The shelf stable microwave meals shopper has evolved. These shoppers are looking for quick and convenient meal options for the entire family. The UCM destination meets the needs of these shoppers in one location.

The set has impressed in retail tests:
 Total UCM category sales grew between 14%-15%. As for each section, Premium sales soared by 53%-55%, All Family climbed 12%-15%, Mainstream jumped 48%-50%, and Microwave Soups stayed constant.
 Parent categories continued to grow–boxed macaroni and cheese, boxed dinners and canned pasta all rose.
 Competing categories weren’t cannibalized—frozen single-serve meals, frozen pizza and refrigerated lunchmeat were all up.
 Baskets with UCM items rose more than 6% vs. controlled shoppers.

These results outpace the relative flatness of many center-store categories.

UCM covers a wide consumer base similar to frozen single serve meals. The major separation from the shoppers of their parent categories is the need for quick and easy convenience. Recent innovation help develop the more affluent and health-conscious consumers toward the destination.

Without a UCM section, shoppers can travel to 5 to 7 different in-store locations before they finally satisfy their microwavable food needs.* By assorting and organizing microwavable meals within a UCM destination, retailers organize the product offerings in a way that helps shoppers find the specific item they want and increases the variety of products from which to choose.

Because no refrigeration is required, ultra-convenient meals are more portable and easier to store. Recent innovation, such as Healthy Choice® Fresh Mixers®, is driving quicker and easier preparation time and new lines are broadening the appeal of the category to more affluent and health-conscious shoppers.
*ConAgra Foods research with major retailer, 2010

Establish the UCM destination center adjacent to ready-to- serve soups. This is the most logical, consumer-preferred anchor that helps bridge convenient meals for one person that requires no refrigeration to the microwaveable options. Also, since consumers have long trusted the proven product quality and fresh taste of soups, the halo that extends from soup to UCM actually enhances cross-purchase activity with the higher-ticket premium brands (Select Choices) sought by similar shoppers.

The left-to-right sequence of the 16-foot run of UCM products has Ready Soups, Select Choices, Everyone’s Favorites and Hearty Tastes. The Select Choices section (including Healthy Choice and Marie Callender’s brands) encourages the more affluent microwave soup shopper to increase their variety of options within the destination. Everyone’s Favorites offerings that include well established Kraft® Easy Mac and Chef Boyardee brand help anchor the segments and have the strongest cross purchase between the other segments in the destination.

At a major retailer this spring, the UCM destination center went up in six stores, along with supportive POS materials. The purchase patterns of more than 30,000 shoppers who buy UCM categories were examined over 20 weeks vs. a controlled set of shoppers.

Shoppers responded very positive to this product flow. Some 89% of buyers and browsers, as well as store staff rated the 16-foot run ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’; 80% said it was ‘extremely easy to shop.’ There was also a strong indication of incremental sales growth, one out of three buyers felt the UCM set influenced them to buy more microwave meals than they would have if they had to shop multiple categories and aisles for these items. More than half voiced intent to make incremental buys from the under-developed Premium and Mainstream sections.

Hunt’s proprietary FlashSteam™ process maximizes product freshness after harvesting, and synchs with the category’s signature canned identity to communicate high levels of quality and nutrition to consumers.

Another new development is the enhanced communication on Hunt’s packages that improve shopability. With so many segments, clear descriptors such as well-defined flavor banners on product labels are key to satisfying shoppers and driving sales of all product forms.

Package size is far down on the consumer decision tree, so experimentation in this aspect of packaging isn’t occurring. More important is the clarity of product benefits and language specificity on labels.

Retailers that operate in multiple markets understand that planogram changes are more refinements than redos. Retail category buyers that clearly convey to their shoppers the use of each product form with different cuisines and recipes—and match their assortments to the ethnic composition of their trading areas—ought to perform best.

The presentation of popular regional brands in the category can differ widely, however. For example, the Hunt’s SPACE (Simplifying Product Assortment and Creating Efficiencies) program blends its unique consumer insights with sophisticated shelving principles to optimally assort and flow the category. When ConAgra Foods collaborates with retailers to suit their specific objectives, one of the primary points in assortment is the identification of regional, incremental brands that matter to local shoppers and need to be seen at the shelf.