Electronic Shopping Lists - The Lempert Report

The Lempert Report Food News: Marketing, analysis, issues & trends and the impact on food and retail environments, specifically for the B2B food world with reporting and commentary on consumer and retailing trends by Phil Lempert. Phil can predict the future —and then help businesses and consumers understand it. For more than 25 years, Lempert, an expert analyst on consumer behavior, marketing trends, new products and the changing retail landscape, has identified and explained impending trends to consumers and some of the most prestigious companies worldwide. Known as The Supermarket Guru®, http://www.supermarketguru.com, Lempert is a distinguished author and speaker who alerts customers and business leaders to impending corporate and consumer trends, and empowers them to make educated purchasing and marketing decisions. To see more of The Lempert Report visit: http://www.thelempertreport.com The Lempert Report for Thursday May 21, 2009 The electronic shopping list has come of age. Daily life is hectic, shoppers are juggling work, school, children, planning and preparing meals and fitting in that recommended dose of "fun". In the current age of technology its a shocker that grocery lists havent changed since our great grandparents first started shopping in supermarkets. The grocery list tools from Webvan or Peapod just haven't morphed into the mainstream. Well, surprise, surprise, the change is here. Many consumers are visiting shopping-list services on the web to create concise lists before heading to the market. Personal grocery lists can either be printed or accessed through different media such as email, text and even instant messaging. Some online services require registration, where visitors set up a username and password, allowing different family members or roommates to sign on from different locations and make amendments. Kraft's iFood app for the iPhone is one of the most easy to use and advanced shopping list tools - and their latest version puts shoppers in command of their shopping experience with a simple easy to use smart shopping list with store locator feature. Some sites allow you to save recipes or ingredients needed for themed evenings like taco night; and with one click all of your pre-saved ingredients are added to the list. One especially notable site, Grocerywiz.com, allows you to make your list and then see all of the coupons available in selected categories- several clicks later, youre on your way to being organized and saving money. For those who desire a more straightforward and basic website, Knotler.com is a great choice and can also be shared and accessed from different locations. Ziplist.com allows users to save individual ingredients for recipes or themed dinners and can then be amended by family members in different locations and accessed through all types of media. Fresh Direct with their "one click recipe shopping list" tool proved that you can increase order size by offering shoppers a fool proof meal solution they can make at home. There are dozens more, which begs the question to be asked - just when will supermarket retailers add these tools to their own websites? Man Bait Today is the final day of the All Candy Expo being held in Chicago. It is one of my favorite food expos loaded with more new products than even a class of 7 year olds could eat. But here is a new one for adults - its called Man Bait -just 30 calories, all natural, made without corn syrup or any artificial preservatives, additives, flavors or colors. Man Bait is a combination of real smoky bacon bits and maple syrup; all for just 50 cents a pop.Is Salt the Petrified Elephant in the FDA's Cafeteria? Reducing sodium intake has been on the agenda of health advocates for decades. "Killer Salt," written in 1977, first exposed the negative health effects of dietary salt to the general public. Americans continue to consume more and more salt; in this case, individuals are not entirely to blame. The FDA also deserves a huge amount of blame. The American Heart Association recommends consuming less than 2,300 mg of sodium per day, and less than 1,500 mg for middle-aged and older adults as well as individuals with hypertension and African-Americans. This means that about half of the US population is advised to consume less than 1,500 mg of sodium per day. To put some perspective on it, one teaspoon of salt contains 2,300 mg of sodium.In order to include the claim that a product is "healthy" the FDA mandates that individual food items must not exceed 480 mg sodium per serving and a ready meal type product must not exceed 600 mg sodium per serving.For more analysis and insights log on to the B2B page of SupermarketGuru.com. The Lempert Report uploads right here every Thursday. To reach me directly, please email me at Phil@SupermarketGuru.com For information on New Products, visit our weekly videocast: http://www.ratefoods.com/