OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Varying demographics and localizationthese were the two varied ways attendees of the recent CSP Consumer Trends Forum considered data in looking at better ways to serve their customers' needs.
The first day of the conference, held in Oak Brook, Ill., 20 suppliers and retailers reviewed information from The NPD Group, Houston, to consider the opportunities offered by the spending habits and tastes of Baby Boomers and Generation Y (ages 11 to 25) consumers. Courtesy of Sell-Thru Services Inc., Austin, Texas, the second day highlighted [image-nocss] localization, or ways to better describe a store's or chain's customers.
The NPD Group's senior analyst David Portalatin presented data that showed that while there are 142.5 million Americans not yet in their peak spending years, 114.8 millionBaby Boomersare. The message was that despite the day's focus on how to attract and serve the younger crowd, don't forget their elders.
Also discussed was that Generation Y gets its messages differently; it has more control over what it takes in, with more emphasis on one-on-one, new-media marketing, as well as word-of-mouth.
The bottom line, said Portalatin, was that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The most popular sandwich in 1984, 1994 and 2004 was the ham sandwich. Regardless of generation, people have the same needs, he said, but how will [those needs] be met differently?
NPD data showed that:
Before gas prices rose precipitously, location was the most important driver when people made their choice on where to stop, and that now, in general, it is price. Gen Y is more likely to choose based on what the c-store offers inside as well as at the pump, and to use debit cards. Out of nine c-store product categories, Baby Boomers outpaced Gen Y in only coffee/hot drinks and milk purchases. Gen Y was nearly 4% more likely to obtain and eat a meal away from home than the general population.That's a great opportunity to build loyalty, Portalatin said of Gen Y's propensity to eat on the go, especially since he followed with numbers that showed c-stores were eighth on the list of places people get their food away from home.
Related data was perhaps the most dramatic of the day: the percentage of food obtained and eaten away from home was three times higher for c-stores when it was a snack. Only fast food's snack share was higher.
What are we doing right about snacks that we're not doing right about lunch? asked Portalatin.
Sell-Thru Services, a sales, marketing, information and retail service company, showed that standardization should no longer be top of mind for retailers. Rather, customization based on more advanced data gathering (scanning, data mining, demographic mapping, radio-frequency identification) can and should be pursued.
STS vice president of information services and operations Jon Sigler and vice president of retail sales Michael Gressett showed localizations of Hispanics and college students and how to strategize based on local or national-scale sporting competitions and seasonal events.
Stores and chains can gather the percentage of population by ethnicity within different mile radiuses. This was most meaningful to regional players in heavily Hispanic populations, such as Southwest Convenience Stores director of sales and marketing's John West. West said the significance of bilingual employees in such areas cannot be overestimated. We saw immediate sales drops in an El Paso store with no bilingual presence, he said.
STS also showed how many stores are within a certain area surrounding universities. Sigler displayed a chart that revealed 17,423 c-stores within five miles of the country's top 200 colleges and universities, significant knowledge when paired with strategies to market to Generation Y, which loves snacks and energy drinks, including coffee.
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