Grocery Shopping During Pandemic Times

Grocery Shopping During Pandemic Times in America

Whole Foods Market Does Social Distancing

Here are some photos I recently took, showing what grocery shopping looks like during these pandemic times here in the USA. Whole Foods Market was quick to adjust its in-store messaging, and add wayfinding signage to ensure the safest flow of foot traffic. Have a glance at the photos below.

Speaking of Whole Foods Market, if your products are sold there, you need to be working with us as we keep a constant pulse on how Whole Foods Market shoppers think, behave and buy. Schedule a one-hour 'Winning with Whole Foods Market Shoppers' consult session with Green Purse PR to learn more about Whole Foods Market shoppers and best practices for how your brand can successfully connect with them. Learn more about the retail intel on Whole Foods Market here, and contact us to schedule your session.

- Lisa Mabe-Konstantopoulos, Founder & CEO, Green Purse PR

Photo Tour of Whole Foods Market's New Flagship Mid-Atlantic Store | McLean, Virginia

Photo Tour of Whole Foods Market's New Flagship store in the Mid-Atlantic | Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia

Whole Foods Market recently opened its new Mid-Atlantic flagship store in Tysons Corner located at McLean, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. Naturally, I needed to see the retailer’s ‘fanciest store yet’ as reported by The Washingtonian, and lucky for me, it’s super close by.

The new store is located at 1635 Boro Place, McLean, Virginia in The Boro, a new residential + commercial development by The Meridian Group and Kettler Inc. is designed for work, play and mingle and includes luxury residences, destination retail, and distinguished office spaces. With 70,000 square-foot, multi-level flagship store is a community gathering destination featuring a trendy food hall, cocktail bar, game area, outdoor patio and a self-service wine bar.

Wow; what a gorgeous store! Given that so much of my shopper research and public relations work focuses on Whole Foods Market, I’m very familiar with the different types of store formats across North America. The latest stores opened by Whole Foods Market have (and there have been several in the past few months,) are so much more than just a nice grocery store; they really are meant to be community gathering spaces. It’s the kind of place you could spend several hours at for not only grocery shopping, but also dining and socializing. I think this store is now one of my favorite locations (from a design, amenity & shopper journey perspective,) along with Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, Post Oak in Houston, Texas and the Gilman store in Berkeley, California.

Below is a photo tour of my first visit to the new Tysons store.

This store is HUGE and everything is just gorgeous. I conduct a lot of shopper-research based USA Market Tours for exporters from other countries and also Supermarket Tours for local embassies in Washington, DC who have visiting delegations of farmers or food industry businesspeople eager to learn more about grocery retail in the USA. I’ll now have a sparkly, new place to bring them that’s super convenient.

I spotted several kid-friendly areas around the store, including this super cute Whole Kids Club area offering free snacks for kids shopping in the store.

I love the design of this store; so bright and cheery.

I visited this store the week of November 10th, 2019, so holiday entertaining (Thanksgiving turkey promo) signage was in full effect.

Since I work a lot with the meat category, I was especially excited to see the meat department. Everything looked perfect! Note the new black window cling along the top of the meat case featuring my client, Global Animal Partnership’s new animal welfare certified label.

Spotted several of my clients’ products, including Atkins Ranch grass fed lamb, whose lamb loin chops were currently on sale for Amazon Prime Members.

Lots of turkeys already available, ahead of ‘turkey day,’ Thanksgiving. Nice to see the new Global Animal Partnership animal welfare certified label!

For all my honey industry folks, have a look at the honey range available here. For American standards, this is a wide selection of Manuka honey (see top shelf.)

Beautiful packaging!

Welcome to cheese Heaven, featuring some of the best cheese from around the world.

Upstairs is High Point, a 100-seat indoor/outdoor pub and game room offering several self-serve food options. This is the main gathering place. I visited the store during late morning, but come lunch time, this place was packed!

I spotted a mom’s group here fueling up on coffee and probably then later, wine. It’s the perfect spot to meet with friends. When the weather is warmer, the outdoor patio area has lots of seating, including children’s tables.

The food hall includes Officina, Genji Izakaya, Curiosity Doughnuts and Rappahannock Oyster Co.

Have you visited this new Whole Foods Market store, or perhaps one of the other new stores opened during 2019? What were your impressions? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts; I’m curious to know what you think.

According to WBJ Research, Whole Foods Market is the ninth-largest grocer in the greater Washington DC area, with 4.46% market share in 2018. The Tysons store is the grocery retailer’s 10th location in Northern Virginia.

