Food Marketers Turn To Dollar-Per-Meal Strategy
Food marketers are pulling a page from fast-food menus and touting dollar deals to promote their products.
As cash-strapped consumers face escalating food prices, Wal-Mart, Kraft, Unilever and Campbell are using the magical $1 price to tap into the trend of people eating and cooking more at home.
“It seems like that’s the definition of value,” says Tom Vierhile, research director with Datamonitor, which tracks marketing and consumer products. “You have a whole segment of retail built around it. And it has a ring to it.”
A ring that marketers hope will convert to cha-ching at registers as food prices climb. They’re up 3.3% for the 12 months ended April 30, according to the latest consumer price index.
“The dollar is what a nickel was for our grandparents,” says food and retail expert Phil Lempert, the Supermarket Guru. “A full shopping cart gives people a psychological satisfaction that they are doing a good job for their family.”
Photo by ba1969.
Angela Shupe on May 21st, 2009 8:38 am
I noticed that our local walmart made a $1 isle. I went down it once and found that what they put on there was mostly stuff that was already under a dollar or a higher priced item that really wasn’t much of a deal because a cheaper alternative was in the isle that the product is usually found.
Rather than creating the illusion of cheap, they should just promote the more affordable alternative to the name brand instead. Not all off brands are the same but some are good enough and worth the savings.
Jaclyn on May 21st, 2009 8:50 am
I have seen many stores offering products for $1 lately, and i’ve seen those mcdonalds commercials that advertise all the different things you can get for a dollar. And for the first time since i’ve been on my own i am noticing that even myself is begining to really look at prices when i’m grocery shopping which is something that never really bothered me until now.
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