done by letting customers buy large portions of meat with a discount and giving them the option to choose how many they wish to take home with them. Any remaining portions will
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
be added to the customer’s account that they can use another time. An analogous system to this is the ATM machine. There is a stock of money which can be immediately accessed by a credit holder. This stock is constantly replenished to make sure that people can access their credit when they wish. With Super Fresh, the credit becomes the meat and the store becomes the ATM machine.
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How it works
ÂŁ The money you give us in advance will be put into investment. Any profit made from the investment will go into a good cause.
The more you buy, the more discount you get.
This system provides value for both the business and their customers. The research observed that foodies were stuck in the dilemma about food waste and leftover; while they want to reduce food waste as much as possible, they do not want to spoil the taste of food by freezing it. Although they were proud of food consumption without waste, there was little support being provided by grocers to enable them to take actions. Super Fresh can change this, and it is done in a way that feels aspirational, not for necessity. This emotional engagement with the consumers is
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Decide how many you want to take home with you. We will keep the remaining portions fresh for you.
echoed strongly in how the money is handled by the supermarket. As shoppers pay upfront, there is a window of time that the supermarket could take advantage of to generate further profit through investments. For that additional profit to play a bigger role, it could be given to support a socially beneficial cause. This directly connects the upfront money that customers invest with a social cause, making them feel even better. For the supermarket, this service creates a new way in which customers
The remaining portions are stored digitally in your account. This digital meat can be traded with the real meat when you want to eat it.
Goes home with you. The amountyou want, when you want.
are locked into shopping with them. Once a customer buys into a Super Fresh product, they will be returning to the store in a near future. Super Fresh should also encourage small but more frequent shopping, which is likely to lead customers to buy other products as well. This small but frequent shopping synchronises with the other opportunities that have been identified in this project. For example, the first opportunity—Cooking Experience Facilitator—suggests a general direction to make grocery stores into a place where customers prepare for their daily
therapeutic ritual of cooking. Therefore, Super Fresh will pave the way for future products and services from the various opportunity areas that have been identified in this research project.
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User experience
1
2
I feel like eating steak tonight..
After work, Kate visits the supermarket to prepare for dinner.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Looks like I could top up.. She is in front of the meat section checking her grocery app. She checks if she still has any ternderloin steak left from her previous purchase.
The customer experience can be understood more intuitively by following one shopper make use of the Super Fresh system.
3
4 Four portions of tenderloin has been added to your account.
Seeing that her stock of tenderloin has ran out, Kate decides to buy 5 portions.
Great!
She goes to the counter to pay for her items. The staff tops up her account with additional stock.
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5
6
Yum!
Yep, there it is. Kate checks her app to see if her stock has been updated.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Kate returns home to cook her dinner. She is happy with her super fresh steak which leaves no leftover ingredients.
Several days later.. Wow, that looks so tasty..
It is another evening and Kate is thinking of what she could cook tonight. She opens the grocery app to see what she can cook with the ingredients she has already bought. Seeing some recomendations, Kate suddenly has a craving for beef.
8 There. Booked!
To make sure she is guaranteed to get her beef, she makes a booking for 1 portion of tenderloin. She now feels comfortable knowing that her craving will be fulfilled in the evening.
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Key touch-points and visual expression
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
These touch-point mock-ups are not intended to be ready for product launch. Instead, they serve as a tangible expression of the mood Super Fresh service should try to create. Super Fresh, as the name says, serves fresh, unfrozen meat. Although customers already expect supermarkets to provide them with fresh meat, the name attacks the current industry system that forces people to freeze their meat. The tag-line further states “never freeze your meat again,� emphasising the issue with the old system. By saying this, Super Fresh becomes the ticket towards a new lifestyle that provides customers with a way to avoid eating frozen meat. The packaging is deliberately made to look aspirational. The paper that wraps the meat has a similar quality to that of
the paper butchers use. In contrast, the outer strip has a different impression which feels more technological and advanced, a gesture that aims to inform that this is a new way in which butcher-quality meat is delivered to the customer. A Super Fresh product is purchased using top-up token. The token carries the discount that customers will receive by buying in bulk. It carries the same visual cue as that of the product packaging so that shoppers can recognise it in an instant. The Super Fresh app is another important touch-point. The visual language once again follows that of the packaging. The function of the app will be expanded on the next page.
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The Your Account page is where users can check at a glance what ingredients they already have.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
The Ingredient page present the users with information about the stock level of the selected ingredient in nearby stores. The page also allows the user to make bookings for the ingredient as well as to top up directly from the app.
If the user is lacking in inspiration, the app can suggest various recipes using the ingredients they already stock in their accounts.
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Values and challenges Here, the Super Fresh concept is evaluated by mapping out the values and challenges it will bring to the supermarkets and to their customers. This evaluation is not entirely speculative. Rather, it is the culmination of the feedback the concept has received from relevant stakeholders during the testing phase of the project.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Value for business - Advanced payment for products which can be used to generate additional profit through investments in bonds. - Shoppers will be locked in to come back for their products. The service could encourage shoppers to do their grocery shopping with one supermarket.
Value for customers - Customers no longer need to freeze their meat to preserve it. They will be able to enjoy fresh meat when they want. - It is made easier for customers to reduce food waste. Especially suitable for individuals who live alone and are busy with work.
Customer relationships - The grocer can brand itself as a supporter of customers who wish to reduce food waste. This could potentially be tied to their sustainability efforts. - The shopping psychology will shift from buying discounted goods to buying for food waste saving solution. - The upfront payment generates money that grocers can use to invest. This money should go to support relevant charitable causes. This would connect the shoppers directly with social benefit, making the customers feel even better.
Challenges - Possibly lead to a lower volume of sales as consumers are no longer encouraged to take home more than they can eat. - The system could be challenging for the less technology literate generations. - The extent of the service is not clear. How many and what kind of products could it be incorporated into this system? - It could cause difficulties when certain products are removed from the shelf as shoppers now have ownership of that item.
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Super Fresh reinforces a new lifestyle that is beginning to emerge in the UK—the growing importance of cooking in identity building and the changing shopping pattern that has shifted from weekly shopping to top-up shopping. With Super Fresh, one can decide on the day what they want to eat that night, rather than having to use up the leftovers. Super Fresh re-imagines how a grocer raises profit. Rather than focusing on increasing the spending per shopping, Super Fresh increases the frequency of visits and it locks the customers in. As convenience store format becomes increasingly prevalent, there is a growing need for the supermarkets to reinvent itself for the new lifestyle. Super Fresh can act as a key step forward.
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References 1. TNS Global World Panel, 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ business/8124352.stm 2. Guardian, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/sustainablebusiness/food-business-revive-urban-communities 3. IDG, 2014, http://www.dnb.co.uk/dnb_files/Reports/ UKreport_Q4_2014_FINAL.pdf 4, 5. BBC, 2014, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ magazine-25762466 6. Harpers & Queen, 1982, Woods 7. Packaged Facts, 2009 8. Gravity, (no date), http://www.food-thinking.com/why/ 9. Huffington Post, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ martha-stewart/food-is-the-new-fashion_1_b_821078.html 10. Sitra. (No Date). Ethnography Field Guide, Vol. 1. http:// www.helsinkidesignlab.org/pages/ethnography-fieldguide 11. Alina Wheeler, 2009, Designing Brand Identity.
Foodie-Inspired Strategy
Studio Supervisor: Kirsty Ross Special thanks to: Yoko Takenouchi, JiaKun Wang
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Foodie-Inspired Strategy