How Important is Fresh, Really?

There are some center store devotees who argue that fresh isn’t all its cracked up to be, and that center store will make a resurgence. They should read this report.

Nielsen shows that total food sales at high-velocity fresh retailers are growing faster than their low-velocity counterparts (4 percent versus 1 percent), and that 49 percent of total food sales at high-velocity fresh retailers are from the fresh department, compared with just 27 percent at low-velocity fresh retailers. It also finds that these high-velocity fresh retailers carry 45 percent more fresh products than low-velocity retailers, underscoring the importance of selection and assortment.

The deli is still critical and plays a crucial role in overall fresh sales, with almost one-third (29 percent) of fresh sales at high-velocity retailers coming directly from the deli department, compared with just 14 percent at low-velocity retailers.

Thirty-two percent of U.S. households are organic produce buyers, and they spend 8.6 percent more per trip across the total store and 5.8 percent more per trip on total store than the average shopper, according to the study. Organic matters: 
16 percent of produce dollar sales are organic at high-velocity fresh retailers, compared with only 6 percent in the bottom tier. Organic meat sales account for 9 percent of dollar sales at top fresh retailers, and just a 0.4 percent share at low-velocity retailers.

Hy-vee’s new downtown Des Moines, Iowa, store is a perfect example of what tomorrow’s supermarket should be – 50 percent fresh and grocerant.