Fifth Dimension’s Tony Jerodiacanou interviews Jonathan Bunbury on the impact of presenting “Best Practice Shopper Solutions” using Virtual Stores and Stereo 3D Presentations.

What was your challenge?
We had experienced success at GLEE 2010, an annual trade show, with our merchandising displays, but immediately began to think about how we could improve on our previous, static, stand alone fixture displays. We wanted our ideas to come to life whilst introducing the concept of “Best Practice Shopper Solutions” into the Garden Care industry. We were keen to consolidate our position as market leaders and felt that this was an ideal opportunity to reinforce our position as a forward thinking manufacturer; people who could pass on their expertise. ‘Category Captains’, if you will.

Why did you choose Fifth Dimension?
I attended Fifth Dimension’s ‘Art of the Possible’ workshop back in March, held at Northampton University There, I saw first hand, Fifth Dimension’s ability to deliver the type of impact that we were looking for. I was also looking for a company that had a successful track record in delivering shopper-focused in-store solutions.

What did you want them to do?
We were looking for a 3D stereoscopic movie, which would define us as innovative market leaders, whilst demonstrating our knowledge and expertise to our retailers, whether they be nationwide or stand-alone garden centres.

How well was it received?
Because this project was quite different from anything that we had done, or that our industry is used to seeing, I was initially apprehensive as to how it would be received. However, all of the feedback was very positive. When I presented the movie to our French office they broke out in applause, which is very rare!

How was it working with Fifth Dimension?
Well the pressure was on and the deadline was very tight, but it was delivered on time and ‘personally’ by one of Fifth Dimension’s Associate Directors, Ann-Marie. One frustration we encountered was not being able to “see” the progress as it happened, but I understand that, unfortunately, this is the nature of the movie business. In future, I would insist on more time to review last moment changes, in order to manage our high expectations.

What are your plans for the future?
We are already looking to GLEE 2012 and I have some ideas which will require further development. I have no doubt that Fifth Dimension will be able to help! Unfortunately, your readers will have to wait until the event to see what we are planning. One thing is for sure, we will be continuing with our core messages of “Best Practice Shopper Solutions” to ensure that Scotts continue to be seen as category leaders in the Garden Care industry.

Did you get any additional business from this?
The shopper marketing methodology we demonstrated in the film has already achieved growth for both the wider category & for our business. Reaching out to a wider audience with this film, with its focus on the Garden Care shopper will, I’m sure, continue to grow sales for both us and our retailer partners.

Spirited Innovation in Category Management

Category management and space planning often go hand in hand. All of the major FMCG manufacturers have committed to the concept of category management, so what chance does a smaller player in the market have? Very little you, may think?

As it turns out, the opposite is true – as the premium spirits manufacturer First Drinks Brands (FDB) has proven. By combining their deep market knowledge with the very latest Merchandise Planning technology, First Drinks Brands has leapt from number five to a highly competitive number two spot in the Spirits category; in record time.

Other Category Managers, of small to medium-sized manufacturers or suppliers, are probably asking how they managed such a leap in market positioning? The answer is quite simple; knowledge, commitment and industry leading tools.

Three years ago FDB were like many medium sized manufacturers; they were “playing” on the fringes of Category Management, but a change in management resulted in a step change in approach. They decided to build a strong, customer focused Category Management team whose first challenge was to source high quality key account data that would give FDB the insight necessary to be a credible force in the Spirits market. That was a key decision because, before that, FDB were buying ad-hoc data only when it was deemed necessary.

Fifth Dimension and Virtual Shelf: a Perfect Fit

Next, with the new team in place, they reviewed the software tools they were using. Their existing space planning supplier was not providing the level of service expected of an industry leading supplier. The Category team evaluated the space planning software providers and decided to partner with Fifth Dimension.

Their Category Development Manager said “We were looking for a supplier that offered the latest thinking in Category Management, coupled with leading edge software. Fifth Dimension was the perfect fit. Their ‘Virtual Shelf’ software has many innovative features, and the support they gave us while we were getting up to speed was nothing short of exceptional.”

First Drinks now had the perfect combination: a strong team coupled with leading edge software. It was now time to go to the trade. As part of the retailer planning sessions and ‘top-to-top’ meetings, FDB talked about their capabilities, explaining how they had the knowledge and the technology to make a real difference in store.

Bringing Ideas to Life and Improving Collaboration

First Drinks’ Category Development Manager recalls “We generated high quality imagery, directly from the ‘Virtual Shelf’ software. This really brought our ideas to life. It also meant we could make changes during the planning sessions and, ultimately, streamline the process. With our customers always being ‘time poor’, the key benefit was a huge reduction in the time we needed to spend in our customers’ merchandising centres”

This new approach allowed First Drinks to lead the discussion with retailers and the other spirit manufacturers; ultimately enhancing the partnership and relationship between FDB and their customers.

