Chocolate Products: Consumers, customers setting the ‘bar’ higher
Be it health benefits, sourcing, flavor intensity or value, chocolate lovers and manufacturers are letting suppliers know that “run-of-the-mill’ won’t pass muster, much less run through a cash register anymore.
Through the years, American consumer shopping habits have changed. The stereotypical, once-a-week trip to the supermarket has transformed into a multi-stop, multi-channel excursion, or rather excursions. These visits are more fluid, ranging from fixed purchases to impulsive buys that satisfy cravings, curiosity and checkbook demands. In brief, shopping has evolved as America has.
The all too familiar target of the marketing “mad men” — the nuclear family — has now found itself “sandwiched” between aging parents and unemployed millennials; the “silent Majority” now cues up to the voting polls with blacks, Hispanics and Asian Americans; and single parenting makes the headlines more frequently than singles bars. Welcome to a brave new check-out line, one that’s self-paying and self-bagging. Selfies extra.