We had a six day power outage across a wide swath of South Connecticut following Hurrricane Irene. Most of the residential areas north of Stamford were affected by wide spread power outages. It took over 6 days for CT Light and Power to restore electric power to the houses. A result of this, as most homes did not have generators, nor the experience to stock up with dry ice, was extensive food spoilage. What I noticed walking around the stores the first Saturday afterwards was that the freezer sections, especially the ice cream, were hit pretty hard. The selection was limited to odd flavors and other unpopular choices. I was also surprised to see that Heinz Ketchup was completely sold out. Though hardly scientific it made me realize that there are certain brands that people view as essential and are the first to replace. With a solid history of purchase information from customer loyalty cards I’d like to think someone from the Brand’s research division overlaid the data with events such as wide spread outages to see the rebound shopping that occurs. Should help the brands ID those that the consumer has a high affinity for, and to ID the duds that weren’t purchased as an alternative. Those left fully stocked on the shelves(and require refrigeration) have to ask themselves what’s up.
No comments:
Post a Comment