The Lempert Report LIVE

Walmart+ Update, Summer Food Trends, TikTok Science

June 14, 2022 Phil Lempert Episode 36
The Lempert Report LIVE
Walmart+ Update, Summer Food Trends, TikTok Science
Show Notes Transcript

Today we talk abut the brilliance of Trader Joe’s – again! How Tik Tok’s Food Science is creating issues, why culture assimilation is important for nutrition learnings. We ask "is Target in trouble"? And we take a look at the summer foods trends. On The Lempert report an in-depth discussion about Albertsons, Sally briefs us on a white hot labor market, a tease from Microsoft’s Bill Gillespie and more on personalized diets.

Phil:

Welcome to the Lempert Report LIVE. Today, we're gonna talk about the brilliance of Trader Joe's again. How TikTok food science is creating issues. Why culture assimilation is important for nutritional learnings. We ask if Target's in trouble and we take a look at the summer food trends. On the Lempert Report, an in depth discussion about Albertson's. Sally's gonna brief us on a white hot labor market. A tease from Microsoft's Bill Gillespie and more on personalized diets. Let's get started. First up, Sally, what I wanted to do is follow up on our conversation from last week about Walmart+ and numerator just sent out the Walmart+ weekend early results. It's showing low awareness, just what you were talking about last week and basically this was Walmart's first members only sale. It was held June 2nd to June 5th. They compared it to Amazon prime sales. And what they found is most people thought that the deals on Walmart were better. However, that Walmart lags and awareness as compared to prime day, only 33% of Walmart+ weekend shoppers were even aware of the event before shopping that's compared to 94% of Amazon prime day shoppers who know about their event beforehand. So it looks like Walmart has a communication problem, not necessarily, you know, a sales problem.

Sally:

Right. And I, I'm not surprised to hear that because I think, you know, we talked about last week, the program has been happening since September of 2020. And I have a Walmart just six miles down the road from me, and I've never heard of this program. So I find they really need to up their game as far as informing consumers.

Phil:

Yeah. And, you know, everything is in the right direction, but get the word out there Walmart. So Trader Joe's, are they just being opportunistic about this whole K-pop thing?

Sally:

Well, I dunno, you know, they've got such a cool culture at Trader Joe's tha I've always enjoyed when I go to a Trader Joe's. You feel like the employees are having a lot of fun working there, and I'm not sure if that's because they're making more money than the average store clerk does. I think that we talked about that crew members at Trader Joe's make an average of$14 an hour, compared to the average with the average across all stores is$9.99 an hour. But I also think that they let them have a little bit more fun. They create the artwork and the signage that's in the store. And this story that we're talking about today is really cool to me where a bunch of the crew members got together and created a bunch of artwork to promote products based on the band, the K-pop band BTS, which I mean is huge. Their song dynamite, Phil, has 1.4 billion plays on just on Spotify. So...

Phil:

Unbelievable. Unbelievable. And frankly, it's, it's really smart because it keeps Trader Joe's relevant to a younger audience. Rather than just relying on, you know, the shopper base that they have by doing stuff like this, they're bringing new people into their store. Talking about, you know, new young people TikTok is coming under fire from a new study. Tell us about that.

Sally:

Well, the study that we're looking at here is, it's findings from Nutrition 2022 Live Online, which I think they're going to be presenting starting tomorrow at American society Nutrition. This study is showing us that after looking at TikTok videos that talk about the Mediterranean diet, specifically, that there's misinformation coming out from these that they're not necessarily giving the correct information about this important, healthy diet.

Phil:

And also what they discovered. And this just reinforces everything that we try to do with retail dietitians throughout supermarkets is just over half 50, 3% of people who posted health information about the Mediterranean diet talked about their credentials in health, like they're an RD or something like that. And even of that 53%, actually less than half of the posts, continued, to list those health credentials, which really makes it hard for people to understand what's correct. And what's not correct.

Sally:

Right. And you know, this was in, in this particular study, they were looking at videos that specifically hashtag Mediterranean diet and, you know, although they found that 78% of these posts were related to health in some way, only 9% of them actually offered a definition of what the diet is. So, you know, to those RD's out there and those brands out there and people in the nutrition world, you know, there is an opportunity to really promote great information and educate people through social media. I just don't think that we've really figured that out yet.

Phil:

No, we haven't. It's more about how many views can I get versus the accuracy of information. Another study is going to be at that same nutrition conference, the American Society for Nutrition, which talks about how acculturation affects what teens eat and what they found. So what they did is they looked at more than 6,000 adolescents age 12 to 19 that were in the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey between the years, 2007 and 2018. And what they found that adolescents who live in the US, but were born in another country, consume more vegetables, more seafood, more plant protein, and less added sugar than those that are born in the US. I'm not surprised at this, are you?

