POI Pulse-December 8, 2014

Whirlpool P&G Monitor Promo Execution – Gigwalk
Source: (Retail TouchPoints December 3, 2014)

The real win for the stores, according to Provost, is that Gigwalk provides accurate data regarding merchandise sell-through rates for each store location, allowing them to restock high-demand products accordingly. Perhaps, retailers using the app will gather further insight into delays in getting specific products to market. Learn more

Target Turns Its Shopping Into a Mobile Game

Source: (Adweek December 2, 2014)

Target also launched a new mobile app two weeks ago with in-store mapping technology so shoppers can find individual aisles where products are located. Research from Google backs up Target’s mobile efforts this year. Per Google, 87 percent of consumers use mobile to pre-shop and research before they even get to a store. 75 percent of smartphone-toting shoppers use their phones in-store. Learn more

Budget now and Reserve your place for the POI Spring Summit “Collaborative Marketing to Execute at the Rate of Change” Summit – Predicting promotional outcomes in-Store, online, and everywhere!” 
 Teams who have registered include:

MillerCoors, Keurig Green Mountain, Walgreen’s, JM Smucker. Windsor Foods, Bush Brothers, Pinnacle Foods, Kellogg’s, Johnson & Johnson, JBSS, Musco Olives, Unilever, Del Monte, Popcorn Indiana, Starbucks, Giant Eagle, Hormel Foods, PepsiCo, and many more. April 12-14, 2015 — Learn more

Price Chopper Taps Inmar for e-Coupons
Source: Progressive Grocer Dec. 5, 2014)

“The greater availability of more attractive offers, the improved functionality of our coupon portal and the increased efficiency of our digital coupon program are all going to advance Price Chopper’s efforts to deliver an outstanding and distinctively different shopping experience to our customers,” said Heidi Reale, Price Chopper’s director of shopper and digital marketing. Further, a new search function on the site enables shoppers to easily find specific products, as well as offers for items they want to buy. Learn more

Unilever to Separate Spreads Business
Source: (NYT December 4, 2014)

The standalone business will have its own dedicated management team and will be responsible for its own strategy and performance. By separating the division, Unilever said it believed the business would have more focus and have more freedom to make necessary decisions to improve its bottom line, while continuing to benefit from the scale that Unilever provides. Learn more

Candidates Gained Collaboration Skills w/ POI SJU 

Source: (POI CCM at SJU December 3-4, 2014)
The program began by exploring how organizations develop and implement a collaborative culture and strategy. Next, core functional areas of business were explored -from forecasting, trade marketing, to merchandising, pricing, supply chain and predictive analytics- providing candidates a solid understanding of each function and how it contributes to internal alignment, and trading partner collaboration success.
CCM graduates and candidates included sales, marketing and merchandising executives from Walgreens, Norseland, Inc., Pinnacle Foods, 7-Eleven, ESM Ferolie, Hormel, Delhaize America, Keurig Green Mountain, Wakefern, Campbell Soup, and Continental Mills, and others. Learn more
Holiday Discounts Deepen, Last Longer
Source: Reuters December 8, 2014)

ShopSavvy, which tracks merchandise and prices for the top 100 online and in-store retailers based on their traffic and sales, compared discounts in five categories of items at 32 of these merchants on Black Friday and early this week. Computers, clothing and home and garden products showed widening discounts. Electronics and entertainment products were cheaper on Black Friday itself. Learn more

Join as a member of POI this month, and receive a complimentary pass to the POI Collaborate Globally, and Execute Locally Summit, Geneva, Switzerland, May 12-13, 2015. Reach Mike Kantor, CEO and Founder at POI for more information, or to present, attend, or sponsor the POI Global Summit at mkantor@p-o-i.org

Join as a member of POI this month, and receive a complimentary pass to the POI Collaborate Globally, and Execute Locally Summit, Geneva, Switzerland, May 12-13, 2015. Today at the Promotion Optimization Institute, we celebrate our 6^th anniversary. Collaborative Marketing developed as a discipline after the great recession to help meet the mutual growth needs of Manufacturers and Retailers, who identified the need to create better pricing/ promotional outcomes through collaborative planning, utilizing better information on a shared customer to achieve price/promotion optimization, and ultimately greater profitability.  

The creation of the POI Education Advisory Board took place relatively early in the development of the credential that became known as the Certified Collaborative Marketer (CCM). On March 4, 2009, the CPG and Retail industry experienced a watershed moment when 11 CPG/Retailer executives and academicians gathered in Philadelphia at Saint Joseph’s University and outlined the first steps to further the idea that people and their companies could benefit from education, and professional knowhow from a discipline that integrated knowledge and practices from the many, often-fragmented areas of the merchandising, sales and marketing functions in the Retail and Manufacturer industry.  Resolutions were made to create the Certified Collaborative Marketer (CCM) curriculum, and certification.

In 2013, the Promotion Optimization Institute enrolled its very first group of executive candidates for the Certified Collaborative Marketer (CCM) course at SJU for Retailers and Manufacturers. The members of the latest graduating class have just completed their required education/experience, and upon taking their final exam in January, 2015 will be the industry’s next Certified Collaborative Marketers!

I am proud of these individuals, and their companies who invest in their people. I am also proud of the POI Education Advisory Board, and the sponsoring companies who support all of us who are filling the talent gap, breaking down silos, and enabling Collaborative Promotion Optimization via the POI CCM.

If you haven’t gotten involved with the POI, now is the time. Sign up for a corporate (Diamond) Membership, register, attend the next POI Summit in Chicago in April, and Geneva, Switzerland in May, or enroll for our next CCM Orientation, which is scheduled for June 10-11, 2015.

I’m excited about our accomplishments, and look forward to 2015 with all of you, as POI leads with innovative, relevant, and continuously improving programs and services for all POI Members, Candidates, Attendees, and Sponsors!

Have a sensational week!
Michael Kantor
CEO & Founder
Promotion Optimization Institute, LLC
mkantor@p-o-i.org   

www.POInstitute.com