Joy from the World

The increasingly sophisticated palates of a society of world travelers, Web surfers, and Food Network junkies have made various ethnic foods highly sought-after items in retail establishments. That means a significant opportunity for supermarkets as worldly consumers strive to take a more global approach to entertaining during the holiday season.

"What's the biggest time period? Holidays," says Dr. John Stanton, professor of food marketing at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. "If we were creating the world from scratch for the supermarkets, what we would need to do is have more holidays."

Like it or not, that won't be happening anytime soon, so supermarkets must make the best of the current calendar. There are, however, many opportunities right under retailers' noses, which they may have been missing all along. The first step in maximizing the possibilities is taking a careful look at the ethnic composition of the store's selling area.

"If, in fact, there's a large ethnic population, find out what's important to them," Stanton says. Take a look at holiday traditions specific to those groups and start catering to those needs, he advises. Not only will this stimulate immediate business, it will send a long-term message to the population as well.

"It shows respect for their traditions and tells them 'We're aware of your holidays and the days important in your lives,' and then they start thinking of you as their store," adds Stanton. "It goes beyond just selling on one particular day."

Italian food has long been a staple of the American diet, and during the holidays, many consumers often wish to dress up the everyday pasta meal. "People generally look for quality during the holidays," says Adelina Brennan, vice president of pasta supplier Agnesi USA, the New York-based arm of the Italian company. "The holiday meal is something special and many like to have a truly Italian meal, which includes Italian appetizers and entrees, often pasta."

The company helps the feast preparation with recipes on its boxes and in FSIs.

The holiday period is a key selling season for Tracy, Calif.-based Musco Family Olive Co. "As an industry, we do almost 40 percent of total sales in that last quarter," says Jim Wiegmann, the company's vice president of sales. "There are quite a few consumers who only come into the category during that time of year. It gives us the opportunity to merchandise to those consumers to get them back into the category during other parts of the year."

Reflecting the increasing sophistication of American tastebuds for foods of the world, Musco recently launched its Mediterranean Pearls line of Kalamata, jalapeno-stuffed green olives, and garlic-stuffed green olives. "It's crossing all sorts of demographic lines," says Wiegmann. "It used to appeal to world travelers only, but now we're getting all kinds of folks."

A careful merchandising approach, he says, is critical to winning over new converts. "You don't want it to look too upscale or specialty. Oherwise, you'll scare some people away."

Musco's marketing strategy started with the label. The company created a label similar to its popular Black Pearls line to provide a direct link to that product. "The Black Pearls are so accepted by consumers, if they see the two labels they kind of make the connection," Wiegmann says. "It sort of gives the consumer permission to try the new product. With the shrinking amount of display space, companies really have to bring consumers to the shelf as often as they can."

And as the holiday season approaches, there's an increase in the number of opportunities to cross-merchandise with other party or feast-related items. "We're always looking at cross-merchandising opportunities," Wiegmann says. "We've been able to tie the products in with bag salads, Ragu Pizza Quick sauce, and mushrooms."

But, he acknowledges, finding the right product mix "can be pretty darn hard."

FSIs have been key components of the ethnic olive marketing strategy. Wiegmann reports strong redemption rates for holiday FSIs. "Olives really help consumers dress up their holiday entertaining table, and they don't cost a lot of money," he notes. "The attraction for a lot of ethnic foods is as much about what they do for appearances as what they do for appetites."

Aside from the obvious holiday feast components, there's a significant market for what a representative of Ruiz Food Products, Inc. terms "hand-held products." Such items fulfill two common activities around the holidays: "grazing" and entertaining, says Ray Friedman, the Dinuba, Calif.-based company's vice president of marketing and business development.

"When entertaining, the hand-held products become the appetizers of choice," Friedman says. "People will get some guacamole and sour cream and dip a taquito in it or slice up a quesadilla."

As for the grazing phenomenon, consumers expecting guests at a party or intimate get-together often will serve something quick and convenient beforehand, rather than a full-blown meal.

"In a grocery environment, there are tremendous cross-merchandising opportunities with salsas, sour cream, and spices," says Friedman. "As people come together they look for these grazing opportunities. It's not going to displace the holiday turkey because you can't stuff a turkey with a burrito."

In that respect, he believes, there are many incremental sales to be had.