Nov 27, 2009 IRI / Morning NewsBeat

Below is the list of articles you will find for the week ending 11/27/09 edition of Retail Industry News.

- Wegmans To Close One Restaurant, Open Another
- Retail Aromatherapy To Find Home In Some US Malls
- Sansolo Speaks: “Seeing The Forest And The Trees”
- New Whole Foods Health Care Program To Reward Individual Responsibility
- Bi-Lo Files Reorganization Plan That Does Not Include Food Lion
- The MNB Wal-Mart Watch
- The Balance Sheet
- Executive Suite

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NARMS-U Investment Webinar Next Week!

The economy and the resulting market corrections have left a lot of questions for members of the at-retail merchandising and marketing industry from both a corporate and personal investment perspective. Next week, we hope to answer some of those questions during the next NARMS Webinar- Corporate & Personal Investment Practices. The event will take place on Tuesday, December 1 at 1 PM CST. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Financial experts Tim Wynne and Robert Long will lead the session. The NARMS Webinar series is sponsored by Natural Insight and is brought to you through the technology of ReadyTalk.

During the hour-long session, Wynne and Long, will discuss the impact the 2008/2009 market correction had on investors’ ability to reach their retirement goals, and address common roadblocks to retirement. As an added bonus, they will make a complimentary personalized retirement analysis available for each attendee. This analysis will provide a glimpse into the future, addressing such issues as expected retirement date, achievable lifestyle during retirement, and pre and post retirement income and expenses.

Wynne is a Senior Director – Investments of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. and Assistant Branch Manager of Oppenheimer’s Minneapolis office. He has worked in branch management for Oppenheimer and its predecessors since 1989. Wynne holds an M.B.A. in Finance from Gannon University in Erie , PA.

This NARMS Webinar is another in a series of educational offerings under the NARMS - U banner. The session if complimentary to NARMS members as a membership service but is also made available to other interested persons at a non-member rate of $99.95. We encourage you to share this invitation with other co-workers and anyone else who might gain value from this information-sharing opportunity.

Make sure you invest some time to take advantage of this chance to hear from unparalleled financial experts. You can register by clicking here.

Black Friday Launch Pad for Brand Social Media

There is mounting evidence in the use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, as an advertising medium. A prime example is the way that brand marketers are targeting Black Friday by sending out messages featuring special deals for their followers. Why?

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A Thanksgiving Inventory

Those of us in the at-retail merchandising and marketing world often see the Thanksgiving time as key date on the retail schedule. With Black Friday the next day, it is the official kickoff to the holiday sales lift and the make or break period of the sales year. But today, let’s take pause from all of that and focus on what the holiday is all about. It’s about inventory, the inventory of all the blessings in our personal and professional lives.

No doubt about it, it’s been a rough 18-24 months. The recession has taken its toll on all of our lives in a deep, meaningful and probably lasting way. But through it all, the members of NARMS have continued to support the advancement of the industry through continued membership, involvement and sponsorship. Your time and your treasure are greatly appreciated.

Because of this level of commitment and support, NARMS has actually been able to expand our service offerings to meet the needs of the marketplace in a time when many are pulling back. We are busy planning the 2010 Spring Conference at the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa. A bold agenda that will feature our new NARMS-U platform is taking shape. Speaking of the NARMS-U educational platform, our NARMS Webinar series continues to receive high involvement and accolades as an indispensable member benefit.

Come to think of it, there is almost no area of the association that has gone without improvement and evolution. JobBank now has an unprecedented reach into social networking circles. We are bringing service companies and trading partners together with the StratConn business meetings and the Manufacturer and Retailer Sessions at Spring Conference. On the field personnel side, don’t forget about NARMScertify U and a potential field rep conference being worked on right now.

There is also new and exciting research on the way with the first offering of the RORI study, The Survey of At-Retail Marketing Services, continued research on the effects of Demonstrations and Sampling by Dr. Kenny Herbst and an update of PIC Division research called, “Continuing to Build out the Future of Retail.”

About halfway through the inventory, it’s apparent that this list goes on and on. So let’s just take time to reflect and give thanks for all the things that are good and right in our lives. And chief among those inventory items are the people of NARMS.. So whether you’re a member, associate, service provider, staff or friend, thank you for being part of our world.

Nov 20, 2009 IRI / Morning NewsBeat

Below is the list of articles you will find for the week ending 11/20/09 edition of Retail Industry News.

- Sansolo Speaks: “Win-Win or Lose-Lose”
- Hy-Vee: Growing In Tough Times By Responding At The Customer Level
- In Western New York, A Sign Of Growth
- Supervalu CEO Seeks Clean Sweep As He Looks To Revive Company
- Report: Roundy’s Hanging New Banner In Chicagoland
- FastNewsBeat
- The Balance Sheet

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Member News Function Helps You Get the Word Out

Join the growing list of companies who use the News from Members function on www.narms.com to help them get press releases and announcements to the marketplace. By simply adding membernews@narms.com to your PR distribution email list, you can leverage the tremendous traffic on our website to help publicize your company’s personnel moves, strategic plans and customer wins.

Many have asked how they can get their company news release published in NARMS Newsfeed. The answer is that you really can’t. Newsfeed is dedicated to monitoring and bringing stories to you from independent, objective media sources and to a lesser degree, an outlet for NARMS association news. Should one of your releases get picked up by an independent source, you can certainly bring that to the attention of the NARMS staff for inclusion. However you can and should email your press release to membernews@narms.com so they can be placed in News from Members.

