POI Pulse: June 22, 2015

A Growing Priority – Growth Strategies
Source: (CFO Magazine June 17, 2015)

Many of the 565 finance executives surveyed now appear to be heeding the old adage, “You have to spend money to make money.” Asked where they plan to invest this year to support business growth, respondents show the most interest in sales and marketing and in new product and service development – categories that focus on identifying and addressing demand, winning market share, and boosting revenues. Learn more

Waitrose Model Will “Reward Loyalty not Swapping”
Source: (Marketing Week June 17)

Waitrose marketing boss: Promotions persuade people to be disloyal to the brands they like. The upmarket supermarket’s ‘Pick your own offers’ promotion lets myWaitrose customers choose 10 items from a list of almost 1,000 to receive a 20% discount on. The will still get that discount even if the item is part of another offer, such as two for one, or has been price-matched with Tesco or Sainsbury’s. Learn more

Join 300+ of Your Peers at POI Summit in Dallas!
Your next opportunity to learn, network, and advance at the POI Fall Summit is November 4-6 in Dallas, TX. The agenda will once again be advanced, so make your plans now to attend, as the POI April 2015 Summit was sold out!

More than 300 CPG Manufacturers and Retailers will join us —
Teams taking advantage of early registration include:

Ahold USA, JBSS, AAFES, DairyPure, Mondelez, Mars, PepsiCo, McCormick, Starbucks, Pinnacle Foods,Coca-Cola, Food Lion, Starbucks, Pinnacle Foods, Nestle, Kimberly Clark, Red Gold, DPSG, Johnson & Johnson, Perfetti Van Melle, Kraft Foods, Pictsweet, Hormel, Clorox, Tyson, Kellogg’s, Dannon, 7-Eleven, JM Smucker, Church & Dwight, Busch Bros., Topco, Keurig Green Mountain, Hillshire Brands, Giant Eagle, Jarden, Hormel, Musco Family Olive, ConAgra, Windsor Foods, Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, Del Monte, Rich Products, Mckee Foods, Borden Dairy, SC Johnson, and many others. By now you should have received your invitation. If not, reach me today at mkantor@p-o-i.org

Kroger Expanding e-Commerce
Source: (Food Bus News 6/19/15)

“More than 2 billion digital coupons have been downloaded from our digital properties since we began offering digital coupons in 2009,” Mr. Ellis said. “It took four years to reach our first billion, and only 15 months to reach our second billion, and the third billion will take even less time.” Learn more

Hormel Unveils ‘Breakthrough Innovation’ in Snacks
Source: (Food Bus News June 17, 2015)

“We had talked about our innovation out of the jar, (but) this is our first really purely innovative effort to do just that using our innovation resources and our marketing resources, our R.&D. groups,” said James Splinter, group vice-president of Hormel’s Grocery Products unit. Learn more

More CCM Candidates w/ POI SJU
Source: (Orientation is December 10-11, 2015)

CCM graduates and candidates included sales, marketing and merchandising executives from Starbucks, Ahold USA, Walgreens, Norseland, Inc., Pinnacle Foods, 7-Eleven, ESM Ferolie, Hormel, Delhaize America, Keurig Green Mountain, Wakefern, Campbell Soup, Mondelez, Continental Mills, and others. Learn more

Home Depot Flexes Omnichannel Muscle
Source: (Retailing Today, June 19, 2015)

In fact, the company’s common order management system, or COM, has been called the largest IT project in the history of the Atlanta-based retail giant. And during the recent Goldman Sachs Annual dotCommerce Day presentation, Kevin Hofmann, Home Depot’s senior VP and president -online, explained to investors how the retailer intends to flex its order management muscle. Learn more

I expect you enjoyed Father’s Day with family, and friends. If you played golf, or watched history being made on TV by Jordan Spieth while celebrating, I hope you didn’t get stuck in the rough! If so, you may lose your millennial shoppers/consumers to an antiquated shopping experience. Several of my business colleagues and friends have learned the game of golf, enjoy it, and look forward to the experience. This week we all got to learn from the game of golf, as we (while collaborating/evolving to best serve a new generation of shoppers) attempt to avoid the pitfalls golf has suffered from in recent times. As young people seek faster-moving fun, only 14 new golf courses opened in the U.S. last year, while almost 160 shut down according to this recent article in Business Week magazine. The article gained my interest at first, based on the golf reference, and growth concerns. However, before delving too deep into the article, the analogies to the grocery industry, and our challenges in serving the millennial shopper/customer segment produced clear comparisons. A few excerpts provide example:

Given the sport’s costs and inherent difficulty-while a video game on a smartphone can be mastered in as little as a few hours, golf can require years of practice to play well-that slide is unlikely to end anytime soon. “The game is hard, the game can take a lot of time, and it’s expensive,” says McRedmond Morelli, founder of Boxgroove. Similarly, simplification applies in our industry as well.

To attract more casual players and expand revenue, particularly among younger people, clubs are rethinking some of the sport’s tenets. The U.S. Golf Association, the PGA of America, and Golf Digest have launched a “Time for Nine” campaign to counter complaints that the traditional 18-hole game takes too much time. And some clubs are adding attractions such as yoga and hovercraft rides.

Craig Carlock, CEO, The Fresh Market covered it well when highlighting the chain’s customer value proposition and its expansion goals: “We look forward to introducing The Fresh Market’s concept of quality perishables, excellent customer service and a unique atmosphere to an expanded customer base, and we look forward to offering neighboring communities a rewarding new food shopping experience.”

I don’t think we’re ready for hovercrafts, yet retailers and manufacturers are doing some fun and engaging promotions, and increasingly reaching shoppers where they want to be reached. I’m proud that POI Members are taking these challenges head on, and refuse to settle for the status quo!

Join today as a member of POI.

Have a sensational week!

Michael Kantor
CEO & Founder
Promotion Optimization Institute, LLC
mkantor@p-o-i.org

www.POInstitute.com