A guest speaker at the recent Ontario Cattlemen’s Association annual meeting says a different type of consumer will emerge from the recession.
Peter Chapman, a former food retailing executive, presented his view of retail and consumer trends during the meeting. Prior to founding his current consulting firm, GPS Business Solutions in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Chapman spent 19 years with Loblaws, Canada’s largest food retailer.
Chapman expects that people will likely spend more money as they feel better about the economy, but he says the recession will have a lingering effect on consumer behaviour. He notes that people will continue to keep some of the money-saving habits they developed during the past 18 months.
For people in the food business, he says this trend means that retailers will continue to put a significant emphasis on promotions.
“My understanding is that well over 30 per cent of the items in the store are sold on ad. So that will probably continue as consumers have realized that they could lower their shopping bill by shopping the ads a little bit more heavily,” says Chapman.
The impact of the recession is one of many changes Chapman discussed in his presentation, “Connecting with Our Customers: Trends in Retailing”.
On selling a quality product to the consumer, Chapman stressed that consistency is paramount.
“You need to make sure to deliver quality every time.”
He also recommended that producers have to be objective about quality.
“Is the quality difference really there? It is a challenge for the average consumer to tell you that there is a difference.”
And if the consumer cannot detect the difference, then Chapman says they won’t give you credit for it.