“What business are you in?” John Ross, CEO of Chicago-based IGA, asked attendees at the recent IGA Global Rally in San Diego. “Do we sell stuff? Or do we solve problems?”
The answer, if you want to be successful, is: You are a solutions provider.
“We are our own worst self-promoters,” he added. “We often merchandise the food, not the solution. We don’t tell the story.”
Many of the sessions at the show covered how independent grocers can let consumers know why they should buy products from them and how the retailers can make it easy for consumers to make the decisions on what to feed their families. This includes changing the set up of the store itself, which is currently organized to be logistically efficient, or easy to move product from the back room to the shelf. This positions grocers to sell stuff, not meal solutions, like how customers shop.
Ross suggested that independent grocers need to look to their real competition – restaurants, which have been drawing customers away by the convenience of meal solutions.
The grocery industry will only continue to grow as the population of the United States continues to enlarge – Generation Z is set to be bigger than the Millennial generation, and its members are indicating that they want to have large families, setting up future success even farther down the road, Ross noted.
However, independent grocers need to become better listeners. “We aren’t listening to what consumers are saying. We often only ‘talk’ to people who are already shopping our stores, but not the ones who don’t. Why don’t they shop with you?” Ross noted. Talking to the people who aren’t your biggest fans will give you a fuller picture of what your marketplace really wants.