Moms are the queens of the supermarket deli.

Mothers control the purse strings for 80 percent of the average family’s purchases and spend $1.6 trillion annually on consumer goods and services, reports BSM Media, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based marketing firm that focuses on moms.

That makes them the prime buyers of meats, cheeses and prepared foods—and the key customers for most supermarket delis.

Yet, attracting more moms to the deli—and ensuring they remain loyal to specific outlets—requires that merchandisers meet the unique needs of each customer segment. Fortunately, a plethora of research on the mom sector is making it easier for operators to decipher their desires.

For instance, studies show that simplifi cation is among the chief objectives of mothers. In a 2006 survey of 1,110 moms by Yankelovich Inc., a Chapel Hill, N.C.-based consumer research firm, 82 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, “I need to find ways of reducing the stress in my life.” Many of those mothers work fulltime in addition to doing the family shopping and carting their kids to and from school and other activities.

Indeed, working moms comprise 71 percent of the 37.1 million mothers with children under 18, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Moms—in the face of growing childhood obesity—also are giving more thought to what they feed their children. And many still cling to the tradition of getting the family together once a day around the dining table.

Food, to them, still equals love.

Yet, the frequency of home cooking is declining, according to GfK Roper Consulting, a New York-based public opinion firm.

In a September 2007 phone poll of 1,000 adults, 44 percent of female respondents said they cook a full meal at home daily, compared to the 50 percent who reported doing so in a similar survey a year earlier.

In addition, those preparing the meal just a couple of times a month jumped from 2 percent to 6 percent, thesurvey found.

But research shows that many mothers still say the family dinner is vital, even if it doesn’t include slaving over a stove. Seventy seven percent of respondents to the Yankelovich survey, for instance, agreed that a characteristic of a great mom is that “her family eats dinner together every night.” Such findings reveal that deli operators are more likely to attract and retain customers if they make it easier for mothers to serve meals.

Indeed, in a 2004 Yankelovich survey, 69 percent of respondents cited ease of preparation as havinga strong influence on their food choices, up from 54 percent in 1996.

In addition, 53 percent noted that resealable food packaging had a strong influence on their buying behavior, up from 28 percent in 1996.

Such research reinforces the notion that people are very time pressed, says Kathy Sheehan, GfK Roper senior vice president.

“Mothers are continually on the lookout for convenience foods,” she notes. “It’s a great opportunity for delis.” Retailers that are able to solve multiple food-related problems at once—such as enabling mothers to spend less time cooking while making it easier for their families to eat together—will appeal to even more shoppers, says Kelley Styring, a consumer strategist with Newberg, Ore.-based consulting firm InsightFarm Inc.

Styring exemplifies that interest in convenience by taking her family each week to a Fred Meyer supermarket for sandwiches. On such occasions, she picks up her two kids, ages 8 and 12, from school and they visit the deli counter to buy their favorite cold cuts.

“The choices are infinite and its something the family looks forward to,” Styring says. “It’s powerful when a physical and emotional solution come together.” John Page, Yankelovic research director, agrees that dinner for a typical mother is about feelings as much as food.

“It’s the connection the family has through dinnertime conversation,” he says.

Delis can promote that connection by displaying signs that depict families eating together. Such displays give moms the percep-tion of an additional benefit from shopping in the department, Page states.

Merchandisers, meanwhile, can respond to moms’ need for convenience by marketing prepared meals in the deli at discount prices, analysts note.

Randy Irion, director of retail marketing for the Centennial, Col.- based National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), for instance, says dinners might include a pot roast with onions, gravy and a side dish of potatoes.

Other easy-to-prepare alternatives are pork tenderloin or rotisserie pork roast, notes John Green, director of strategic marketing for the Clive, Iowa-based National Pork Board.

“One of our target demographics is women with kids under 18 who are part of a dual-income family and time-starved,” he states.

Besides streamlining meal preparation, delis also can better serve busy moms by displaying recipes at the full-service counter and comerchandising products with other supermarket departments, says Bridget Brennan, chief executive officer of Female Factor Corp., a Chicago-based female marketing consulting firm.

In addition, operators can attract more mothers by providing nutritional data and options, analysts say. Indeed, 74 percent of mothers told Yankelovich that they agreed with the statements that a great mom, “Is always up-to-date on thelatest health issues,” and, “Keeps her kids from getting overweight.” “Mom is basically the chief health officer of the household,” says Mary Dean, president of KickSkirt Inc., an Austin, Texasbased women’s marketing agency.

“Moms want to feed their kids in the most healthy way possible and are quicker than the average dad to look at nutritional values.” The GfK Roper poll found that mothers also were 21 percent more likely than the typical shopper to check the carbohydrate content on food labels, 11 percent more likely to study portion size and 5 percent more likely to consider fat content.

Mothers in the 2006 Yankelovich survey, meanwhile, listed expiration date as their top health data concern. Also important was access to detailed nutrition labels, followed by information onwhether there are extra vitamins or nutrients in products and if the items are approved by such health organizations as the U. S. Food and Drug Administration and theAmerican Heart Association.

Delis have an advantage over many other supermarket departments in attracting such nutritionconscious consumers because most mothers perceive fresh items as being healthier and better tasting than packaged foods, analysts say.

“Many shoppers have the perception that pre-packaged meats sit in the container forever and have tons of chemicals and preservatives,” notes Emily Morris, director of product marketing for Market- Tools Inc., a San Francisco-based consumer research firm and the moderator of an online community of 10,000 moms.

Yet, it still is important for stores to prominently display the ingredients in the fresh items to assure shoppers that they are preservative- free, she states.

“Most delis usually don’t provide that information,” Morris says.

Delis also can appeal to health oriented moms by marketing more organic proteins, Sheehan states.

Indeed, a 2006 GfK Roper telephone survey of 1,000 adults found that 31 percent of parents buy organic products on a weekly basis, compared to 23 percent of all shoppers.

The parents cited food safety as the leading motivator,In addition to embracing healthy choices, moms also are not afraid to try new products, research confirms.

Yankelovich, for instance, found that only 19.7 percent of mothers stick to their shopping lists, while 32.8 percent like to experiment.

In addition, 35.9 percent of mothers don’t decide what brands to purchase until they are in the store, and 32.7 percent indicated they would try a new brand solely because they like its packaging or display, Yankelovich found.

While this flexibility in considering a variety of fresh foods makes moms attractive customers for savvy merchandisers, many still are resistant to some deli elements— including potentially long waits at the service counter.

In a MarketTools online survey, for instance, only 9 percent of respondents listed service as their top motivator for deli shopping.

In addition, 8 percent complained about slow service and waits as long as 20 minutes.

Moms, however, gave positive feedback to such newer deli technologies as automated touch-screen ordering systems. Those devices enable shoppers to bypass service counter lines by electronically placing orders, and then retrieving the items when they are ready to checkout.

“The delis that can deliver products that meet moms’ needs for convenience, taste and nutrition will win in the marketplace,” Styring states.