Six percent more men are doing the primary grocery shopping in their households today versus five years ago, finds Schnuck Markets survey of Midwest U.S. grocery shoppers; men tend to make more quick trips than stock-up trips

Cindy Allen

ST. LOUIS, Missouri , February 15, 2012 (Schnuck Markets) – According to a recent survey launched through the Schnucks Listens research panel, six percent more men are doing the primary grocery shopping in their households today versus five years ago.

Schnucks Project Manager of Consumer Research Mary Ver Mehren says the survey was based on responses of about half of the more than 13,000 panelists that comprise the Schnucks Listens research panel. Launched in 2007, the panel is comprised of grocery shoppers from across the region who are willing to share their input on a variety of issues affecting today’s shoppers.

Ver Mehren said, “In this case, we set out to learn more about how shopping habits are changing and why. Roughly 1,500 of our respondents were men, and although a large portion was older men, because of the size of the survey pool we still have enough findings to know about the shopping habits of our younger men. The fact that we have so many men weighing in is another indication that times are changing.”

According to Ver Mehren, the large number of older panelists could well be a reflection of the life changes that have happened over the past five years. “Forty-three percent of the men surveyed indicated that they had undergone a change in marital status in the past five years. Thirty-two percent of women indicated their spouses had retired,” she said.

Schnucks Brentwood Store Manager DiDi Steltenpohl agrees that more men are pushing grocery carts these days. “I don’t know if it’s because jobs were lost (among men), there are more stay-at-home dads, more couples sharing responsibilities, or that it’s more socially acceptable now, but I believe more men are shopping as a product of their environment. It’s no longer a woman’s job,” she said.

According to the latest Food Marketing Institutes’ Grocery Shopper Trends report, “The Grocery Trip Explored,” women still do the majority of grocery shopping, but men do more “quick trips” and tend to outspend women.

“In our region, women still outnumber men in the grocery aisle, but the balance is changing. We learned that women spend more time in the stores and more money per routine (or stock up) trip, but men make significantly more routine and immediate needs trips. Even so, what’s surprising is that they both tend to spend the same amount over the course of a week,” Ver Mehren said.

Ver Mehren says the difference in results between the regions emphasizes the importance of consumer research. “With competition getting increasingly tougher, it’s important for companies to really understand customers and their lifestyles. Through targeted research, we can provide our company with useful and actionable information that can be used to create the type of in-store experiences our customers want,” said Ver Mehren.

Schnucks Listens has grown considerably over the past three years and information from panelists has factored into decisions from store designs to services offered to customers. If you would like more information about Schnucks Listens, or if you would like to join the panel, please go online to www.schnuckslistens.com.

Founded in St. Louis in 1939, Schnuck Markets, Inc. operates 100 stores (including five Logli and seven Hilander stores) and 95 in-store pharmacies in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. Follow Schnucks on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Schnucks.

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NOTES:

According to the Schnucks Listens* survey:

· There’s been a six percent increase in the number of male panelists who do all the grocery shopping versus five years ago

· There been a five percent decrease in the number of females who do all the grocery shopping versus five years ago

· Men make significantly more routine (regular stock up trips) and immediate needs (ran out of something) trips versus women

· Women spend more money per trip for routine and fill in trips versus men

· Women spend more time in the store with the largest difference coming for routine trips (24 percent of men say they spend 46 minutes or longer in the store on routine trips as opposed to 42 percent of women).

· Men are more likely than women to make routine and fill in trips after 6 p.m.

*Schnucks Listens includes grocery shoppers from stores across the region.

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