For decades, grocery retailers built their business around one shopping mission: the weekly stock-up trip or pantry load. Promotions, newspaper circulars and endcap displays were all designed to encourage shoppers to fill a cart with enough groceries to last at least 1 to 2 weeks.
While that shopping mission remains important, another type of visit has quietly become one of grocery retail’s biggest opportunities: the fill-in trip.
I am in the Huntersville/Cornelius/Davidson market which is 30 minutes north of Charlotte, and I have access to one of the most competitive grocery markets in the Southeast. Within a 15-minute drive are 15 grocery stores representing seven different banners: five Harris Teeter locations, three Publix stores, two Food Lion locations, two Aldi stores, along with Target, Whole Foods Market, and The Fresh Market.
In a market with that much competition, retailers are constantly fighting for shopping trips. Conventional wisdom says those trips are won through lower prices, better promotions or more personalized digital offers.
On a recent shopping trip, I was reminded that sometimes the biggest motivator is something much simpler.
Product. More specifically one product which drove the trip.
It was my own shopping behavior. The trip wasn’t motivated by price. It wasn’t motivated by a digital coupon. It wasn’t motivated by a weekly shopping list.
It was motivated by one product: a Publix Chicken Tender Sub.
If you’ve ever had one, you know the deal.
The Chicken Tender Sub has developed an almost cult-like following across the Southeast. It’s more than a deli sandwich. It’s a destination product that gives shoppers a reason to choose Publix over dozens of other grocery stores competing for their business.
That day, it certainly worked on me.
I drove past multiple competitors because that’s what I wanted for lunch.
But something interesting happened once I walked through the front door.
The sub remained in my basket, but it was no longer the only purchase.
I picked up coffee creamer because we were nearly out. Paper towels made their way into the cart. So did salad, jasmine rice, pepper jack cheese, bread, baking soda, snacks and several health and household items. What started as a quick stop for lunch evolved into a textbook fill-in trip.
Looking at my receipt afterward, one thing became clear: the product that motivated the trip represented only a fraction of my total spending.
That’s the opportunity retailers should be thinking about.
The destination product gets the customer into the store. Everything else becomes incremental.
Retailers have invested heavily in loyalty programs, personalized offers and promotional pricing to increase traffic. Those tools remain important, but they aren’t always what determines where shoppers choose to go. Sometimes a signature deli sandwich, fresh sushi program, rotisserie chicken, bakery item or prepared meal is more powerful than any coupon.
Those destination products create shopping occasions.
Once customers are in the store, thoughtful merchandising takes over. Household staples are replenished. Fresh ingredients for tonight’s dinner are added. A snack or beverage finds its way into the basket. Several small shopping missions are completed during a single visit.
That’s exactly what happened to me.
For manufacturers, this shift creates an equally important opportunity. Products that naturally complement destination purchases have a greater chance of becoming part of the fill-in basket. Coffee creamer near the bakery, salad toppings adjacent to produce or beverages merchandised alongside prepared foods all make it easier for shoppers to solve multiple needs during one trip.
The fill-in trip isn’t replacing the weekly stock-up. Both shopping missions will continue to coexist.
However, as consumers shop more frequently and solve immediate needs rather than planning an entire week’s worth of meals, retailers should pay closer attention to what motivates shoppers to visit in the first place.
Sometimes it isn’t the lowest advertised price.
Sometimes it isn’t the biggest promotion.
Sometimes it’s simply having a product shoppers can’t wait to buy.
That experience left me with one takeaway that I suspect applies to far more shoppers than just me:
Price influences the basket. Product influences the trip.
In today’s grocery landscape, that distinction may be one of the most important competitive advantages a retailer can have.
