By Kelli Windsor, Senior Director, Digital Communications, FMI
My friends who know I work for the food industry are always asking me questions about grocery shopping. Many of them, like me, are working moms juggling professional commitments, young children, family obligations and the need to find time for themselves occasionally. For all of us, grocery shopping is an errand that must get done weekly, if not more often. I should note, among my group of working mom friends, we all take a household approach to grocery shopping, meaning our partners contribute to getting the task accomplished.
Our recent U.S. Grocery Shopping Trends report on the Value Matrix finds the meaning of “good value” is becoming more complex as consumers navigate grocery aisles. Where once price and quality defined value, shoppers today are also weighing relevance, experience and convenience in their more complete value matrix. So, what does the value matrix of a working mom look like?
One Factor Stands Out
A quick text message poll to a group of friends revealed that the working mom’s value equation centers on one major factor: convenience. While convenience is key to all of us, each of us is finding convenience in our own way. One friend is ordering groceries online for in-store pickup. The other is only going to one store that has the products her family likes and needs so she doesn’t have to make multiple trips to different stores. Both working moms fit within the convenience trend where 28% of U.S. grocery shoppers say they get good value when they get in and out of the store quickly and 17% say when they avoid any long delays.
Still Weighing Lots
It was also clear in our back and forth that while convenience was a major factor to us working moms, that didn’t mean we were ruling out quality, relevance, experience and price. Nearly every statement about why we each grocery shop the way we do had these additional factors woven throughout.
Takeaway for The Food Industry
Food retailers and suppliers trying to attract the working mom grocery shopper need to keep in mind convenience above all, but not sacrifice on quality, relevance, experience and price. Working moms are doing a lot, but we also want it all.
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