To Boost Meat Sales, Make the Effort

Supermarkets can recapture the fresh meat sales that are being lost as more people opt for dinner at fast-food chains and restaurants. But retailers must recognize what they need to do: Educate customers about the nutrition, price/value relationship and cooking requirements of meat, and design visually appealing, customer-friendly meat cases.

New opportunities can help level the playing field for the retailer. There are standardized programs, such as value-based meat management, that can assist in gathering and analyzing meat sales data and in understanding costs. Beef supplemented with vitamin E can provide the benefits of longer case life. Combine these tools with more emphasis on interacting with customers, and you'll have a meat case that rings up more sales.

Better category management is one way to increase sales efficiency and improve profits, especially if you factor in the demographics of your own store to reflect shifts in how consumers prefer to cook each season and around holidays. Consumer information and the ability to manage this information are the keys to category management and improving meat sales.

One way to get better data is the standardized coding system of URMIS/UPC guidelines now provided by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. It allows retailers to generate their own meat sales data and to evaluate marketing initiatives such as case-ready meats, home meal replacement programs, new product introductions and branded fresh meats.

For example, you might use the information to rethink the way you arrange your meat case. A very traditional approach to laying out the case may not be the way your customers want to shop, keeping in mind today's lifestyles.

Another development that can help boost meat sales is beef from cattle that received supplemental vitamin E, which extends the case life by allowing beef to retain its bright red color through the "sell-by" date. Vitamin E slows the oxidation that causes off-flavors, off-odors and discoloration.

Most obviously, the delay in oxidation lets managers recapture more of the meat's true value by reducing the amount of discounting necessary to move the product. It also improves and freshens the image of the entire meat case by ensuring that all beef continues to have good eye appeal.

Depending on the cut, vitamin E extends beef's case life from 10 to 23 hours. The extra case life could let retailers recover 15 to 16 cents per pound that would otherwise be discounted because of discoloration.

However, vitamin E beef won't become widely available until retailers demand it from packers. You have to start asking for cuts from cattle fed high levels of vitamin E. Because feeders and packers are going to incur some added cost, they aren't going to provide this type of beef until retailers push for it.

Overall store design and case layout should be customer-friendly, giving the sense that meats can be easy to prepare and provide an eating experience as good as any found in restaurants. Today, 45 percent of meal preparers don't know at 4:30 p.m. what they will serve for dinner tonight. Customers need assistance in making meal planning easier.

As customers approach the meat case, they should pass by the elements that round out and support a meat-based meal, like appetizers, desserts and breads. The shelves should be lined with sauces and seasonings, smoking bags, thermometers and serving platters for roasts, seasoned wood for outdoor cooking, marinade injectors for whole-muscle cuts and individual steak thermometers that let grillers prepare steaks to meet individual preferences.

Food art centered on meat should decorate the store and recipes should be readily available. Also consider how the case might itself show off the meats. Simple things like nestling the meat in artificial greenery to set off the color can promote a sense of cleanliness. Shoppers are automatically cued in that there's something special about the meat.

One effective way to arrange the meat is to set it up systematically according to the consumer's meal planning process, segmenting the department into method/preparation categories. These categories might be kitchen-ready, which are products that are prepared but not cooked; prepared foods, which are prepared and cooked; traditional fresh cuts; frozen products; and smoked/processed meats.

Convenience and education are still the main challenges facing fresh meat sales. The fact that consumers are taking more of the food dollar out of the home and into the restaurant indicates they want products that are either ready to eat or require little preparation time. In addition, today's consumers aren't familiar enough with meat to be comfortable cooking it. Therefore, using the above case layout, based on a system such as the Total Meal Management System developed by Prizm Consulting (Blue Bell, Pa.) addresses the needs of the meat shopper.

The successful meat retailer will place a premium on educating food shoppers. Providing price and cooking education as well as quality products helps ensure that customers prepare and enjoy a great meal.

Make sure your meat department staffers are available to help customers. They should be well versed in all types of meat preparation and be able to handle some nutritional questions. They don't have to be food experts or dietitians, but any ability to address consumers' concerns will pay off. Customers will become more loyal and meat sales will increase.

Ken Johnson is a food industry consultant based in Chicago.