THE FRESH IMPERATIVE: CREATING EXCELLENCE IN ASIAN FRESH FOOD RETAILING

Asia Pacific, 2005

In the rapidly changing Asian markets, a retailer’s fresh food selection is a key competitive strategy and one of its most critical success factors. Fresh food categories bring in essential store traffic and represent shopping frequency drivers that attract consumers and create additional opportunities for retailers to engage with their customers in other grocery categories. In fact, more than 50 percent of Asian consumers’ food bill is spent on fresh food, and this spending increases 2.6 percent a year. Retailers will also feel the impact of other changes in the market. By 2020, not only will Asian consumers be spending more on food, there will also be an estimated 700 million new Asian consumers.

The retail industry faces twin challenges: supplying customers with what they need in addition to satisfying their changing tastes and preferences. This report identifies the future needs and expectations of Asian consumers across key fresh food categories, and creates a platform to drive fresh food retail excellence in the Asia region.