Toys R Us Announces 2009 Holiday Hot Toy List

Scampering Hamsters, a Newly Crowned Princess, a Mind-Bending Game and a Towering, Transforming Robot Among Toys Expected to Top Kids’ Wish Lists this Holiday Season

WAYNE, N.J., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ — While times and trends change, one thing remains constant - every holiday season, kids dream of tearing the wrapping off their Christmas presents to reveal the toys that topped their wish lists. Today Toys”R”Us, the world’s leading specialty toy retailer, unveiled its annual Holiday Hot Toy List, filled with 36 items - new this year - that offer outstanding value in quality, price and play. The selected items provide parents with a starting point in developing their holiday shopping checklists.

Read the press release at PRNewsWire.com

Retail sales last month exceeded expectations

WASHINGTON — U.S. retail sales jumped in August as car dealers cashed in on “clunkers,” getting a big boost from the government car rebate program, according to a report that also showed other merchants faring well in an unexpected sign of consumer resilience.

Separately, U.S. producer prices rebounded sharply last month on the back of rising gasoline and other energy costs, though core prices posted only a slight gain.

Retail sales last month exceeded expectations and rose 2.7%, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. Wall Street was looking for a 2.0% jump.

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Seeing Store Shelves Through Senior Eyes

BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. — Before walking into a Walgreens drugstore here, Todd Vang donned glasses that blurred his vision, slipped un-popped popcorn into his shoes and adjusted tape that bound his thumbs to his palms.

The get-up was part of an exercise designed to help retailers better understand the physical challenges facing elderly shoppers. Mr. Vang, a 42-year-old Walgreen Co. vice president, struggled to pick up a can of soup. “I can’t imagine how this would feel if the store were crowded,” he said.

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ISI Network LinkedIn Group Tops 500 Members

ISI Network has reached another milestone with our LinkedIn group — 500+ members from 20 countries and still growing every week.

Our opt in email registrations (the e-Letter list) are just shy of 1,000 and we hear the volume of the In-Store Implementation discussion increasing across the industry. The news stories and discussions found on our group page are an excellent barometer of this.

I encourage you to stay interested; stay engaged; and encourage your colleagues to participate: http://instoreimplementation.com .

Best regards,
Jamie Tenser, Director

Unilever, Kroger Step Up E-Coupon Efforts

Add Unilever and Kroger to the growing ranks of digital coupon partnerships, as consumers become more and more willing to seek out high-tech sources for old-fashioned deals.

“We are working with a number of our customer partners to deliver digital coupons, to ensure that Unilever delivers coupons where consumers are looking for them — via print or online,” says a Unilever spokesperson. “We are currently partnering with Kroger on a digital coupon program in which consumers can go online, register their Kroger loyalty cards and add Unilever coupons to them.”

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Shoppers Stick with Brick-and-Mortar for Back-to-School

The down economy is putting a damper on back-to-school shopping this year, and while consumers may look for savings online, they plan to do most of their purchasing in-store.

Data from BIGresearch and the National Retail Federation (NRF) indicates that nearly one-half of US consumers with children ages 6 to 17 will be cutting spending on back-to-school items due to the recession.

With so much emphasis on savings, it is no surprise that nearly three-quarters of consumers plan to shop at discount stores.

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Target Expands This Sunday

Discount retailer Target Corporation will open 23 new U.S. stores on Sunday, July 26, 2009. The new locations will include 17 general merchandise stores with expanded food options, four general merchandise stores, and two SuperTarget stores with full grocery sections.

Target, which will operate 1,719 stores in 49 states as of July 26, says the new store openings will create 4,000 jobs. Each general merchandise store employs 100-250 associates and is approximately 127,000 square feet, while each expanded food format store employs 100-250 associates and is approximately 135,000 square feet. Each SuperTarget employs 200-300 associates and is approximately 186,000 square feet.

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The Battle for Brand Loyalty

While reading a recent Advertising Age article, “Package-Goods Brands Lose Loyalists in Recession”, I was struck by the actual impact of the recession on household names. The article points out that a recent study by Catalina Marketing shows that, “More than a third of formerly faithful consumers abandoned Crest, Hunt’s, PineSol and Tylenol.” We’ve all been reading and hearing that brands are taking a hit, but that one sentence really transmits the weight of the situation. As providers of at-retail merchandising and marketing services, we have to ask ourselves what we can do to help the brand marketing situation.

According to the article and study, well-supported brands fared better. They are mostly referring to advertising and price promotion here, but you have to wonder if the message doesn’t ring true for shelf support as well. The cost of losing a loyal customer is high, the article talks about losses anywhere from 5- 25%. That’s an area where our services easily fit into the picture. For pennies on the dollar, NARMS members can make sure that products are on the shelf, displays are built and samples are available to support the massive advertising and promotion dollars. One thing is for sure; consumers are switching or trading down more quickly than ever. Why give them a chance to even consider such a move?

Eric Anderson, associate professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, says that brands should use, “Non-price mechanisms,” to secure brand loyalty. His point is that price promotion only hastens the disloyalty. The question is, “Are our services one of these non-price mechanisms?” That probably depends on the individual needs of each brand marketer, but I think we can make a strong case.

Frugal Shoppers Drive Grocers Back to Basics

The recession-driven shift to eating at home more often is giving new life to grocery stores’ most basic offerings, and upending a multiyear strategy of using coffee bars, fancy bakeries and exotic products to attract shoppers.

Kroger Co. on Tuesday posted a 13% rise in quarterly profit, fueled in part by higher sales of private-label goods. Store brands accounted for 35% of the Cincinnati-based chain’s item sales for the quarter, up three percentage points in the last two years.

Read the entire article at WSJ.com

Walgreens Reports Record Q3 ‘09 Sales

Drugstore retailer Walgreen Co. reported record sales of $16.2 billion in its Q3 fiscal 2009 (ended May 31, 2009). Despite this result, Walgreens still saw net earnings decline almost 9%. Selected financial highlights and analysis follow.

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