What Can Big Grocery Learn from Farmers’ Markets Using Social Data?September 2014

Summary Findings

With farmers’ markets growing in popularity every year, they offer some marketing ideas and branding lessons for “Big Grocery”

Social media reveals the primary purchase drivers for consumers who shop at farmers’ markets vs. those who shop at grocery stores

Grocery brands can use social insights to replicate the farmers’ market experience and experiment with new marketing strategies

Why grocery brands should care about farmers’ markets

Growing Popularity

Farmers’ markets have increased in number by 365 percent over the past two decades

The organic food market has grown from $11 billion in 2004 to $28 billion in 2013

1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 -

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

1,755 2,410 2,746 2,863 3,137

3,706 4,385 4,685

5,274 6,132

7,175 7,864 8,144

National Count of Farmers’ Market Directory Listings

Source: USDA-AMS-Marketing Services Division. Farmers' Market information is voluntary and self reported to USDA-AMS-Marketing Services Division

Consumer Sentiment

Farmers’ markets raise the bar for certain measures of grocery stores’ brand health

Consumer sentiment around farmers’ markets is 30 times as positive as grocery stores

Net sentiment overall Net sentiment post-purchase0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

30% 30%

1%

4%

Farmers' markets

Grocery stores

Net sentiment measures positive mentions minus negative mentions on social media

Consumer Sentiment

How do consumers talk about farmers’ markets?

Social conversation themes Networked Insights analyzed social conversations about farmers’

markets using its thematic discovery technology

Ten themes emerged as top conversation topics

Interest Name Definitions

Activity and Event A way to spend free time

Availability and Convenience Product availability and convenience

Community Aspect Association with the community

Freshness of Food Freshness of goods

Health and Nutrition Healthiness and nutrition of goods

Local Farms and Small Business Support for Local Businesses, Farms, and Economy

Organic Food How organic is some of the food?

Price Expensive or inexpensive cost

Seasonality Seasonal Selection of Goods

Variety and Options Diversity of goods offered

Farmers’ market conversations

Seasonality, freshness of food and local food set farmers’ markets apart the most from “Big Grocery”

Consumers also view farmers’ markets as an activity and community event

Seasonal-ity

Freshness of Food

Local Farms

and Small Business

Activity and Event

Organic Food

Com-munity Aspect

Variety and Op-

tions

Availabil-ity and Conve-nience

Health and Nutri-

tion

Price0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

16.0%

18.0%

11.1% 10.5%

6.6%5.6%

4.2%3.3%

1.4% 1.3% 1.2% 0.5%

Farmers’ Market and “Big Grocery” Conversations, by Topic

Topic in Farmers' Market ConvoTopic in "Big Grocery" ConvoDifference

Conversation topic summary

Conversation Topic Farmers’ MarketShare of Topic

Grocery StoreShare of Topic

Farmer’s Market vs. “Big Grocery”

Sentiment

Seasonality 16.3% 5.2% +19.0%

Freshness of Food 14.2% 3.6% +14.0%

Local Farms and Small Business

8.2% 1.6% +13.0%

Activity and Event 10.5% 4.9% +17.0%

Organic Food 6.0% 1.8% +11.0%

Community Aspect 6.3% 3.0% +22.0%

Variety and Options 2.8% 1.3% +12.0%

Availability and Convenience

5.2% 3.9% +11.0%

Health and Nutrition 5.9% 4.7% +5.0%

Price 8.3% 7.8% +12.0%

Factors that Influence Purchasing Decisions at Farmers’ Markets and Grocery Stores

Source: Networked Insights; May 1, 2014 – August 1, 2014Note: Difference = [Farmers’ Market SOV – Grocery Store SOV] Farmers’ Market N = 179,676 Grocery Store N = 756,470

Consumer sentiment in Farmers’ Market conversation is better than sentiment in “Big Grocery” conversation across the board…

What can Big Grocery learn from farmers’ markets?

Emphasize seasonality

Source:http://runninonhealthy.wordpress.com/2014/04/04/spring-means-farmers-market-time/

Farmers’ market shoppers are more interested in exploring the seasons• Create an experience that varies with the seasons• Offer and promote peak-season produce• Organize events so shoppers can enjoy the weather

What I love about spring and summer is all the

fresh fruits and vegetables that will be

sold at the farmer's market.

“ “

Think local

Farmers’ market shoppers want fresh food that comes from the local farm ecosystem and supports local businesses• Expand selection of locally produced goods• Label which farmers supply different products• Build a strong connection between the store brand and the local

ecosystem

I love meeting the farmers, knowing what they do, where they live, what their favorite variety of apple is.

It humanizes the food.

Source:http://foodriot.tumblr.com/post/55899678763/more-than-anything-i-love-the-communal-aspect-of

“ “

Make shopping an event

Farmers’ market shoppers appreciate the festivity of the event, including live music, food samples and the outdoors• Experiment with parking lot mini-markets• Give customers chance to meet local farmers• Consider entertainment and family activities

Today started off with a 6 mile run. A sunny one that resulted in some defined tan lines.

Post run we refreshed with some frozen lemonades from the Farmer's Market –

watermelon for her and habanero lime for him. I love Saturdays in Little Italy because

they have the best Farmer's Market. Source:

http://dailycupofasheejojo.com/2013/05/18/new-shoes-again/

“ “

Know what doesn’t matter

Some purchase drivers don’t differentiate farmers’ markets and grocery stores in the eyes of consumers• Price and availability of goods are roughly equal in terms of share

of voice and sentiment• Consumers weigh health and nutrition equally between the two

Methodology

Networked Insights analyzed over 1 million conversations on the social web between May 1 and August 1, 2014. Through its patented topic discovery technology, Networked Insights identified the top 10 purchasing drivers for consumers who shop at farmers’ markets

Networked Insights compared how often consumers talk about those topics in relation to farmers’ markets and grocery stores (share of voice), and how they factor into purchasing decisions (net sentiment)

Share of voice measures the percentage of total posts about a particular topic

Net sentiment measures the percentage of positive posts minus the percentage of negative posts about a particular topic

Networked Insights is classifying the social web so marketing professionals can better understand how consumers are talking about products, competitors and the topics that influence purchase behavior.

Contact us: http://www.networkedinsights.com/contact

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