"Chicago-​based research firm IRI finds that retail foodservice has added $1.79 billion in sales to grocery stores since 2015, but as the category matures, growth has declined," says Progressive Grocer. One possible avenue grocers can take to overcome this obstacle is to offer and promote meal prep offerings for busy shoppers.

Progressive Grocer reports that Americans take an average of 161 trips to their local grocery stores every year. On only 28 of those trips did consumers think to purchase meals from the store's deli or prepared foods selection. 

The Meal Prep Kit Solution

However, this could be because consumers aren't looking to eat immediately after their shopping trips. But, they could still be searching for easy, healthy meals with a homemade touch to cook down the line, even on days when they are busy. Meal prep kits can fulfill this desire/​need.

To win shoppers over to their meal prep offerings, grocery stores need to focus on the diversity of their flavor offerings. 88% of shoppers desire both new items and new flavors when deciding what to purchase when it comes to retail foodservice, says Consumer Reports. Many would also like grocers to switch up their offerings monthly (31%) or even on a weekly or daily basis (28%).

“'The assortment needs revision,' Jonna Parker, principal of IRI’s Fresh Center of Excellence, affirms. 'What is striking is, across all store types, from budget to high-​end, the basic prepared food offerings are the same, but they need to change to keep pace with the varied, exciting, multicultural food options consumers can find elsewhere.'”

"She continues: 'Lack of change and expansion in product assortment are consistent complaints. Shoppers want to see more options — both in flavors and sizes — in appetizers, sauces, charcuterie, soups, sides and sandwiches.'”

The broader the selection of meal prep offerings a grocery store carries, the more excited customers will be about giving them a try.

What better way to make Prepared Supermarket Meal Shoppers crave a grocer's food selections than to show them what they could be missing out on? 73.7% of these shoppers spend a minimum of three hours watching TV every day, according to AudienceSCAN. Last year, 70.8% of Prepared Supermarket Meal Shoppers were motivated to action by TV commercials.

AudienceSCAN data is available for your applications and dashboards through the SalesFuel API. In addition, AdMall contains industry profiles on supermarkets/​grocery stores and health/​natural food stores, as well as lead lists at the local level. Media companies, sales reps and agencies can access this data with a subscription to AdMall from SalesFuel.