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"The Crossroads of the Gourmet Community” |
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Newsletter #25 | November 9, 2011 |
Gourmet Home Hosts Cookware Webinar
Hugh Rushing, Cookware Manufacturers Association
The cookware industry was the focus of the latest IHA Gourmet Home Specialty Retailer University webinar held in late October.
Led by the Cookware Manufacturers Association's Hugh Rushing, more than 65 independent retailers and suppliers heard about consumer preferences, consumer demand factors, advances in materials and coatings and retail strategies for increasing cookware and bakeware sales.
Missed it? Rushing gave IHA Gourmet Home tips for small retailers selling cook and bakeware.
One top strategy is to have product displays featuring the real deal. That means remove cookware from its packaging; consumers like to lift each piece and judge its heft in their hands, rather than stare at a photo of a boxed set of pans.
"You need to have cookware out there," Rushing says, and for good reason: The CMA estimates only 5 percent of cookware is sold online or via television.
"The power of touch is one reason people don't tend to order cookware over the internet," he explains.
"And that means small retailers have a big chance to make sales inroads."
And, please, make sure the cookware is truly on display.
Rushing notes, "I've been to stores where the cookware has been leashed to the table, and no one is able to lift it more than six inches, which is hardly a great way to get consumers comfortable with the cookware."
Another key point is that the retail sales team needs to be comfortable with what they are selling.
"Education of the sales staff for the small retailer is so important,” he says. “The staff needs to be able to answer questions and make recommendations to customers."
He adds that staffers should know that cookware has increased in quality over the past 20 years. The message to customers? "What you get for what you spend is so much more than you used to get."
While cookware has had a basic utilitarian task dating beyond the Bronze Age, Rushing says that now "many manufacturers have gotten good at combining function with a beautiful form. Retailers can tell a story and then engage the consumer."
That behavior has a strong age component. For instance, CMA research has found that consumers over 40 are more likely to bake (and buy bakeware). The reason? They are old enough to have participated in home economics classes in middle school. They are more confident cooks.
Younger consumers, not so much. They find baking too complicated, Rushing says.
"Home Ec is a thing of the past and independent retailers now have to deal with the fact that their younger consumers may want to cook like an Iron Chef, but in fact, they are a bit scared," he says. "We suggested in the webinar that the retailer should show the consumer the tools to cook in, but also sell them a basic cookbook.
"There are a lot of wonderful cookbooks, but you need to keep simple cookbooks in stock," he says. "What does it mean to 'sweat onions'? To a new cook, just fry the onions. We are trying to get people to cook. Stop intimidating them."
The cookware webinar and previous Specialty Retailer University webinars are available for viewing anytime at http://www.housewares.org/kc/uni/webinars/
