The Top Food Trends for 2010

There is little doubt that our grocery shoppers are yearning for optimism after the past 20 or so months of this faltering economy. Brand Credibility is more important than ever and both retailers and CPG brands are understanding that without consumers trust, the future will be bleak.

There is a New Consumer Reality; people eating more meals at home, homemakers evolving from food assemblers to cooks, switching brands based on sale prices, and even discovering new store formats like Save-A-Lot, Grocery Outlet and Aldi and making these part of their regular shopping trips.Our most recent Supermarketguru.com Consumer Panel Survey, sponsored by ConAgra Foods, focused on how shoppers were planning for the 2009 Holiday Season. Our survey found that 47% of shoppers planned on not holding a holiday party this year and 23% say they will contribute money or food to the parties they attend in order to "ease the financial burden of the host." Clearly, the sentiment is that "we are all in this together."THE PRIVATE LABEL EVOLUTIONConsumers acceptance and purchasing of store brands are at an all time high, which has made some CPG brands sit up and take notice as they've seen their market share decline. Retailers are threatening to drop established brands from their shelves and add more private label SKUs. And while many shoppers have been satisfied with the quality and price of their store brands look for a radical shift in strategy. "Me-too" is out. CPG Shopper Insights are in; and look for the major brands to develop co-branded private labels with retailers which will feature key ingredients and build on-going partnerships between retailer and brand which will fuel innovations. For example; a retailer's private label macaroni & cheese might soon say "made with real Kraft cheese', or a store brand pasta sauce "made with Hunt's crushed tomatoes" - it's a model well established with CPG brands working together and the logical next step for private label evolution is about to begin.

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