I have previously stressed that knowledge and merchandising are key to retail success in the cheese business. If a consumer wanders into the cheese department at Whole Foods Market, for example, he or she will be presented with a fabulous array of cheeses sourced by the store’s knowledgeable buyers from all over the world. It is visually very impressive, but daunting at the same time. With so much variety, how can one make a choice? Buy what one usually buys? How do we get consumers to experiment and discover new cheeses that ultimately expand their cheese repertoire?
In this example, since I singled out Whole Foods (and I can admit that I am a Whole Foods junkie), the answer lies in sampling different cheeses for consumers to try while perus- ing the cheese assortment. This strategy is sound, but it is impossible to feature more than a few. What about all the rest? Certainly, the friendly staff at said supermarket can be very helpful if asked, and more often than not, they are good about offering their help if they see a customer trying to make a decision. Expert store personnel can be extremely useful, too, in assisting customers who have a sense for what they want and simply need help narrowing down the choices.
Now let’s focus on all of the shoppers who were visiting the store on a particular day and were not planning to buy cheese on their visit. This is where an opportunity exists to build your cheese business by expanding the potential market, but you must capture their attention first. While Forme D’Ambert might show up on my shopping list, I am willing to bet most who buy that cheese on that particular day were not intending to do so prior to the store visit. The next thing we have to over- come is lack of knowledge – it’s one thing to sell cheese to a cheese lover like me, but for the consumer who may still have a narrow knowledge of cheese, information displayed at point- of-purchase is going to be key in order to get the consumer to trial. Signage and promotion must win the day, and it becomes increasingly more important as the cost and/or obscurity of the cheese increases.
In my local Whole Foods, there is signage for some of the cheeses on sale that gives greater detail about the flavor profile and origin of the cheese that provides enough additional information to tempt someone to try it. That additional information, together with
a price cut, goes a long way in getting the trial. After all, do we really expect a customer to approach a cut-and-wrap cheese section and go right for the $25-per-pound Roquefort if they have no idea what it tastes like? It’s actually the description that usually captures my taste buds more than the fact that I am saving money on the particular purchase. It would be an interesting ex- periment to try signage together with promotion one week, and then just feature signage without promotion the next. The difference in sales would help you understand what was the more important driver of business, promotion or information. My hunch is you will find that signage is probably the single most important thing you can do to improve your cheese business, and it’s the reason we feature it in this issue, “Signing Up: The Fine Art of Retail Signage” on page 8.
James and I have been contemplating creating a master cheese database that could be used on- line and at point-of-purchase to allow consumers to easily research and cross-reference cheeses being offered by a retailer with flavor profiles, unique processes employed and suggested pairings. If you think this would be a positive thing for the cheese business, I would love to hear your thoughts.
David Spencer
Publisher, Gourmet Business
President, HousewaresDirect, Inc.
dspencer@gourmetbusiness.com