Mon, 31 Oct 2022 09:16:01 CDT
Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is visiting with the Executive Director of Market Research and Intelligence for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Mike Simone, about the mind of the consumer. Simone works on behalf of the Beef Checkoff and has an extensive understanding of what the consumer is thinking when it comes to beef.
“We have an ongoing survey called the consumer beef tracker,” Simone said. “It is online 365 days a year, and we are reaching about 6,000 consumers annually and about 500 per month. We also do a lot of other ad-hoc surveys throughout the year as well.”
Many of these surveys, Simone said, cover everything from consumption and shopping trends to perceptions of raised and grown and willingness to pay.
Faced with inflation and COVID-19 factored in, Simone talked about how today’s consumer is different from a few years ago
“COVID, obviously shaped a lot of different shopping habits and consumption habits, and a lot of those are continuing now because it is financial constraints,” Simone said. “We are seeing more shopping online, which started during Covid, and that has continued to this day as projected to be about 10 percent this year, and 20 percent within five years of the total grocery shopping market.”
Up to 44 percent of consumers are communicating that they are buying beef as part of an online beef purchasing experience, Simone said, and many have a great experience doing so.
“Satisfaction levels are in the 75 to 85 percent range, and if they had concerns about freshness or safety or expiration dates or things like that, once they go through that experience and have a good experience with that, it typically generates an incremental purchase or repeats business in that regard,” Simone said.
Currently, Simone said two of the biggest factors in consumer purchasing are value and versatility.
“That is one of the strengths that beef provides, is that you can do so much with it,” Simone said. “So many different kinds of meals. You can freeze it. We see a lot of that going on as well- people stocking up and freezing beef.”
An advantage of using beef, Simone said, is that it is a versatile product that can be used from taco night to steak night. Beef, Simone said, allows the consumer to stretch their dollar during difficult financial times.
Simone also indicated that consumers have started to shift attitudes in regard to frequenting restaurants.
“They are still doing that, but we do see consumers are telling us they are planning to cut back,” Simone said. “Even about half are telling us within the next six months to save money, and they are not going to dine out as much.”
The percentage of consumers ordering online is strong, Simone said, but it has started to taper back.
To access material on the research Simone refers to, click here.
Click the LISTEN BAR below to listen to Mike Simone talking about the mind of the beef consumer.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
Listen to Mike Simone on Beef Consumer Trends
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