Germans continue strong meat eating habits
Germans continue strong meat eating habits
The international trade fair trio, InterMeat, InterCool and InterMopro takes place in Dusseldorf, Germany from 23rd to 25th September. It aims to highlight some key lessons for the meat products trade.
With a turnover of EUR 33.5 billion, the meat products sector continues to be the leader in the German food industry by a long way. According to Nielsen, in 2011 every private household in Germany purchased on average 31.6 kilos of meat products and spent around 240 euros.
Sausage and processed meat products, in particular, are continuing to enjoy great popularity. According to Nielsen, in 2011 in the self-service sector alone, food retail registered a two-percent rise in sales volume and increased turnover of almost three percent to EUR 6.7 billion.
Today at the fresh produce service counter, pre-pack counters and in the self-service sector, shoppers can expect an extremely diverse range of meat and sausage products. Regional products with certificates of origin, the foregoing of additives such as preservatives and flavour enhancers, as well as the ‘open food preparation behind glass’ ensuring transparency in many service areas, document the fact that food retailers understand their shoppers’ expectations and needs increasingly better. “We don’t have any preparation rooms, we work openly and freely, shoppers can observe every single thing we do”, says Konrad Kreuzberg. Such trust-building measures are a key strategy in the refrigerated counter concept for the owner of the E-Center Koblenz.
No longer just a gut feeling
“In the past many decisions on product range structuring and positioning were taken on the basis of a gut feeling”, says Birgit Schröder, category-management expert at GS1. “Today, however, an increasing number of retailers are working with well thought-out concepts and strategies aimed at specifically exploiting this potential.” Potential-analysis, product range optimisation and product positioning are key category management (CM) areas, which the meat industry and retailers are jointly servicing. In the process, they are, it must be said, looking at the situation through the eyes of the customer. It is not the revenue, raw profit and marginal return, which are the primary guiding principles in this alliance. It is a matter of recognising how the customer perceives the product group – and offering him/her the greatest possible benefit. Only when this has been achieved is there a resulting win-win-win situation for the shoppers, retailers and manufacturers. In addition, especially in the self-service meat and sausage growth segment, the CM specialists have at their disposal a wide range of market research data as a basis for standardised CM processes.
