Bob CollinsMen are taking over grocery stores.
The Chicago Tribune today reports on a movement to make it easier for men, now that surveys suggest they’re doing more grocery shopping. The paper cites surveys showing 31 percent of men are the principal grocery shopper now, more than double what it was in 1985.
So merchandisers, like Proctor & Gamble, are creating “man aisles.”
The man aisle puts all men’s products, including P&G competitors, in one place, with shelf displays and even small TV screens to guide men to the appropriate skin-care items. Jones said the tests have gone well, with men spending more time in the aisles and, ultimately, more money.
On the food side, Barry Calpino, vice president of breakthrough innovation at Kraft Foods, said the company selected several products to market to men in 2011, with solid results. The Northfield-based company developed, packaged and marketed MiO, bottles of liquid flavor droplets to make water more enticing.
“Guys, when it comes to shopping and cooking, they love to customize and add their own personal touch,” Calpino said, adding that the interest also extends to beverages.
Bottles of flavored droplets to make water “more enticing?” Guys!
Apparently, men simply shop differently — more slowly, less organized.
The mindset has been that she shops, she really knows every inch of the store, she is really organized, has a list, is in a huge hurry,” Calpino said. “We talk to a lot of these millennial guys about shopping, and the biggest headline is they’re not as structured, not as hurried, much more experimental, more adventurous.”
Men are more likely to buy on impulse, one expert says, because. “they have a little brighter outlook on the economy and their finances…”
That’s a somewhat surprising analysis given that the paper says one of the reasons more men are grocery shopping these days is because they’ve lost their jobs and have more time to do so.
