Unlike conventional supermarkets, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s are destinations: places consumers seek out and travel to over long distances. The two chains’ retail strengths echo similar market strategies as they seek to capitalize on growing consumer interest in natural and organic products. In many ways, they also have very similar-and actually often the same-customers. Yet, the striking differences between the two chains are what keep the same consumers shopping at both. At Whole Food...
March 5, 2014Nearly everybody eats salty snacks at one time or another. More than 90% of households in the country report using a salty snack in the past 30 days. Potato chips are eaten by 85% of American households. Corn/tortilla chips/cheese snacks rank next in popularity (72% of households), followed by popcorn products (71%) and pretzels (55%). Although salty snacks are a ubiquitous part of American diets, some of us crave salty snacks much more than others do. There are 50 million Americans who say th...
November 27, 2013After getting its foothold in the office segment of the market, single-serve beverage brewing has experienced tremendous growth with widespread and continued adoption in the retail market. Research conducted by the National Coffee Association (NCA) in 2012 found that 36% of respondents who had a single-serve brewing system obtained it within the last six months, indicating just how fast this segment of the beverage market has been growing. As a result, the packaged coffee category at retail is...
October 3, 2013