Alabama Grocer 2022 Issue 4 for Print Final

Also help guide them to making creative changes on their shopping list to save money well beyond private label or national brands. For instance, if the price of any commodity (think beef) goes up, provide menu suggestions for alternatives such as chicken, pork or meatless meals. And we need to remember that all of this is happening in the wake of the pandemic. Shoppers are exhausted with limits on their lives so rather than simply talking price cuts, help guide them to interesting meal ideas to build excitement. Back in 1980, supermarkets weren’t focused on meal solutions and

largely did not have staffers and products to help shoppers build interesting recipes and ideas. You have those assets now, so more than ever stores can partner with shoppers to help them build budget-conscious shopping lists that still permit interesting meal ideas. And suppliers can play a huge role in supporting those strategies with their products and know-how all of which can now be communicated through websites and social media (tools no one even imagined in 1980.)

collaborate to provide solutions to equally challenged consumers so that the supermarket remains a prime destination for products and solutions to many of life’s most basic needs. It also means learning the lessons of the past (for example: why generic products weren’t a huge success) and creating new solutions for a very different present and future. Like it or not, it’s raining and as Credence Clearwater Revival reminded us in song decades ago, no one really knows how to stop the rain. We just find ways of coping or at least of selling really good umbrellas.

The entire industry must—more than ever—find ways to creatively

AGEF SCHOLARSHIP ASSOCIATION NEWS

The Alabama Grocers Association has always had a strong interest in supporting education and has established the scholarship program because it achieves a number of desirable objectives: it helps deserving students with college expenses, it relieves parents of college expenses, and the colleges that the winners attend benefit indirectly by receiving the scholarship funds. This way, it helps everyone involved. If you are a college student working part-time or a college student of a full-time employee, you can apply for an Alabama Grocers Education Foundation Scholarship. Scholarship funds are now available. Applications close February 15, 2023. For more information and to apply to the Alabama Grocers Education Foundation Scholarship, visit https://alabamagrocers.org/foundation/scholarship information/.

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