DDi - July 2010 - (Page 12)

12 | Shopper Insights In-store execution—Are rapid audits the key? he battle for volume and share growth is being fought every day at retail. However, retailers have more products to choose from and more programs to use than they have shelves or display space to support them. When it comes to success in-store, it’s all about execution. You could have the best marketing plan, the best TV creative, the best themed consumer promotion or the best new product in the world—but if the program or the product never get the space or focus in-store, everything else is irrelevant. Integrated marketing has proven to be more successful than each element being executed independently—if in-store does not happen, then a key component is lost. Marketers spend millions of dollars testing and planning for new product launches. As part of their planning, they establish detailed marketing plans including all of the advertising and consumer promotion activity. They also include the planned execution at retail, including the number of facings, the price point, and the level and type of promotional activity on the store floor. After the product’s first quarter in the market, however, the number of facings is usually wrong, the pricing is out of whack or the promotional program is not quite what was expected—for any of a thousand reasons. For new item introductions, quality of execution is especially critical, including position, facings and display. If you don’t get the correct number of facings, then the volume forecasts will miss goals. But it is only after it is too late that the marketers (and sometimes the retailer) tend to discover that the item is in trouble. To address this problem, many retailers and marketers have agreed on payfor-performance objectives. If the program does not get to the floor, however, not only will the trade funds not be paid, but the marketing program will be missing a huge component, making it less then optimal. Another way marketers have addressed the lack of information is through custom audits of selected stores. But most audits only tell you that the program was or was not executed—and don’t provide enough information in time to do something about it while it is still relevant. So, what’s a marketer to do? Recently, a joint venture between CROSSMARK (an in-store and marketing services company) and The Nielsen Co. (the parent company of DDI) has tried to specifically address this need for rich, actionable information from retail. They have taken the audit idea and, essentially, put it on steroids. “The idea is to get the information from the field and into the hands of the marketers fast so they can take action while the promotion or the product launch is still happening,” says Jim Hanek, vice president, product leadership, Nielsen. “Execution that is late can be irrelevant or destructive to the brand and the retailer.” The rapid audit program goes from ideation to collecting the data in-store within three days. The client then has an opportunity to see the data within 24 hours of the data being collected for each store and also summarized by retail chain. “The speed and the detail is what makes this information so valuable,” says Joe Crafton, president, CROSSMARK. “Marketers receive the data and can be on to the phone with the regional sales folks within a week, and course-correct a program or launch as needed.” With the speed of these audits, a retailer should be able to glean insights that could be segmented into a number of critical categories, such as: T George Wishart Quality of placement and messaging for new item introductions. Is a new item in the right place on the shelf and appropriately placed to adjacent products? Is the product with the appropriate messaging and promotion offer at a secondary display on the perimeter of the store? All of this information can help to course-correct shelf position, display activity and longer-term consumer messaging. Display/promotion compliance. Are your displays on the store’s perimeter or in the aisle as you planned? This insight can be used to monitor and course-correct a longer-term promotion, such as a seasonal ketchup or KoolAid display, or determine what location would be optimal for the next event. Out-of-stock monitor. Is the product available to consumer at shelf? This information can be an early warning signal of chronic conditions at shelf and warrant diagnostic examination of in-store conditions—are there enough facings? Is there a backroom-to-shelf management issue? One company found out half of the stores that were out of stock actually had the product in the back room. In-store marketing presence/share of voice. Is the material that was intended to highlight the brand messaging displayed as planned? How does the brand’s promotion execution compare to competition? This insight can be best used to understand the execution quality and plan brand-messaging strategy versus competition. Take your in-store execution into consideration—are you following the best path to right wrong decisions today? —A pioneer and consultant in the shopper marketing industry, George Wishart is the president and CEO of Edgewood Industries LLC. He shares his shopper marketing insights with DDI in this monthly column. | July 2010 www.ddionline.com http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - July 2010

Display & Design Ideas - July 2010
Contents
From the Editor
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Quick Tips
Greentailing
Editor's Choice
Design Snapshot
Channel Focus: Health & Beauty
CityCenter
State of the Fixture Industry Roundtable
Products
2010 Fixture Leaders Listing
2010 Fixture Leaders Company Index
Right Light
Product Spotlight
Advertisers
Calendar
Classifieds
Think Tank

DDi - July 2010