Contact: Burt Rutherford                                                                                                       Nov. 8, 1999

CHANGING THE COURSE OF C0NSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR
MEANS MAKING BEEF EASY TO BUY

Ask today's time-pressed consumer to find a boneless beef chuck shoulder pot roast in their supermarket meat case and you'll likely get a blank stare. Ask them how to prepare it and they'll head for the exit.

That scenario has been all too real in the past and cattlemen and retailers alike have suffered. But changes in the retail sector portend good news, with the meat case of the future making it very easy for consumers to buy the kind of beef they want.

"For too long, consumers have been confused when they walk up to the retail meat case," said Kevin Yost, executive director of channel marketing for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. "But the beef industry, using checkoff funds to develop strategic alliances with retailers, is in the process of changing that."

Yost, joined by James E. Herring, past president of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association (TCFA) and Rick Dawrant, a retail management consultant, walked cattle feeders through the meat case of the future during the TCFA "Exploring New Horizons" Annual Convention today in San Antonio. What cattle feeders saw was encouraging.

The reason consumers are confused at the meat case is because they think about meals rather than beef cuts. "Consumers walk into the supermarket with a problem-what to fix for supper tonight," they said. "So consumers are thinking in terms of meals. Yet most meat cases are organized by species."

Add to that the fact that consumers don't understand anatomical names used for most fresh beef items and many shoppers, especially younger consumers, have less cooking knowledge than previous generations, which limits purchases to a narrow range of products. "As a result, consumers often have difficulty finding the beef cuts they want. Checkoff-funded research found that 32% of shoppers frequently have trouble locating a certain fresh beef item. And if they were unable to find what they wanted, 12% didn't buy any meat at all."

However, by reinventing the meat case and making it a place where consumers can solve their problems rather than find new ones, beef sales will increase. "So the meat case of the future will be organized by cooking method, with rail strips and other signs that direct shoppers to the types of beef dishes they want. On-pack labels will include simple cooking instructions and timetables so consumers know exactly how to prepare any beef cut in the fresh meat case."

Convincing retailers to redesign their meat case is essential for cattlemen to help increase market share for beef. And that means making the product easy for consumers to buy and prepare. "Whether we're talking cereal, soft drinks for steaks, one thing is clear," cattle feeders were told. "Consumers have the final say on the success or failure of any product."

And what consumers have said, by voting with greenbacks, is they like the redesigned meat case. In field tests in 60 stores throughout the country, a retailer reported an 8% increase in the volume of beef sold in just three weeks.

"With more than 70% of total U.S. beef volume sold through the retail channel, many fresh meat departments have used discounted prices as one way to push fresh beef products to shoppers," cattle feeders were told. "While lower prices may keep checkout registers busy, they ultimately ring in lower profits for retailers and cattle producers. And they do nothing to build demand."

The meat case of the future has the potential to change that-to move beef marketing from a "push" strategy focused solely on price to a "pull" strategy that motivates consumers to buy more beef products more often at prices that offer better returns to everyone in the supply chain. And that, cattle feeders were told, is a win-win situation that everyone can live with.

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