More Grocers Test Promoting Produce at Checkout
SACRAMENTO, CA - Select retail chains are taking note of the health-fueled trends gripping consumers, changing the checkout format that typically houses candies, chips, and sodas.
As we perviously reported, Raley’s Family of Fine Stores has been testing what it calls “family-friendly lanes,” the Sacramento Bee reports, a format that pushes produce and healthier items at checkout. Now it is practiced throughout all 114 of its California stores.
“It’s an evolution about customers’ interests and demands, and how those are growing and changing,” Chelsea Minor, Director of Relations and Public Affairs for Raley's said, according to the report. “It was a big change for us recently to take that to the checkout stand.”
Raley’s is not the only one looking to change the impulse wave in the produce industry’s favor. Target also launched a recent pilot testing a similar format in 30 stores throughout Dallas, Denver, and Minneapolis.
While the ever-growing popularity of bringing home healthier food would make this appear to be a typical step forward in the evolution of retail formats, Sacramento Bee reports that other stores have pulled back in the past due to fear of losses as during the transition period.
Retail Analyst Jackie Gray of Willard Bishop, a consulting group in Chicago, Illinois, said in the report that those starting the trend risk taking a financial hit because consumers are not looking for those items in the checkout lanes.
“It’s difficult to replenish, and it’s not where people are looking for those items,” Gray said.
While it might be a tough market to crack, it would be an impactful one. The checkout line reportedly brings in about 1.5% of whole-store profits each year, about $5.5 billion, according to research by Front-End Focus.
For now, however, Raley’s gives individual stores the freedom to integrate health-fueled lanes as they see fit, from one aisle to all, or mixed with the typical candy and gum options.
AndNowUKnow will continue to report on the status of this trend as it continues to seek traction in the typical retail format.