---

Want to drive sales of your products at Whole Foods Market?

If your products are sold in Whole Foods Market, work with Green Purse PR to better understand its shoppers and communicate with them. We conduct shopper research, as well as plan and implement PR & digital marketing campaigns targeting Whole Foods Market shoppers. Contact us here for more details.

Want to learn more about the American grocery retail landscape?

Work with us on one of our USA Market Trips or Supermarket Tours (Embassies, see this link.) Contact us here for more details.

---

Curious to learn more about Whole Foods Market shoppers?

Purchase our syndicated research report, How to Win with Whole Foods Market Shoppers here. 

- Lisa Mabe-Konstantopoulos, CEO, Green Purse PR

Photo Tour of Whole Foods Market's 500th Store | Midtown Atlanta, Georgia

Photo Tour of Whole Foods Market's 500th Store | Midtown Atlanta, Georgia

While in Atlanta over Easter break, I visited the newly opened Midtown Atlanta location of Whole Foods Market. I needed to see first hand the retailer’s 500th milestone store. It’s gotten quite a lot of good publicity and features some fun, new amenities.

Located at 22 14th Street NW in Related Group’s Icon Midtown residential development, the new 70,000 square-foot, multi-level flagship store is a community gathering destination featuring four fast-casual eateries and more than 1,500 local items from 250 suppliers, many new to Whole Foods Market.

I visited early Saturday morning, the day before Easter. It was super peaceful before the crowds came to get their pre-Easter #WholeFoodsHaul on. Since it was early and I LOVE Allegro coffee (iced latte every day for me,) my first stop was Capital Commons, a cozy full-service Allegro coffee and espresso bar. They are early risers too; the cafe opens at 6 AM daily.

Below are some photos of the new Midtown store.

The fresh fruit and veg section is super colorful and pretty!

Look who I spotted on the Prime Member Deals board at the entrance of the store — our client, Atkins Ranch lamb from New Zealand! Nice to see Wellshire Farms’ ham on there as well — both meat brands are animal welfare certified by Global Animal Partnership.

Photo source: Atlanta Curbed

Huge meat department with gorgeous display on for Easter and Passover. I like to see those butcher case clings featuring Global Animal Partnership’s 10 year anniversary!

Look what’s featured front and center — Atkins Ranch leg of lamb, during its nationwide promo with Amazon Prime. Normally $9.99 USD per pound (in this region) for leg of lamb, the sale offered leg of lamb at just $6.99 USD per pound for Amazon Prime members. The team of butchers in this store made a gorgeous display of lamb!

Atkins Ranch’s retail ready lamb cuts are new to the South region of Whole Foods Market. Super convenient for shoppers who want to quickly grab and go.

I spy some good looking beef from White Oak Pastures, local to Georgia.

Check out these new meal kits, mostly with meat and some with fish, with some calling out “keto” or “paleo.” Very cool.

Here’s what you’ll find on the roof of the new store. There’s a space for games, eating and even yoga.

Photo source: Curbed Atlanta

Photo source: Curbed Atlanta

Curious to learn more about Whole Foods Market shoppers?

Download our report, How to Win with Whole Foods Market Shoppers here.

- Lisa Mabe-Konstantopoulos, CEO, Green Purse PR

You may also be interested in our blog post, What Amazon Prime Members Think About New Lower Prices at Whole Foods Market. Read it here.

What Shoppers' Grocery Carts Can Tell Us About Them

Shop and Learn | You Don't Really Know a Shopper Until You've Shopped With Them

Next time you're in the grocery store, take a peak into your fellow shoppers' grocery carts. It's fun to see what ends up in shoppers' carts, especially if it is your brand, or in my case, a client's product. By the way, whenever I do spot a client's product in someone's shopping cart, I almost always strike up a quick conversation with them. I usually carry coupons from my clients and offer them a few as a way to thank them for their loyalty. It's a nice touch point that often goes a very long way.

My perspective is you don't really know a shopper until you've shopped with them. That’s one of the premises that makes Green Purse PR unique and why shopper research is fundamental to all the public relations and social communications work we do. Being successful in your consumer marketing starts with understanding the consumer – identifying how they learn about products, how your products are likely to fit into their lifestyle and how to better serve their needs in order to create and maintain a connection (or relationship, if you’re lucky) with those shoppers. 

“You don’t really know a shopper until you’ve shopped with them.”

— - Lisa Mabe, CEO, Green Purse PR

What can you tell about the shopper from this look inside her shopping cart?

