Heinz: Shoppers spending more on groceries

Lucrative shoppers:
The average grocery shopper spends £7.92 per visit on grocery items compared to £7.59 a year ago, while the average shopper spends just £5.17. That means grocery shoppers spend 53% more than the average shopper and each represents £1,523 worth of sales each year.

Missing out on sales:
However, five per cent of grocery shoppers are failing to buy a product in store, with the main reason being that products are out of stock. By failing to stock the products customers want, the channel could be losing out £100 million in grocery sales per year.

"The grocery category is in great health with more grocery shoppers coming through the door and spending more per trip in the convenience and impulse channel," says Simon Digby, Heinz Customer Business Development Manager. "However, our research has shown that shoppers are not spending what they intended. If they can't find the products they want, they won't pick an alternative and will go elsewhere. Retailers need to think about the implications of this and should realise that far from being low value, distress purchase shoppers, their grocery customers are in fact lucrative shoppers, who buy from other categories if the brands they know and trust are stocked."

Other findings:
• Grocery shoppers look to buy across several categories, with milk (34%), chilled foods (23%) and bread (21%) accounting for those most often bought with a grocery item.
• Grocery items play a vital role in top-up shopper missions, (the biggest shopper mission for convenience stores) as they are bought on 39% of all top-up shopping occasions. They are also bought more than BWS and crisps and snacks.
• The total convenience category is now worth £27.4 billion, a growth by 125% over the last ten years.

"Through Grow Grocery, Heinz is committed to working with independent convenience retailers to ensure they are making the most of the hugely profitable grocery category," continues Simon Digby. "On top of delivering tailored category management initiatives for our retail partners, Heinz is always looking at new ways to deliver exciting NPD solutions which both excite and delight consumers. Together we can grow grocery - it's an opportunity that is too big to be ignored."

There are three simple steps that retailers can take to create the perfect grocery display, which will help them capitalise on shopper trends and grow their sales:

1. Stock the brands and products that are most popular with your customers
2. Display them according to industry standard planograms, designed using the most up to date market data
3. Keep the display fully stocked by ensuring you have enough product to avoid out of stock