Consumer Beef Index Provides Valuable Consumer Insight

Posted to BeefRetail.org in conjunction with June 2010 issue of Retail Beef Blast.

Can you imagine flying a plane headed toward your destination without referring to the gauges on the dashboard? No, any smart pilot monitors his status including his current altitude and location in relation to other planes.

Instead of focusing so much on just reaching the destination, which for you is increased beef sales, it’s good every now and then to do a status check. That’s just what the beef industry has been doing the past few years with the Consumer Beef Index. You can apply the findings from the July 2009 Consumer Beef Index to your stores to conduct your own status check.

This beef checkoff-funded evaluative tool was launched in late 2006. It surveys consumers who influence food purchasing decisions in their households. Survey results help us evaluate current beef demand and consumers’ perceptions of beef in comparison to other proteins. We also gain consumer insight into what you can do to better encourage your customers to purchase more beef.

Key Findings

• Tighter budgets have caused consumers to prepare and consume more meals at home. Consumers are focusing more on home meal preparation and in turn are becoming more health conscious because they are aware of meal ingredients.
• Beef remains stable during tight times. When consumers were surveyed about their expectations from their entrée choice, consumers indicated they expect it to satisfy a craving and tie well to special occasions. Perceptions of beef performance in both of these areas have strengthened.
• Statistics on frequency of beef consumption have remained stable versus previous years. 
• Ground beef is a huge factor. It accounts for more than half of all beef servings.

What do consumers want?
The survey asked consumers to give their level of interest in the following items retailers could provide. Here are the top four in order of importance.

1. Provide materials that explain the variety of cuts available: Use this consumer video to inform customers about different beef cuts and where they come from.
2. Provide nutritional information about various cuts: Many consumers are unaware that there are 29 cuts of lean beef! The new beef checkoff-funded consumer advertising campaign focuses on making customers aware of these lean cuts. Learn more about the Profiles campaign. You can also get many resources to promote the nutritional value of beef in the Nutrition Central section on BeefRetail.org.
3. Provide more recipes at the meat case: Since consumers are preparing more meals at home, they’re looking for new recipes. Use recipes from the Beef Recipes & Photography section to create recipe cards to display in the meat case. Easy Fresh Cooking^® labels are also great ways to give your customers new recipes. Since they are directly on package, your customers don’t have to worry about choosing the right cut.
4. Provide more meal suggestions in the meat case: Not only are your customers looking for new recipes, but they are looking for complete meal solutions when coming to the meat department. Create displays near the meat case of related beef items like spaghetti noodles and sauce, helper pastas, etc. Refer to the promotional calendar for great related items you can use in cross merchandising so your customers can save more!