MARTIN SLOANE \ Supermarket Shopper What keeps customers coming back to a store?

How does the atmosphere of the store affect your shopping experience?
In a recent study conducted by Leo J. Shapiro Associates, 450 consumers were interviewed (half men, half women). A majority (63.3 percent) said that, when they were positively influenced by a store's atmosphere, they either purchased more or spent more time in the store. The study results appeared in the January issue of Chain Store Age magazine. The elements of a store's atmosphere that had the most influence were lighting, signs and promotion events. In-store music did not rate well (40 percent said they had walked out of a store because of the music). In-store audio messages seem to have an impact, with 30 percent of those surveyed saying a message led to the purchase of an item.
Low-carb choices
The bandwagon that is putting new low-carb foods on supermarket shelves is picking up speed. Ben & amp; Jerry's is introducing Carb Karma ice creams and frozen yogurt. The new products use Splenda sweetener instead of sugar. Chocolate Carb Karma has 4 grams of net carbs per serving. General Mills is introducing Total Protein cereal in April. It is the first major cereal maker to introduce a dry cereal designed to appeal to carb-conscious consumers. Total Protein is coated with Splenda sweetener and honey-roasted almond butter, which results in 8 grams of net carbohydrates and 13 grams of protein for each serving. When Total Protein reaches supermarket shelves, shoppers will pay a premium, about 50-cents, over the cost of a slightly larger box of regular Total. Industry experts predict a surge of low-carb cereals, as the cereal makers join other carb-laden products in quickly introducing low-carb varieties.
If you are carb-conscious, this is good news. But there is a negative side to the story. Supermarket shelf space is limited and I believe thousands of new low-carb products will result in a corresponding number of other products disappearing from the shelves!
Coupon dating
Dan Bates, of Surfside, Texas, sent me an interesting question: "Why not have all the grocery coupons expire at the end of the month, May 31, Nov. 30, etc. It would save customers and retailers a lot of time and effort. It seems so obvious, I wonder why it is not already being done?" Coupon distribution is usually planned for a Sunday that coincides with the start of a marketing campaign, or when the new product will reach the supermarket shelves. The expiration date is planned for a certain number of days after publication. The number of days varies for each promotion based on how many coupons the manufacturer anticipates will be redeemed. That is why coupons expire on dates throughout each month. And, think about this: If coupons expired at the end of each month, there would be an end-of-the-month rush to use them before they expired. The result would be bare shelves for hundreds of coupon products.
Senior discounts can sometimes touch a sensitive topic. For example, when a cashier gives a customer an uncertain look and asks, "Do you want the senior discount?" Gerrity's, a nine-store supermarket chain in Pennsylvania, has a long history of rewarding older customers. Seniors receive a 5 percent discount on Tuesdays. And seniors are offered lower-purchase requirements for promotions such as Thanksgiving turkeys. "In the past the senior discounts had some problems," said a Gerrity's spokesperson. "The cashier might forget to give the discount to someone who was 60, or give it to someone who wasn't or offended someone who wasn't." To avoid these problems, Gerrity's recently began offering customers cards for the 60-plus loyalty club. When the cashier scans the card, the customer automatically receives all the benefits of the store's Gold Card as well as 60-plus offers and discounts. No need to ask. No need to tell.
GPS will find winners
You beat the 20 million-to-1 odds and won the big prize, but proving you have won a sweepstakes and collecting that big one, has often been a difficult and stressful process. The solution may be at hand, or in the sky! The winners in a Coca-Cola instant win sweepstakes next summer will not have to send in the can and will not have to wait long to receive one of the top prizes. Coca-Cola will insert a global-positioning satellite (GPS) transmitter in winning cans and bottles with instructions on how to activate them. The transmitters send out signals identifying the locations of the winners to teams that deliver the top prizes. In a similar promotion in Australia, this past fall, Coca-Cola advertising told consumers, "Find A Winning Bottle And We'll Find You." Prizes were delivered within 24 hours.
Is this the beginning of what some consumers fear; having Big Brother know where you are and where you go, by the clothes you wear or the soda you drink? Would you welcome a 60-plus senior discount card? Will you complain if the low-carbs push some of your favorites off the supermarket shelves? Write to me, Martin Sloane, The Supermarket Shopper, in care of The Vindicator. I publish the most interesting letters.
XSend questions and comments to Martin Sloane in care of this newspaper. The volume of mail precludes individual replies to every letter, but Martin Sloane will respond to letters of general interest in the column.
United Feature Syndicate