POI Pulse, July 5, 2016

Join your peers (inquire about a complimentary registration), or invite your Latin American Manufacturer, Retailer, and Distributor colleagues to join POI in Miami Beach at the Latin American Summit on July 19-20. Leaders joining us include:

POI today released its POI 2016 Retail Execution Vendor Panorama, a detailed analysis of the Retail Execution market and the technology vendors that support it. The POI also identified eleven best in class vendors across eleven functional areas that are helping Retailer and CPG executives improve their in store execution. Learn moreand join our webinar on July 13

Roundy’s Stores Under Change w/ Kroger Ownership

Source: (Biz Times June 30, 2016)

Among the changes coming down the pike this year are store remodels, as well as pricing and product shifts, said James Hyland, vice president of corporate communications and public affairs at Roundy’s Supermarkets Inc., which now operates as a subsidiary of Kroger. Learn more

Amazon’s Prime Day Clear-out Returns on July 12th
Source: (Engadget.com June 30, 2016)

Much as we can joke about the event being good for clearing out old inventory, Amazon believes that last year’s event was a blockbuster.

According to the company’s Greg Greeley, Prime Day ’15 saw more than twice the number of TVs sold as on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. The firm also revealed some of the biggest selling products by country. Learn more

Please take a look at what is next on the full POI Summit schedule on our upcoming events page. Save the dates, and advise your cross-functional team members.

Source: (Food Biz News June 28, 16)

“Numi established the turmeric tea category,” said Michelle Bushneff, digital marketing and PR manager for Numi. “We have a 57% share in the category right now. Golden milk is a drink that’s been used in Ayurvedic and Indian cultures forever. Learn more

Hershey Rejects Mondelez’s Takeover Offer
Source: (Ad Age June 30, 2016)

Hershey Rejects Mondelez’s $23 Billion Takeover Offer

Kellogg’s Opening a Cereal cafe in NYC
Source: (CNN Money June 30, 2016)

Kellogg’s first collaborated with Tosi in 2014 when she created cereal recipes for a temporary pop-up shop in NYC.

“People were so wowed by her recipes that we felt we were onto something,” said Noel Geoffroy, Kellogg’s SVP of marketing and innovation. “We wanted to continue this partnership with her.” Geoffroy said the permanent restaurant makes sense given cereal’s perennial popularity — especially with millennials. Learn more

POI Guest Column
Critical Strategic Plan Elements of Effective Trade Investment

Does your organization have an effective trade investment strategy? Given Trade’s place on the P&L most would say, “of course we do”. Then we ask to see the proof.

Now if I were talking about effective planning around activities related to Cost of Goods Sold I would see plant layouts, line configurations, proposed formula changes, plans for increasing throughput and eliminating waste and detailed distribution planning.

I almost never see the underpinnings and/or the application of such thinking behind the trade line. I do see data and PowerPoint presentations. But many of the facts don’t lead to conclusions and many disparate insights don’t lead to changes in direction.

So what would I hope to see? For starters, collaboration between the P&L owner, marketing, sales and the trade marketing team on 5 Strategic elements. These are simple in concept but challenging to implement in daily management. These are,

Each element enables the overall plan and allows a company to investment n the face of ever increasing competitive pressure and customer concentration.

The portfolio plan must outline the growth of the company’s brands but it should outline expectations for the category. Just as importantly, the brands should be valued across the company portfolio. Customer segmentation should be in place and actually used to drive decisions. Many companies take an academic approach to this exercise and no one understands how the outcome became the outcome. So a document that represents today’s reality with tomorrow’s plan for customers is crucial as a living document. Segmentation should be used to identify the winners and also those in the “on deck circle” who are performing well but are underdeveloped.

Price Architecture articulates the value of the Brand/Segments/Items within the category. This document should house clear price/promotion guidelines for your own items as well as gaps and key price thresholds to competitive items.

Many companies proficiently purchase commodities for COGS targets, but few deal with cost variances effectively. Organizations forecast finished goods and react, but many don’t monitor raw to finished good forecasting from a pricing and material availability perspective. So a broader plan for monitoring COGS variances and trade investment together is a critical practice.

Finally, a funding strategy is the key expression of how the first 4 elements are brought to marketplace. What performance-based funds are required to deliver your business objectives based on your brands key business drivers?

Simple – right. But there are many hands are in the cookie jar! And many silo’s among the constituents. So how do the Trade Investment Strategic Pillars look at your company?

I will continue to build out these ideas in a series of future blogs. Next up – Building the Strategic Trade Investment Plan. Stay tuned!

Don Baker, Partner, The Partnering Group