Keeping Center Store Relevant

5 ways to reinvigorate an underappreciated section of the store.

- Bridget Goldschmidt

It doesn’t get a lot of love these days, what with the current focus on fresh, but center store is still a force to be reckoned with.“Center store absolutely has an important role to play in large stores, and research shows that this area of the store is a key profit driver — 75 percent to 80 percent of grocery bottom-line profit is contributed by center store,” asserts Ron Hughes, senior manager of shopper strategy and innovation at the Coca-Cola Co., in Atlanta. “On the other hand, we know Millennial consumers believe the center store is uninteresting and unappealing. In fact, 25 percent of Millennials say [that] the ‘center store is a boring part of the store,’ and 23 percent say, ‘I almost get claustrophobic when shopping center store.’ Given that Millennials are a key shopper segment for growth, this presents a notable challenge.”

Meanwhile, Shelley Balanko, Ph.D., SVP at The Hartman Group, in Bellevue, Wash., believes that the section “has lost a lot of relevance in modern eating. Today’s consumers orient toward fresher eating and immediate consumption, so they are more inclined to shop the perimeter to meet their fresh quality expectations and get inspired for immediate or very near-term cooking/assembly. Contemporary consumers have generalized their ‘fresh expectations’ from the perimeter to center store, and now use ‘minimal processing’ and natural product formulations as cues for ‘fresh packaged’ food in center store.

Unfortunately, the majority of conventional center store aisles fail to have a strong assortment of such products, and thus, center store slips in relevance.”