Maybe she is gathering ingredients to make a special meal. Perhaps it's for a weekend celebration, a dinner party, or maybe it's a work-week meal for her family. Whatever the case, it looks like she has kids, or a lot of cats, because that's a lot of whole, organic milk in there. 

I frequently conduct shopper research, shop-alongs, with women all around the world. Each time I shop with someone, I take into consideration every single product that gets in her cart. Taking into account what products #GetInHerCart, is one of the ways our shop-along research helps us uncover insights that later help us intelligently build successful consumer PR programs.

Some of the insights we learn from shop-alongs include:

• What products catch her eyes, and what does not.
• What other products (besides yours) she is buying and how those may even be used together.
• Why she buys particular products over others.
• What third party certifications, verifications or ratings she may be looking for.
• How she connects, or does not connect, with brands and retailers.
• How your product fits into her lifestyle.
• How best to build and foster a relationship with consumers like her.

The list goes on and on.

Do you think it sounds smart to plan and implement a consumer marketing program or campaign without first bothering to do a little research on the very people who are hopefully going to buy your product?  No; that's not smart at all, but that's exactly what a lot of companies do.

Be the savvy company that DOES invest in understanding its target shoppers, and gets things right the first time. When you do, the insights you learn and connections you start, will deliver value both in the short and for a long time to come.

- Lisa Mabe-Konstantopoulos, Founder, Green Purse PR

---

Want Green Purse PR to shop with your consumers and garner insights to help you better connect with health-conscious women?

Getting to Know Whole Foods Market Shoppers

New Guide Uncovers How Female Whole Foods Market Shoppers Think, Behave, Buy & Share

Some big changes have been happening recently for Whole Foods Market. Being acquired by Amazon means changes at the store level and potential for change amongst consumer behavior. Green Purse PR's new report takes a look at how brands sold at WFM can best connect and engage with shoppers now to drive awareness, sales and buzz.

This report is one of Green Purse PR's first digital information products, sold under our new #GetInHerCart Innovation Studio. Our report was created for brands whose products are already sold at WFM, or for companies intending to get their products onto WFM shelves. Scroll down to learn more about our new report, Guide to Winning with Whole Foods Market Shoppers.

You don't really know a shopper until you've shopped with them.

So we do just that, shop-along with the type of shoppers are clients are keen to attract. All of our public relations consulting is driven by our unique understanding of shoppers resulting from our shop-along research. Shopper insights derived from our in store research and online communities equip us with current understanding of what influences consumers' purchases, how they shop certain categories and how specific products fit into their lifestyles. These insights are important because they direct what our consumer marketing communications programs ultimately look like. 

Good time to learn more about WFM shoppers.

With the recent acquisition of Whole Foods Market by Amazon, our clients are seeking to better understand how WFM shoppers learn about products, identify purchase influencers and how best to reach influential female WFM shoppers.

Green Purse PR just conducted our own research with WFM female shoppers to identify how they currently think, behave and buy, and share. Our new report, Guide to Winning with Whole Foods Market Shoppers, is designed to give brands insight into the retailer’s shoppers in general, as well as actionable steps they can use to take their consumer understanding to the next level. The shopper intelligence we share in this guide is based upon our shop-along research, one-on-one interviews, social listening, online surveys and questions in our private community where we are constantly learning from health-conscious mothers.

Here are 10 things you can expect to find in our new report:

1) List of media outlets and blogs she reads, follows or subscribes to.

WFM shopper reading Bon Appétit Magazine

2) How she connects online with WFM directly, as well as the brands sold on their shelves.

WFM shopper reading the retailer's blog, The Whole Story

3) Who she follows on social media + a list of influencers.

WFM shopper reading MindBodyGreen.com

4) How Instagram influences brand awareness and purchases.

WFM shopper scrolling through Instagram

5) What catches her eye inside the store.

Shopping for natural and organic products

6) The journey new mothers go on to cleanse their diet and lifestyle in an effort to get healthier for themselves and the baby.

Mother and baby shopping for healthy groceries

7) What she loves about Whole Foods Market. Coffee seems to be pretty high on the list!

WFM shopper happy with her heatlhy choices

8) How WFM + Amazon fulfill her need for healthier options that fit her on-demand lifestyle.

Some of her favorite things from WFM

9) How she looks to WFM to curate the best products for her, so she does not have to do as much homework herself.

Trusting WFM to curate healthier options in every category

10) Direct shopper quotes from women who report WFM as their primary grocery outlet.

Feeling better about the meat she eats