Progressive Grocer - January/February 2009 - (Page 52)

Multicultural marketing Ethnic opportunities from the inside Grocery list FIVE R’S TO UNLOCK MARGIN • Recognize demographic changes. • React to the change. • Reallocate budgets and resources accordingly. • Recruit and promote experts in the subject matter at all levels of the corporation, starting at the executive committee. • Report progress from those who lead multicultural initiatives; empower them to make decisions. Where there’s mystery, there’s margin The “minority” is actually the emerging majority, and the sooner you reflect that fact in marketing merchandising strategies, the better your profitable growth will be. By Armando L. Martín he emerging grocery landscape is wide open, thanks to a dazzling array of changes in colors, palates, and, most of all, cultures. Take Detroit, for example. Beyond a significant African-American base, the Motor City is also home to considerable numbers of Eastern Europeans, Chaldeans, Arabs, and Indians. Blurring these cultural lines further is the growing trend of white consumers with a keen interest in cooking authentic ethnic recipes. In many cases, “minorities” are rapidly becoming the majority in communities where your company owns and operates stores. If you expect to continue to maintain a viable business, then appealing to this broader and more diverse base is the supreme task at hand. For most operators, however, how to accomplish this appears to be a mystery, the unraveling of which requires insight, flexibility, and will. The good news is Business as usual I believe most players in corporate America recogthat solving the mystery will lead to improved margins. Review your plans for this year, and ask if there nize intellectually that change is happening. However, isn’t something vaguely disquieting. The numbers in client meetings that I attend, there often appears to have been scrubbed and everything appears to be be a lack of interest or of will to navigate through the in order. Yet is something missing? Are there no unfamiliar waters that change points to. On one level, there’s a startling willingness to postquantum leaps, no initiatives pushing the boundaries, nothing transformational? All in all, it’s a safe pone—to wait “until next year” to start to deal with plan. It’s what’s expected, with no fanfare, and no sur- the situation. On another level, I encounter those makprises, including the line that forecasts sales growth. ing genuine attempts to meet multicultural consumer Corporate managements are still plowing demand, but, when compared with traditional general market practices, those attempts through the consumer field as if More ONLINE still amount to dabbling. it were 30 years ago, pouring 90 Ironically, in those cases all that’s percent of their budgets and For additional information on needed is to apply that disciplined resources against a generalized ethnic marketing, go to approach not with the idea that the white market sector that in actuProgressivegrocer.com minority consumer is small or ality is shrinking in population 52 • Progressive Grocer • January/February 2009 A H E A D O F W H AT ’ S N E X T T compared with ethnic shopper groups. Each day white America is transitioning from the majority to a minority, and adopting a variety of ethnic lifestyle cues in the bargain. Many marketers may be uncomfortable with what this means for their strategies and campaigns in place, and merchandisers, meanwhile, may even choose to ignore this transition, and to deny in practice the demographic trends being reported by their own analysts. Fortunately, more than a few are avoiding this error. A colleague at Coca-Cola who gets it observed, “Fifty percent of America’s youth are ethnic,” adding that Coca-Cola’s largest key account, based in Bentonville, Ark., understands this fundamental shift in demographics better each day, and is adjusting its plans accordingly. niche, but that multicultural strategies ought to apply widely to the entire market. A new “general” takes over Marketers today often define “general market” to mean essentially two things: mass market or top-priority market. The problem is that additionally, the term “general market” over the years has taken on a more narrow definition to mean the white market, while “multicultural market” has routinely been understood as ethnic. In many leading metro areas, the reality today is that the white market isn’t the larger segment of the market—and, more importantly, simply shouldn’t be considered mass, or the priority, any longer. Because of this misappropriation of terms, I suggest adopting “broader” to describe the larger or mass population, rather than “general.” There are few paths to cash as lucrative as the ethnic markets in the United States. They typically are younger and relevant, have rising incomes, and respond quite well to targeted advertising and merchandise messages. If you want your role in the organization to have impact, then be a leader in enabling the multicultural market to carry the strategic weight it deserves. Uncover the mystery of the emerging majority, and you’ll enjoy profitable growth. Armando L. Martín, the former head of multicultural marketing at Supervalu, is a successful retail/brand consultant, leading some of the largest multicultural programs in the industry. Contact Armando at amartin@xledge.com or visit www.xledge.com. www.progressivegrocer.com http://www.progressivegrocer.com http://www.xledge.com http://www.progressivegrocer.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Progressive Grocer - January/February 2009

Progressive Grocer - January/February 2009
Front End: Aldi’s Private Label Showing its Fitness
Nielsen’s Shelf Stoppers/Spotlight: Prepared Foods-DryMixes/Rice Mixes
Market Snapshot: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
Outstanding Independents Awards: Up with People
Current Events: Retail Newsmakers
Contents
Lempert Report: The Phoenix Format Face-Off
Independents Report: Making your Workplace Family-Friendly
Multicultural Marketing: Where there’s Mystery, there’s Margin
Wake-Up Call: New Habits Die Hard
Beverage Alcohol: Wine 101
Soft Drinks: Creating a Buzz
Whole Grains: The Brown Version
Packaging: The Whole Package
Meat: Master Beef Backer
Pet Care: Financing Fido
Executive Insight Series: Technology and the Independent Grocer: Eye of the Gale
Equipment Case Studies: Food. Service. Equipment
Financial Insights: What the Yield Curve Shows
What’s Next: Editors’ Picks for Innovative Products

Progressive Grocer - January/February 2009