Microwaveables yield to other convenience foods - discount and drug store shelf space

Discount Store News, Nov 6, 1995

In the race for shelf space, drug and discount stores are freeing up footage by reducing stock-keeping units of microwaveable foods.

Although almost 90% of U.S. households have a microwave, few people are truly using them to cook. Instead, microwaves are used to heat up leftovers and to zap popcorn.

"The microwave today is a glorified popcorn popper," joked Tom Vierhile from the Marketing Intelligence newsletter.

The NPD Group, a consumer marketing research company, actually found that the No. 1 use for microwaves is to reheat coffee and tea.

Retailers from Genovese Drug Stores and Clover discount stores have experimented with microwave products only to find that product movement was not sufficient enough to warrant space in their stores.

"The one exception," said a category manager for F&M, based in Warren, Mich., "are some of the heat-and-eat children's foods such as Sesame Street dinners [from Chef Boyardee]."

Even manufacturers have backed off from microwave offerings. The number of new microwave foods has plummeted from a high of 8,000 in 1988 to 500 in 1993, the latest year for which figures are available, according to the New Product News magazine. Kraft has stopped developing microwave desserts and side dishes and even recommends on many packages that the best results are produced in a conventional oven. The Campbell Soup Company has also shifted its efforts away from microwave foods. Its Souper Combos, a microwave entry, did not meet with success.

A spokesman for Conagra said, "Creating food in a microwave was more complicated than consumers first thought."

Problems also arose because ovens vary in wattage. This made it difficult to suggest to consumers to use the "high" setting. Consumers were often disappointed with the end result.

Consumers were often disenchanted with the taste of the products. "People won't give up on taste," said Harry Blazer, a vice president at the NPD Group.

Hoping to pick up the slack, vendors are manufacturing products that can be reconstituted with hot water. Among the offerings stocked by a few mass merchants as well as supennarkets are Aunt Patsy's Soups, Lipton Kettle Creations from Campbell Soup, Mrs. Grass from Borden and ethnic specialties from Irvine, Calif.-based Maruchan. Some New York-area operators are also trying Asian specialties from Nissin in Fort Lee, N.J.

However, chains such as Bradlees, Caldor and Cost Cutters, a deep discounter, have not committed space to the easy-to-prepare foods. They are taking more canned goods, such as those marketed by Chef Boyardee and Dinty Moore. Buyers said that the items fare best when promoted in circulars or stacked out on bulk displays.

At a new Clover store at the Gallery Mall in Philadelphia, the choices of convenience foods have almost doubled from existing units. Located in a major commuter hub, store officials believe that many customers pick up food items for lunch and dinner.

Microwave foods could still make a comeback. The International Microwave Power Institute is still trying to convince consumers how valuable microwaves can be in food preparation. But a source at Campbell Soup isn't so sure. "People want to add something homey to cooking. They want to do it like their mothers did," she said.