Sally:

I'm not surprised. And, you know, I think this is very interesting information for us. You know, some people may be put off by it by it, because it kind of is saying that people from other countries have better diets than Americans do. The fact is, yes, the fact is, is we eat so many ultra-processed foods here. Other cultures eat more fruits and vegetables and grains in their diet. And I, you know, I am a working mother. So this is not anything against any parent that is out working, but, you know, in some of these cultures, they've got a parent at home that doesn't work outside of the home that is preparing fresh meals for them, you know, for their family regularly. And so they naturally are going to eat better. So I think it's really, it's really good information for us, our kids to take some cues from maybe.

Phil:

Yeah. And, and also, let's not forget, we are a culture that has been, you know, grown up on sugar, salt, and fat. And until we change that until we, you know, change what kids are eating from a very early age and they don't acquire, t hat addictive behavior, as it relates to sugar, salt, and fat, we're gonna continue to have this problem. You can't just flick a switch and now say, oh, I'm g onna eat healthy for the rest of my life.

Sally:

Right. And, you know, promoting these traditional foods to people who come from other cultures here and like trying to, you know, we've read about how the dietary guidelines should be based on people's cultural backgrounds and promoting those traditional foods to them. Not only does it benefit them, but, you know, as a mother, I feel like it benefits my kids because when they become friends with someone at school that eats a certain way, that is based on their culture, they learn about new foods and new things to eat. So I think it's a win-win for everyone.

Phil:

Yeah. I agree with you. So this next story that was in Progressive Grocer talked about, talked about the fact, I'm sorry. It wasn't in Progressive Grocer. That's what threw me off CNN business. So they talked about the fact that Target has too much home decor, too many TVs, and are now ramping up the discounts. I don't understand this because Target and Walmart, and they mentioned some other retailers in this have overstocked with so many of these products. These are not stupid companies. Yes, during the pandemic, you know, a lot more people were staying at home. So maybe these companies bought more TVs hoping that people will up it, but we've been talking about having a lousy economy, for well over a year. So why do you keep, Target? Why do you keep on ordering this stuff if nobody wants it?

Sally:

Yes. It's really hard for me to wrap my mind around because, you know, I go to Target regularly and our Target really just seems like they just are out of stock all of the time of things. Like, you know, it's usually you talk to somebody in the store and they say, oh, go online, just order it online. But you know, I think that what happened here, you know, is what we're hearing is that, you know, at a certain point in the pandemic, people were spending a lot more money on these big items to improve their homes, because I guess they're stuck at home and, y ou know, w e might as well work on our houses and make them better. But now with gas, food and rent, going up for people, all this inflation people are facing, they're not going for those bigger ticket items anymore, and they're not spending on decorating their home. They're using their money for f ood and rent g as.

Phil:

Exactly. So, you know, somebody at Target better wake up real quick, otherwise they're gonna have a problem. Eating well just publish their 10 food trends that will be everywhere this summer. What are they?

Sally:

I can't wait to get your feedback on these Phil. Okay. Passion fruit.

Phil:

Passion fruit's not new. I mean, we've been talking about passion fruit for 10 years. O kay.

Sally:

We have seen this one on the list, cucumber everything yeah. Which is great for us, cuz we're growing cucumbers in our garden right now.

Phil:

So you can, you can bring them down a Kroger and sell them at Kroger.

Sally:

Baby Bok Choi. Matcha. Which matcha is something we've been seeing on list for a w hile now and lavender. I think as a flavor that this is you're seeing this more in beverages, you're seeing this in desserts, co cktails, hibiscus. How ab out t his, Phil? Would you like to try some Everything Bagel Seasoning Ice Cream?

Phil:

No, no. I mean, I, I really, when I look at this list and I just actually had, somebody sent us a sample of lavender water. It, it was horrible, you know, it, it just, lavender is not, at least for me in my mind, lavender is an aroma. I'm not sure that it's a flavor. The everything bagel seasoning, somebody's trying way too hard. Matcha, that's been on a list for a long time, low alcohol drinks, and canned cocktails and the whole canned cocktail thing really stupefies me. And right before we went live, I got an email. Data Essential just has a new survey out or some new analysis. And it's because of the Jack and Coke collaboration. Pre-made cocktails, aren't going anywhere. They say 79% of millennials and 78% of gen Zers today drink hard sodas, seltzers and lemonades, 15 and 14% higher than the general population. 31% of gen Zers say they also exclusively or almost always drink hard sodas, seltzer, or lemonade. IRI, the other day on Wednesday, produced their 2021 New Product Pace Setters Report. And I'm gonna read you the top 10 food and beverage new product pacemakers for 2021. So this is based on sales data, Dr. Pepper and cream soda. I've never even seen Dr. Pepper and cream soda. But that's number one. Sparkling water, Corona, hard seltzer, high noon sun sips, Oatley truly iced tea, Michelob ultra organic seltzer, Impossible Burger, Life Cuisine Minute Maid zero sugar. So of these 10 they're 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8 out of 10 are new beverages and combinations of beverages and not to pick on any brand. So let me do that, but what bothers me about these canned sodas? It brings me back to Bartles and James, when they first came out up with you know, the wine coolers, it was actually made with wine and then they switched to beer. But they didn't tell anybody. And the sales went right out of the market. And I know this is gonna be hard to see, but if you look closely at the ingredients here, what they are is filtered water, alcohol, pure cane sugar, natural flavors, real lime juice concentrate, citric acid and sodium benzoate. So the problem that I've got is they're not identifying in this canned margarita. What, what kind of tequila it is, number one. And I think that most people, that order margaritas, when you go out to a restaurant order a particular kind of tequila, whether it's Don Julio or Patron or whatever else. And I think they're really missing an opportunity by not partnering with a real alcohol brand, such as Jack and Coke is doing with Jack Daniels. Really smart marketing there to be able to do that. And also the other thing that bothers me, and I like margaritas, for me, the ratio is probably, you know, two ounces of tequila, half an ounce of fresh lime juice, half an ounce of Quantro. This only has 2% juice, two percent juice. So there's no way to see, so there's no way that these, this can taste anything like a margarita, if there's only 2% juice. Doesn't fly.

Sally:

I agree. And that is a great idea. You know, thinking about the partnerships, you know, why can't a tequila company partner with a beverage company to brand a cocktail like that. It's so amazing. What all is out there? I Googled canned cocktails and you can get an Old Fashioned, you can get a Mimosa, you can get a Mai Tai. So there's, there's tons of opportunity for liquor companies to make these partnerships happen.

Phil:

Yeah. And I just think from a consumer standpoint, you're gonna have more credibility with the consumer, if you're saying what's in it. And you've gotta, you know, I mean, this says on there, real cocktails made with real ingredients by real people.You know, put some Don Julio or something in it.

Sally:

Some real tequila. Yeah.

Phil:

Real Tequila. Albertsons has partnered with Power Reviews to add a familiar Amazon feature to its e-commerce platform– shopper product ratings and reviews. Reviews have become more important in this economy as people look for a somewhat guarantee that what they are thinking about buying is a good choice– and peer reviews have become a mainstay on many sites– but until now it really hasn’t become mainstream on grocers’ websites. According to PowerReview’s recent research, 83% of grocery shoppers say they are more likely to purchase a new grocery item online if customer reviews exist for that product. Top categories for which online grocery shoppers want to access reviews include personal care items(79%), home care items(72%), non-perishable packaged foods(49%), frozen foods(41%) and soft drinks(37%), among others. Albertsons is counting on this new feature to continue to fuel its e-commerce growth– on a two-year stacked basis, according to Albertsons, the retailer has seen its digital sales grow by 287%. The truth is that product reviews– whether they be good or bad reviews serve as a guide for us. Reviews can build or erode the trust between brands and their customers. They offer insights into the products that we might not have thought about and give us a more secure feeling about our decisions– especially if the reviews are from like minded people. The problem however– just as we have seen on Amazon– is that many brands urge– or order– their employees to go online and give their own product s a positive review– which could be misleading. For Albertsons and PowerReview to make this a successful tool for shoppers, they will have to closely monitor just who is posting the review– otherwise it may be just another sham. Sally, what's hot in j ob opportunities this week?

Sally:

Phil, companies are hiring and offering attractive wages and packages for new employees like never before. And that all sounds great, but there is a downside to this and labor economists are concerned that there are future consequences because of this huge hiring opportunity with so many attractive job offerings, colleges are seeing students drop o ut of school and training programs, because they wanna work full t ime. The problem is that researchers have consistently seen that those who have degrees and skills training earn more and have more job stability in the long run. The New York times recently reported that today's job market has 1.9 jobs for every one person available. W ow. Community college enrollment is down. Gas, food and rent prices are up. So opting for a job as opposed to school makes a lot of sense for some of our American society, because they're just trying to make ends meet. So what companies can do to ensure they are creating a quality employee culture with high productivity and l ong t erm employees, there are some great things that are happening. Some companies are offering options for work s tudy programs. Now this is a great way to train new talent while on the job and help them grow careers within your company.

Phil:

I spoke with Bill Gillespie, the former head grocer of Many Changes, including Jewel, Super Valu, Save a Lot, A& P and who's now with Microsoft. We spoke about the metaverse and here's what he thinks we should be looking at. For the complete interview, just log on to S upermarketGuru.c om a nd click on Exploring the Retail Metaverse. Bill, you are a major grocer. You've worked for some of the leading grocery brands you've worked with IBM. Now you are with Microsoft and you are predicting that the metaverse is gonna be a 1 trillion opportunity. Tell me about that.