Our website, www.narms.com, is read by tens of thousands of people. Everyone from field merchandisers to industry peers to prospective customers visit the site on a regular basis to stay in touch with industry happenings and to access world-class at-retail merchandising and marketing companies. Your press release copy will appear in the Member News section word for word as you intended it to be read. The preferred method is to either attach an MS Word document to the email or simply include your message in the body copy of the email. Please do not send .pdf or graphic files for this application.It’s time to be heard, Put membernews@narms.com on your PR distribution list today!

Shopper Data Beyond Target Marketing

It has been awhile since we visited the pages of Willard Bishop’s Competitive Edge. In the September edition, Craig Rosenbloom writes about the proliferation of Shopper Marketing Practices and how shopper data is evolving as a force in the 21st century. Having this opportunity to intimately know the consumer is certainly a great tool for tailoring on-line and at-retail consumer promotion, but as Rosenbloom asks, “Why are we only using shopper data for such limited applications?”

As the eyes and ears, as well as the arms and legs, of CPG manufacturers and retailers around the country, NARMS members are uniquely positioned to play a vital role in both the gathering of shopper data and the execution of any resulting at-retail plans. Because of this, it’s important to know in which direction that these trading partners might be headed with the application of information.

Although Rosenbloom offers three additional ways that marketers can use shopper data beyond target marketing, there is one that jumps off the page in the eyes of at-retail merchandising and marketing companies. That is the application toward assortment and space. With the perimeter of the store growing with necessary offerings to service the customer, that space has to come from somewhere. In most cases, it means that the center of the store is shrinking. Having less space makes each facing and end cap that much more valuable to our customer. Competitive Edge says that trading partners would be wise to use shopper data to optimize assortment offered in the dwindling space.

The article also introduces a term called, “affinity score.” An affinity score helps you decide what additional items a shopper is likely to buy with the purchase of a given item. This all leads to the creation of unique product placement. He uses the example of a, “breakfast center,” where milk, eggs, bacon and cereal are all available in the same place.

Knowledge is power. Shopper marketing data is power for trading partners and knowing the application of the data is power for our group of service companies. A deep understanding of what is driving our customers is invaluable in the evolution our service offering into a valuable go-to-market partnerships.

Nov 13, 2009 IRI / Morning NewsBeat

Below is the list of articles you will find for the week ending 11/13/09 edition of Retail Industry News.

- Sedano’s Buys Three Albertsons Locations, Expands Into Central Florida
- Sansolo Speaks: “In Friends We Trust?”
- Walmart To Relieve Black Friday Stress By Extending It Into Previous Day
- ShopRite Supermarkets is Launching a New iPhone Application
- FastNewsBeat
- The MNB Wal-Mart Watch
- The Balance Sheet

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U.S. Retail Sales Increased 1.4% in October

U.S. retail sales increased 1.4% in October, above the 0.9% rise projected by Wall Street. The jump came on rebounding demand for cars, a sign the economy kept recovering despite climbing unemployment. Aside from automobiles in October, other sales rose just 0.2%.

The Commerce Department said September sales were revised down to a 2.3% decrease from a previously estimated 1.5% tumble.

Read the full article on WSJ.com

NARMS-U Educational Schedule Coming Together

We are pleased to report that the NARMS-U Spring Conference Seminar Schedule is evolving into what should be a truly enriching educational experience. The Conference is scheduled for April 17-20 at the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa. Today, we would like to share the latest revision of the schedule.

We get things started on Sunday, April 18 with the first session running from 4:00 – 5:00 PM. During that time we have, “2010 Sampling Survey Findings,” by Dr. Kenny Herbst of Wake Forest University; “The Down Under Perspective on Merchandising,” by Kevin Moore of Crossmark Australia; “HR Update,” by Russ Hollrah and Craig Sherman; “Partnering with Your Customers to Create Superior Value,” by Jerry O’Brien of the University of Wisconsin and, “Neuromarketing and the Future of Retail,” by Deborah Mitchell of the University of Wisconsin.

We then jump to Tuesday, April 20 for a 9:00 – 10:00 AM block. This session features, “Beyond WOW Customer Service,” by Myra Golden; “NARMS Certify U and You,” by Larry Dorr; “Three Principles for Marketing Today,” by Nancy Wong of the University of Wisconsin; “Branding Up and Down the Value Chain,” by Deborah Mitchell of the University of Wisconsin and, “The Values-Based Retailer,” by Jerry O’Brien of the University of Wisconsin.

After a quick half-hour break, we have another group on Tuesday, April 20 running from 10:30 – 11:30 AM. Among these are, “This Is The time For A Change,” by Dave and Laura Butler; “2010 Emerging Retail Trends,” by Mark Hunter – The Sales Hunter; “Partnering with Your Customers to Create Superior Value,” by Jerry O’Brien of the University of Wisconsin; “Neuromarketing & the Future of Retail,” by Deborah Mitchell of the University of Wisconsin and, “The Psychology of Choice,” by Nancy Wong of the University of Wisconsin.

Because we know that you may want to attend several of these seminars that are going on simultaneously, have no worries. As you have already seen, there will be repeat performances throughout the conference. It start on Tuesday at 11:45 – 12:45 with The Down Under Perspective on Merchandising, 2010 Emerging Retail Trends, The Values-Based Retailer, Three Principles for Marketing Today and Branding Up & Down the Value Chain.

Later that afternoon on Tuesday, April 20 from 2:00 – 3:00 PM there will be yet another chance to catch 2010 Sampling Survey Findings, Beyond WOW Customer Service, NARMS Certify U & You and The Psychology of Choice.

As you can see, we are building an agenda to provide you with maximum value and education under the NARMS-U banner. We hope you will avail yourselves to this exciting opportu