Attitudes: Retailers

ConAgra Foods’ pledge to reduce salt across its portfolio of food products by 20 percent by 2015 is an amazing effort.

Conversations with consumers about the household cleaning category reveal a shift in the way consumers think about why and how they clean their home.

The weak economy could use a little mothering as it struggles to recover. But new reports on the consumer behavior of American mothers suggest marketers had better not count on free-and-easy spending by this crucial constituency.

2008 was a stellar year for store brands in the United States, with both dollar and unit growth outpacing branded offerings across consumer packaged goods (CPG) categories.

Since taking the helm of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) in January 2009, Pamela G. Bailey has been confronted with some of the thorniest problems the $2.1 trillion food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry has had to deal with in a long time.

Sustainability means different things to different people. Asked to identify what the term means to them, consumers most frequently respond “the ability to last over time” (76 percent) and “the ability to support oneself.” Sustainability is also strongly associated with environmental concerns, whereby consumers are being challenged to develop and express an “eco-consciousness” in their daily habits and purchases. Thus, nearly half of consumers associate sustainability with conserving natural resources and with recycling.

Some Americans have permanently changed they way they spend, a new study from Citi shows. Sixty-three percent of Americans said the economic downturn has changed the way they save and spend for the long term. Only 29 percent said they would go back to their pre-recession spending habits once the economy turns around.

A majority of American employees are finding themselves hard-pressed to live up to their household budgets, according to a new report from CareerBuilder.