POI Pulse: September 14, 2015

Dale Hagemeyer Joins the POI as Partner
Source: (International Business, Sept. 8,15)
“I’m thrilled to be taking on a greater role in the POI,” said Hagemeyer “It is the definitive venue for improving the entire promotion cycle for the consumer goods industry. I am excited to work more hands-on with members, continue doing surveys and benchmarking, and help to drive more value to the industry through collaboration.” Learn more

View the updated agenda, Which includes Coca-Cola, Mars, Kimberly-Clark, PepsiCo, 7-Eleven, Tyson, Grainger, Del Monte, Bic, and more. Make your plans now, as Early Bird Rates end Tuesday 9-15-15

 
Join 300+ of Your Peers at POI Summit in Dallas!
Your opportunity to learn, network, and advance at the POI Fall Summit is November 4-6 in Dallas, TX. is slipping away, as we approach capacity. Register 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:
Jennie-O Turkey Store, Energizer, Kao Brands, Boulder Brands, Sunny Delight, Hy-Vee, E&J Gallo, NBTY, Burleson’s-Honey, Prestige Brands, BIC Consumer Products, Ventura Foods, Farmer John, First Quality Products, Pilgrims, Reynolds, Diageo, MillerCoors, Ruiz Foods, Edgewell, Grainger, Borden Dairy, Idahoan, Wrigley, Jack Links, Post Foods, Deli Express, Ruiz Foods, Hershey’s, Lidl, Pernod Ricard, AB Inbev, Tree Top, Storck USA, Bellisio Foods, Bimbo, Kind, Whole Foods, Ahold USA, JBSS, AAFES, DairyPure, Mondelez, Mars, PepsiCo, McCormick, Starbucks, Pinnacle Foods,Coca-Cola, Food Lion, 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, Musco Family Olive, ConAgra, Windsor Foods, Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, Del Monte, Rich Products, Mckee Foods, SC Johnson, Novartis, and many others. By now you should have received your invitation. If not, reach me today at mkantor@p-o-i.org

Innovation Takes Over at Tyson Foods
Source: (Food Bus News Sept. 10, 15)

To capitalize on consumer interest in protein and other trends, Tom Hayes, Chief Commercial Officer said Tyson Foods has created an internal “trends council” that is charged with analyzing and evaluating trends in demographic shifts and changing consumer shopping patterns. Learn more

Kroger Expanding Digital and eCommerce
Source: (Retailing Today Sept. 11. 2015)
“We are investing to grow our business for the future while delivering on our promises today,” Kroger Chairman, and CEO Rodney McMullen said. “For example, our stores are hiring to fill 20,000 new, permanent jobs and we are expanding our digital and ecommerce offerings. Our confidence in Kroger has never been stronger.” Learn more

More CCM Candidates w/ POI SJU
Source: (Next Orientation is December 16-17, 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

POI Global Summit is Set for Brussels, Belgium
Source: (POI 10-11, May 2016)
Building on the success of the inaugural POI Global Summit in Geneva, CH on 12-13, May 2015 leading global companies are advancing their understanding, and associated benefits of Joint Business Planning and the components of successful promotion collaboration.
At the POI Global Summit at the Sheraton, Brussels, these leaders come together around the critical sales, marketing, merchandising, and retail execution capabilities to create and optimize promotional plans, assortments, and pricing that drives brand/category/ store sales and profits. Save the date!

For Grocers, So Cal is Cutthroat Market
Source: (LA Times, Sept. 12, 2015)

Brown is the longtime chief executive of the 168-store Stater Bros. chain, based in San Bernardino, and he’s seen the rise and fall of many supermarkets since his entry into the business as a teenage box boy. Now 77, Brown even keeps a list of the chains that have disappeared – once-familiar names such as Lucky, Alpha Beta and Mayfair. “I have seen everything in the food industry come and go in Southern California,” he said. Learn more

“FRESH” Thinking in Food Marketing” Summit
Source: Saint Joseph’s University Oct. 13, 2015)
Saint Joseph’s University hosts the 10th annual Food Industry Summit on Tuesday October 13th. The topic for 2015 is “FRESH” Thinking in Food Marketing”. Join the industry to gain insights on how consumers are looking for FRESH options and how retailers and manufacturers are providing options for the consumers at retail. Speakers include CEO’s and CMO’s of food companies.

Thinking in Complete Cycles
Dale Hagemeyer, Partner, POI
dhagemeyer@p-o-i.org

When enabling business processes with technology, we often find that the approach consists of, “we need a tool or solution that does X”. While this is a pragmatic approach, it can lead to a disjointed set of capabilities with no consistency or user experience, re-keying data into multiple applications, or supplementing with spreadsheets. A highly abbreviated example will illustrate the many touchpoints and handoffs associated with a promotion:
– Receive spreadsheet with funding details from manager.
– Use TPM solution to create promotional plan.
– Copy the salient points into a PowerPoint document to present to retail buyer.
– After discussion and tweaks, agree on plan and submit for manager approval.
– Enter forecasting tool and input impact of new items, changes in distribution and promotional uplifts.
– Use retail execution solution to task field force with executing promotion at store level.
– On day two of promotion, check execution through POS data to ensure compliance with percentage of stores participating and target price point.
– Access retail audit solution for evidence that secondary display program was executed.
– Clear deductions, perform post event analysis and possibly optimize the promotion for next time around now historical data is available.

Naturally it doesn’t always happen just like this. And I’m by no means advocating some Swiss Army Knife that can perform every function. There are some that can perform many of these functions. And in some cases a solution will have to be integrated with others. But I consistently see a project that is focused on enabling a single activity. How it fits with others is often said to be “out of scope”. In other situations the promise of an integrated solution for some functions leads to completely ignoring key functionality for others, which may drive a search for a compensatory point solution. Much of this can be avoided by mapping out the complete cycle, understanding the connection points, avoiding the pitfall of thinking that all solutions must carry a single logo, and having a “sacred cow” in the form of some existing application in the chain that has actually outlived itself. This type of holistic thinking drives a more seamless business process and can vastly improve the productivity and user experience. But you have to map out the connection points of the entire cycle. See how you can learn more – view the revised POI Website, and Member services.

Have an outstanding week!

See information, and testimonials from the last POI Summit here!

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

www.POInstitute.com

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