What is your equivalent to the supermarkets “share of stomach”?

Do you understand all the competition in your market?

One area which marketers need to understand in order to produce great, relevant, strategies is the competition they face, not just from their direct competitors, but also those in the wider market who offer a similar solution for customers. I’ve just (very belatedly) listened to a podcast episode of The Bottom Line from BBC Radio 4 about supermarkets and really liked the discussion about “share of stomach” where the guests from Waitrose, the Co-op and Fultons Foods discussed how their market is not growing as fast as that of restaurants, and those restaurants are providing a share of stomach and therefore competition. In other words, we aren’t just buying food to eat at home, but eating out at various places all of which are reducing the amount spent in supermarkets.

It provided a great example of how any organisation needs to consider the market it operates in to see how changes might be taking place. The response from some supermarkets is the bundles of goods to provide an easy way to prepare a meal at home, the “dine at home for £10” type package. Do you understand your offer?

An interesting fact from the programme – in the USA 50% of food is is consumed out of the home, and of that 50%, 80% is consumed in the car!

This is the type of area covered in the CIM Diploma in Professional Marketing, Strategic marketing module – a important area every marketer needs to gain insights of.

The podcast can be heard here