Like discovering new products? When it comes to grocery shopping, whether in a big market like Safeway or specialty ones like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, it is nice to have a little help sorting through the tens of thousands of items available.
A creature of habit, I am more likely to bomb in and out of a store, grabbing what I need without deviating. Trader Joe’s “Frequent Flyer” broke me of that by introducing me to items they carry in a way that’s really enjoyable to read. Here’s an example.
Even the Trader Joe’s website refers to grocery shopping as a treasure hunt.
Here’s a discovery of mine. A gentleman named Phil Lampert (AKA The Supermarket Guru ®) has a little webcast he does where he covers five new products in five minutes. His target audience is the supermarket buyer — the people who decide which new products out of the 15,000 plus introduced yearly, end up on the store shelves. Mere mortals, like you and me, can benefit from Phil’s breakdown of what’s the “real deal” and what’s hype.
In his most recent episode, Phil reviewed the following new products: Little Debbie Chocolate Cupcakes, Oke Doke Chicago Mix Cheese and Caramel Flavored Popcorn, Surf Sweets Gummy Swirls, Natural Brew Outrageous Ginger Ale, and Kilauea Fire Hawaiian Style BBQ Sauce.
According to the “About” section in his website, Phil Lempert can predict the future -and then help businesses and consumers understand it. For more than 25 years, Lempert, an expert analyst on consumer behavior, marketing trends, new products and the changing retail landscape, has identified and explained impending trends to consumers and some of the most prestigious companies worldwide. Known as The Supermarket Guru® , Lempert is a distinguished author and speaker who alerts customers and business leaders to impending corporate and consumer trends, and empowers them to make educated purchasing and marketing decisions.
I think I will block out some more discovery time in the year ahead. How about you?
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Great post. I just saw the one he did on the Thanksgiving health benefits (talk about something rarely written up!).
http://www.supermarketguru.com/index.cfm/go/sg.viewArticle/articleId/880
Some are obvious and some are a surprise (like pecans).
Whole Foods has done a really nice job with their blog (http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/) and email pushes. Tommie tells me the iPhone/iPod app is sweet too.
Anyone looking for cooking tips should check out the videos that feature Hosea Rosenberg (http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/author/rosenbergh/).