The Effectiveness of Sampling

Dr. Ken Herbst from Wake Forest University discusses the extent to which sampling is effective.
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The First Six Feet of the Sale

Kreta Chandler of Retail Brand Strategies talks about the concept of the “first 6 feet of the sale.”
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Return on Retail Investment (RORI) Initiative

Bart Flaherty, CEO of GroupM Business Sciences, explains the industry initiative called Return on Retail Investment (RORI).
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The RORI Project

Retail Marketing Consultant Phil Lauria explains the RORI (Return on Retail Investment) Project.
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Bishop Report Explores Impact of Category Roles

Our friends at Willard Bishop have once again supplied us with a preview of their latest Competitive Edge publication. The April 2009 edition explores the question of, “What is the impact when the world’s largest food retailer assigns category roles?” Clearly the author is referring to Wal-Mart and more specifically their “Project Impact” merchandising program in which the retailer will depend on fresh and seasonal offerings to drive traffic and profit. While most would attribute Wal-Mart’s recent success as a result of a sagging economy, the thought of a merchandising-savvy Wal-Mart would be a competitive concern for supermarkets and other retailers. As the economy revives, the moves being made now by Wal-Mart could make them even more powerful.

The defense for supermarkets against such a super power is a working knowledge of what they are up against and making a plan to win with shoppers now. We, as suppliers of at-retail merchandising and marketing services can also benefit by being aware and prepared for requests and initiatives that are sure to come our way. A good start down the road to understanding is reading and digesting the information in this Bishop report.

The report describes the “two critical pillars” of fresh and seasonal and also spends a good deal of time on how Wal-Mart assigns roles to each category. No matter what role each category is assigned, this “Win/Play/Show” approach is sure to greatly affect suppliers. Since many of our customers come from this pool of manufacturers, an understanding of the marketplace pressures they face can make us better partners down to the road. The consequences of a favorable or unfavorable classification could signal a devastating blow for some suppliers.

The report describes in detail how Wal-Mart assigns roles based on the filters of market growth, scale and credibility. It also goes deeper into the criteria for achieving each. We thank Willard Bishop for continuing to share Competitive Edge with us. You can find this issue and look back at past issues at www.willardbishop.com or on www.narms.com.

April 24, 2009 IRI / Morning NewsBeat

Below is the list of articles you will find for the week ending 4/24/09 edition of Retail Industry News.
- Retail Trade Associations Announce Plan To Merge
- Fresh & Easy’s Numbers Give Pause, But Tesco Keeps Moving Forward
- Earth Day NewsBeat
- Carrefour To Launch New Discount Private Brand
- E-conomy Beat
- Sansolo Speaks: Wrong War, Wrong Store?
- Bezos On Amazon’s Business Strategy: Conviction & Consistency
- In New Fortune 500, Walmart Slips To Number Two
- FastNewsBeat
- The MNB Wal-Mart Watch
- The Balance Sheet
- Executive Suite

Read the entire report

Retailers Offer Deals via Twitter

The retail industry is increasingly turning to social networking sites as a new means of connecting with customers. While Twitter, which was founded in 2006 and does not release membership numbers, is newer and presumably smaller than more established sites such as Facebook, retailers appear to be taking advantage of its potential to instantly alert customers of special offers and deals.

As opposed to Facebook, which allows users (including companies) to build fairly detailed profiles including photos and text information, Twitter primarily allows users to communicate via short messages called “tweets.” Tweets cannot exceed 140 characters and can be accessed via mobile devices such as cell phones. Facebook users can also post messages with mobile access, but Tweeter’s design is more geared toward direct communication.

Read the entire article.

Report: Private-Label Use Tops 97%

While the recession has been fueling big gains in private-label use, a new report from NPD Group finds that store brands have been gaining steadily in popularity for the last decade: A full 97% of U.S. households routinely use some generic products.

At this point, 24% of all food and beverages served in U.S. homes are store brands, compared with 18% back in 1999.

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Conference Sampling Data a Smash Hit

According to Dr. Kenneth Herbst, during his presentation at the 14th Annual NARMS Spring Conference called, “To Sample or Not To Sample: The Proof Is In These Data,” the decision to use at-retail sampling is a no-brainer. Herbst used his own data as well as data provided by Stratmar which compared sales of items the week prior to being sampled against the same item in the week it was sampled. In case after case, a tremendous sales lift was experienced during the sample week. If you were not able to attend, you can check out the hand-out material on the NARMS Conference Center or tune into a NARMS Webinar this summer.

Herbst is an Assistant Professor of Marketing in the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. He has a Masters and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition, he earned a B.A. from Wake Forest University where he played basketball on back-to-back ACC Championship teams in 1995 and 1996. Herbst has been interviewed about his food research and industry expertise by various news outlets and trade publications.

In 17 different product case studies, sales doubled, tripled and more during the week of a product sampling. Herbst discussed some of the factors that affect a successful sampling program such as weather conditions, store traffic, location of demo, stock conditions and consumers feeling toward the demo. He also concluded that customers who receive samples stay longer in the store, turning shopping from a chore into an experience. The customers also experience a greater satisfaction level with the retailer during sample programs.

The session was such a hit, that those in attendance requested and offered assistance in broadening the scope of the work and continuing the research. Dr. Herbst will again present the data and lessons via a NARMS Webinar on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 1:00PM Central. In the meantime, he is interested in speaking with you about your ideas for in-store sampling studies. He wants to conduct research or analyze your previously collected data to assist you when you approach retailers and manufacturers to assess their interest in sampling. You can e-mail Herbst (Kenny.Herbst@mba.wfu.edu) throughout the year with your ideas for future studies. You can also visit his website at www.mba.wfu.edu/herbst.

RILA and NRF Agree to Merge

For Immediate Release

RILA and NRF Agree to Merge
New Merged Association to Provide a Single Retail Voice in Washington

Washington, April 21, 2009 — The National Retail Federation (NRF) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) today announced that the executive committees of both associations have unanimously agreed in principle to a merger that will create a single trade association representing retail interests in the nation’s capital.
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