Bill:

Well, Phil, if you take a look at the evolution of technology over time, going back to when we started with a basic computer, you know, on-prem data center to where we are today with mobile and the internet and everything with social media, this is just the next, next natural evolution of what we see in the, in this world. It's actually gonna be the next evolution of what we think of the internet. So as people think of the internet today, the metaverse is gonna be that next evolution of it, where we go from 1D to multiD, um, a different type of experience. And we see the explosion happening here pretty quickly over the next two to three years. And it will be a$1 trillion industry for, for everyone in the world here.

Phil:

On today’s Bullseye it’s all about personalization. For about 5 years now, we’ve been talking about personalized nutrition– in particular those DNA kits that have become mainstream, that can lead us to better health. Personalized nutrition can be best explained in 3 parts. Nutrigenetics looks at how genes influence the way your body uses the nutrients you eat. Which means even if you’re getting enough of a certain nutrient, your body may not be able to process it well. Nutrigenomics examines how the foods you eat can change how your genes are expressed.“Like for obesity, you may have a certain set of genes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll express them,” says James Marcum, PhD, of Baylor University, author of a review of literature on nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics.“But if you eat food that expresses those genes, it leads to obesity.” And then there’s microbiome research which focuses on how the microbes in your gut affect your health. Gut health has made the headlines in the past couple of years and has quickly become one of the leading marketing claims we are seeing on many packages. Since everyone’s microbiome is also different so is each person’s ideal diet. But the science is new.“Each one of us is so complex, we’ve just scratched the surface,” says Marcum.“There’s more we don’t know than we do at this stage of the game. We’re seeing that the more you appreciate how complex the system is, the more you realize it may be hard to predict how a person is going to respond.” The National Institutes of Health has begun a major research project focused on precision nutrition. Called Nutrition for Precision Health(NPH), the program is awarding$170 million over 5 years to fund studies at six centers across the country. Researchers are recruiting a diverse pool of 10,000 people to develop algorithms that can predict how your body responds to various parts of your diet. They’ll be looking at the diet, genetics, microbiome, physiology, and environment of the people in the study, along with other things. After the 5-year studies gather enough information to develop accurate algorithms, the project will spend another 5 years testing how reliable they are. In the meantime, other non DNA companies want to get in the personalized nutrition business as well. Swedish appliance manufacturer Electrolux has launched an ambitious new kitchen system concept called GRO. The new system is comprised of a collection of interconnected modules that utilize sensors and AI to provide personalized eating and nutrition recommendations. According to the company, the system was designed around insights derived from behavioral science research and is intended to help encourage more sustainable eating behavior based on recommendations from the EAT-Lancet report for planetary health. The GRO is a modular system that can be tailored around a user’s preferences. Some of the modules in the GRO system include: The Plant Gallery: A glass-enclosed showcase for fruits and vegetables. Pulse and Grain Library: A transparent storage system for beans and grains. Fermentation Pantry: A temperature-controlled home fermentation cabinet. Nordic Smoker: a countertop kitchen smoker. Steam Oven and Grill Drawer: An appliance garage. The system will also have a touchscreen with a digital system called the‘GRO Coach’ to provide the user with personalized eating recommendations, goal-setting, dietary and cooking guidance, and progress measurement over time. The system will also provide visualization of the user’s eating habits and how those impact the planet. The system will also possibly understand a consumer’s food inventory, making recommendations based on what is already in the fridge.Sally, any comments or questions this week?

Sally:

Well, Phil, you're gonna be excited to know John Pandal is back and we've got a bunch of comments from John, which I'm always happy to hear from him. I'll go quickly through them. The first one,"scratch cooking is the real, super food". Totally agree with that. The second one he has to say is"new food flavors have hit the jump the shark moment, like TV and fashion. We're going back to the old to get to the new".

Phil:

Okay.

Sally:

Next up, John says,"while true in the past, don't know if the credential will continue to provide the income bump into the future credentialism is in hiring is an acceptable form of job discrimination that employers are beginning to see through". What do you think about that?

Phil:

You know, that's real interesting, John. And when we look at credentials, there are some credentials that have tight regulations and some that don't, again, you know, I'll, I'll look at our world of dietetics to be a registered dietitian. You have to pass tests, you have to have a Master's degree. You have to maintain a certain amount of educational credits to keep your credential. But any of us could hang up a sign that says"nutritionist", and we don't have to have any credentials. And in, you know, the shopper's mind, I would say that there's some confusion between who a registered dietitian is and who a nutritionist is. So I think you're right. And I think employers are very quickly finding that out as well. And with that, reminder to go to SupermarketGuru.com, you could find any of our past episodes right there, and please sign up for our newsletters as well. Until next week. Have a great week.