Supermarkets use various techniques to attract new customers and keep existing ones. One of the most common tricks is offering discounts and special promotions on selected products, but you have to have a clinical eye to detect which are the real discounts and fake. Another usual technique is the strategic placement of products in the supermarket, with popular and high-turnover products located in areas easily accessible to customers.
Supermarkets, like Costco, also often offer loyalty and rewards programs to regular customers to build their loyalty and increase their chances of buying from the supermarket again. But, those strategies are starting to run out, and since 2023, they will implement a system that is, in reality, a consequence of cyclical market behavior.
The tricks of supermarkets that will be seen in 2023
Supermarkets will start exploiting an idea that, although not so new, is usually underutilized: to offer much lower prices when there is a surplus of a particular product. For example, it is predicted that in 2023 there will be a large stock of dates because an increase in demand in recent years has motivated more and more agricultural companies to harvest them. This will cause much more quantity in the market, pushing prices down.
Dates are excellent sugar substitutes because they are very sweet but have a low glycemic index.
Another of the products that has grown too much in recent years is plant-based meat substitutes, which are edible, look like meat, bleed like meat, smell and taste like meat, but are free of ingredients of animal origin. They are popular among those who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet and those who want to reduce their consumption of animal products for health or ethical reasons. More and more companies will be producing this type of product in the American and Canadian markets, and, again, with the breadth of the offer, there will be better prices for consumers.
In recent years, spicy products have experienced an increase in popularity among lovers of spicy food and those who want to try something new and exciting. This trend has been driven by the rise in demand for exotic food, the proliferation of restaurants specializing in spicy dishes, and the increased availability of spicy products in stores and supermarkets.
Of course, retailers and manufacturers have seen the potential of this market, and there will be more spicy products from next year, from sauces and tips to other products such as nachos or tortilla chips, soups, and spicy powders to spice up meals. The spicy flavors open all the taste buds, creating an umami sensation on the tongue and improving the flavors without adding too many calories or carbohydrates to the diet.
Finally, there will likely be a proliferation of new and tastier caffeine-free drinks. Americans drink a lot of coffee and tea, but some people do not tolerate this type of drink because it causes insomnia and other disorders. Therefore, the caffeine-free drinks market has been expanding due to the growth of demand.
One of the main advantages of caffeine-free drinks is that it avoids the common side effects of caffeine, such as anxiety, tachycardia, and insomnia. This can help people feel calmer and more relaxed, improving their sleep quality and overall mood. In addition, drinking caffeine-free drinks can help people maintain a healthy weight, as many caffeinated beverages also contain sugar and extra calories.
New stores to catch more customers.
According to its CFO, Richard Galanti, one of the chain stores that will expand next year is Costco, which announced opening at least 27 new stores in the United States and other countries.
Galanti said that nine of those 24 net stores would open internationally, including Costco’s third and fourth locations in China. The United States will get 15 more stores. As a downside for customers, it is expected that the price of memberships will increase, something that has been speculated for a long time. The company says it is watching what happens to inflation before making the final decision. But that is not a question of if of when.