Easy as Pie

Grocers can harness pizza’s allure to make it a centerpiece of meal solutions.

- Jim Dudlicek

The aroma is all too familiar: savory spices, pungent garlic, with undertones of baking bread. You’re at the supermarket, and you know that you smell pizza.

But you’re not in the deli or near the hot bar — you’re in the frozen aisle. Of course, as of now, this scenario is entirely fictional, outside of a random product sampling. This kind of romance only happens in the fresh perimeter.

But why can’t it happen in the frozen aisle? In our industry’s ongoing quest to reinvent the store, why should frozen constantly play second fiddle to fresh? There are plenty of opportunities to demonstrate the flavor, convenience and versatility awaiting shoppers in the freezer case.

“Grocers should leverage cross-selling promotions to complete the pizza meal,” asserts Ryan James Dee, creative director at San Diego-based experiential marketing solutions provider Interactions, a subsidiary of Daymon. “For example, a store could easily upsell garlic and cheese bread from bakery, freshly packed salads from produce, hot wing appetizers from the deli, and wine from adult beverage to create a total meal solution. In order to make it even more enticing, a grocer could sample small bites of everything to sell the complete package either right at the demonstration or provide a small map with exclusive offers to collect the components across the store.”