Emphasizes the importance of understanding the consumer's role in helping to improve productivity.Consumer/Household Economics, Productivity Analysis,

Lawyer, Josephine H.

English

Research Papers in Economics

ELIMINATING ROADBLOCKS TO GREATER PRODUCTIVITY -
CONSUMERS
by
Josephine H. Lawyer
Family Resource Management Specialist
Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Washington, D. C.
Emphasizes the importance of under-
standing the consumer’s role in helping
to improve productivity.
If the food industry wishes to over-
come roadblocks to greater productivity,
it is important that it understands con-
sumers , communicates with them, and
pleases them. These remarks are based
upon two assumptions:
. that the purpose or mission of
the food system, from the producer to
the retailer or food service operator, is
to satisfy consumer needs and wants, and
o that each part of the system
must function effectively and profitably
if it is to benefit the total society.
What does the food industry need to
understand about consumers? Always, it
needs to be aware of factors which affect
family income, standards and levels of
living, values, goals, and consumption
behavior.
The acceleration of economic,
social, political and technological
change will continue to have a dynamic
affect upon people. Rising living costs
and inflation are current examples of
economic change making an impact upon
consumer attitudes and behavior.
Despite the present economic situa-
tion, it is expected that consumer income
will continue to increase. Discounting
effects of inflation, one-third of the
households will have an annual income of
$15,000 in 1980. By then, 40 percent of
family income will be in homes where the
head is under 35 years of age, and the 24
to 30 age group will represent the larg-
est segment of our population. Already,
42 percent of married women are working
outside the home, and this percentage is
expected to increase.
Such background information can help
the food industry better understand con-
sumers. It can help it identify expected
change as it will affect people and the
food system, and plan for necessary ad-
justments.
What strategies are needed to improve
communication with consumers and to in-
crease consumer satisfaction?
Educators start where learners are,
involve them in program planning, and con-
duct training at convenient times and
places. This implies that the food in-
dustry listen to consumer concerns, in-
volve them in defining what they want to
learn, and determine methods to reach and
teach them. It also, imples that industry
cooperation, consensus, and coordination
is needed, if consumers are to understand
food supply-demand-price relationships;
the costs, margins and profits of the
food system; and the reasons for changes
in food products, marketing structure;
etc. Both public and private action are
needed to effectively communicate with
consumers. It is easy to identify media
and educators as priority contacts for
reaching people. Both want accurate,
unbiased facts of interest to consumers.
If the food industry can provide media
and educators with supportive material
Journal of Food Distribution Research February 75/page 65that meets these criteria, they will
likely be used.
The best insurance when developing
material is to involve the user in deter-
mining what is needed and how it would be
used. Think of the opportunities to
involve educators of different consumer
audiences - high school and college
teachers, Extension specialists, leaders
of community groups and organizations.
Think of ways to involve media at na-
tional, State, and local levels.
Segments of the food industry al-
ready have consumer advisors to work with
management as consumer representatives.
This private action to better understand,
communicate, and please consumers ap-
pears to be a productive move. However,
private action in the form of research
could provide data on which to base
future action. What affect or change has
been made as a direct result of consumer
advisors, consumer panels, etc.?
The Supermarket Institute recently
launched a program to find, organize,
and report facts about food supplies,
basic economics and customer attitudes.
It also permits participating retailers
to exchange experiences and information.
Hopefully, such programs will improve
consumer understanding and help retailers
anticipate and control potential crisis
situations.
There is much room for improvement
in communication with consumers in the
food industry. Each part of the food
system is guilty of being defensive
about its contribution in providing food
at the least cost for American consumers.
As an example, retailers see the Uni-
versal Product Codes and the computerized
checkout system as a method to reduce
operating costs. Suddenly, the consumer
is expected to accept this new technology.
Shopping habits are established over a
long time period, and any change requires
relearning and adjustment. The need to
accept change one does not understand is
sometimes traumatic and rejected.
Another example: the food industry
suggests that frozen meat cuts will re-
duce costs and aid in stabilizing meat
prices throughout the year. Consumers
question the credibility of this. Over
the years, they have found great varia-
tion in quality of frozen fish and
poultry.
Since the consumer is near the re-
tailer in the food system, these sugges-
tions apply to private action to improve
communication and satisfaction at that
level.
1. Provide more information and
facts to help when making in-store
decisions - unit pricing, open dating,
informative labels, grades and grade
characteristics , metric information.
2. Give the facts and reasons for
changes in supply, quality and price.
Provide this for media personnel and
educators.
3. Arrange stores so there is more
consistency and logic in product place-
ment - in terms of meal planning, in
shopping speed and convenience.
4. Set aside a special place where
attention is focused on new food items.
“New” items do not survive unless conk
sumers know about them and buy them.
5. Department managers need to
answer consumer questions accurately, or
not attempt to do so.
6. Accept social responsibility for
practices that contribute to, rather than
reduce, environmental quality - energy
use, recycling, waste disposal, efficient
operation, and safe, wholesome food
reaching consumers.
It is important to recognize that
today’s consumer has more decisions to
make and less time in which to make them,
more alternative choices , more education,
and more income than in the past.
February 75/page 66 Journal of Food Distribution ResearchToday’s consumer is more sophis-
ticated, knowledgeable, and vocal than
in the past. You can expect tomorrow’s
consumer to be even more so. Consumers
expect credibility and accountability
from agriculture as an industry, and
from Government agencies that serve it.
Unless the food system is willing to
cooperate and coordinate its effort to
understand, communicate with, and please
the consumer , all parts of the system
will continue to suffer the effects of
consumer concerns and action.
food
fami
An analogy can be made between the
industry and the family. In the
y, decisions are made and management
occurs in a setting of social interaction
to achieve the goals of individual
members and the family unit.
I contend that the food industry
is a family with common goals, and that
consumers are part of that family.
If the food industry expects to
eliminate roadblocks to greater produc-
tivity which consumers cause, it needs
to further inform and involve them in
the decisionmaking and interaction.
Journal of Food Distribution Research February 75/page 67

ELIMINATING ROADBLOCKS TO GREATER PRODUCTIVITY: CONSUMERS

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