Great Results for Retailers and First Drinks Brands

FDB’s Category Development Manager adds “We’ve been really pleased with the results. In the retailers we’ve worked closest with, the category performance is looking very positive, with share of trade showing significant growth. Shopper data adds to this positive picture with the new ranges, which we’ve created with our customers, encouraging existing Spirits shoppers to trade-up, whilst also driving new shoppers into the category”.

Their Head of Category Management said “I’m really pleased with how things have progressed; we’ve managed to help our retail customers and our shoppers to drive category growth. We’ve also been able to use the visuals from Virtual Shelf to communicate best practise with the Independent trade”

FDB’s story proves that excellent market knowledge coupled with the latest merchandise planning technology is a hard combination to beat.

Virtual reality has many retail applications; helping visualise new concepts, showing NPD to a wide audience without the need for physical mock ups and visualising a variety of store environments without the bricks and mortar.

Reckitt Benckiser, the company behind major brands such as Finish, Vanish and Dettol are adding a new use for virtual reality technology by working closely with virtual reality experts Fifth Dimension to create a virtual reality store visit.

Why a virtual store visit? Mark Sidey, Global Sales Director for Reckitt Benckiser, explains:-

“We wanted to create a virtual movie depicting a typical store visit to train our Sales Teams globally in what they need to be looking for in store. It’s not just about our brands and the categories that we operate in, its about understanding the retailers Core Benefit Proposition so we can deliver more targeted in-store activity that is aligned to their strategies.

It’s practically impossible to take live footage in store and even if it was feasible it would be impossible to fully control the environment to show all of the necessary touch points.
What the virtual world does is offer us a completely controllable environment that we can use as a training & development tool where the various touch points are highlighted and explained.

We approached Fifth Dimension because they have worked with us for a number of years and we can be sure of the most realistic imagery and the best service in the industry”.

As you can see, Reckitt Benckiser are not only innovators when it comes to consumer goods, they are also innovators when it comes to applying virtual reality technology to modern day challenges.

Recently, a leading brewer was invited to demonstrate how they could re-vitalise the Beers, Wines and Spirits aisle in one of the top 4 UK retailers. Such an invitation is rare these days, so given the opportunity, they executed a thorough review of the BWS category, gaining key insights into the current aisle layout’s performance. These insights led the brewer to recommend several in-store innovations which, when fully implemented, would potentially generate some £105 million of extra revenue for the retailer.

The category was heavily driven by promotion, but the placement of these promotions, on stacks outside of the aisle, meant that footfall down the aisle was limited – with less than 50% of beer shoppers actually purchasing beer in the BWS aisle. The brewer believed that bringing the promotions right into the aisle and also improving the category’s segmentation, would create a big win for the supermarket. But how could they grab the retailer’s attention and prove their strategy?

Well, they came to Fifth Dimension for help! By creating a virtual beer aisle, bespoke to the supermarket, with clear, accurate planograms showing the ‘before’ and ‘after’ segmentation, the brewer was able to visualise their proposed changes in a creative, impactful and innovative way.

The movie formed an integral part of a larger presentation describing their vision for the category. The brewer was delighted with the end result. The movie really pulled together their key messages in a way that traditional PowerPoint just couldn’t achieve.

Suffice to say that, according to the brewer, the retailer was also ‘blown away’ with the results. Seeing the proposed fixture ‘come to life’ in an animated movie really brought home the potential for the store. Persuaded by the successful presentation, the retailer had no hesitation in trialling the category recommendations in a test store.

Following the huge success of this trial, the retailer’s now rolling out the brewer’s strategy into 300 stores, nationwide. A true testament, not only to the expertise of the brewer’s category management and insights teams, but also proving that high quality visualisations are vital to the successful communication of complex in-store innovations; providing clarity, eliminating ambiguity, maximising understanding and, ultimately, strengthening the relationship between the manufacturer and retailer.

The 28th September saw the grand unveiling of Sainsbury’s biggest store ever. Tesco and ASDA already have a large number of supersized stores so, with a sense of great excitement, Fifth Dimension went to East London’s Crayford to review the new store and see how Sainsbury’s is shaping up to their competition.

First impression?

WOW, very impressed! Great visual impact and a busy, exciting atmosphere. The feel of the store was typically Sainsbury’s though with their trademark, orange livery spread far and wide. We all know how it feels to walk into an unfamiliar store for the first time – it’s confusing, but the familiar ‘ambience’ immediately helped me feel more comfortable, and very confident that the high quality Sainsbury’s prides itself on was still a major element in this new format.

Parking at the store was a challenge; attendants were on hand to guide willing shoppers into parking spaces but there simply weren’t enough spaces available. The car park was huge, but not quite huge enough to accommodate the number of shoppers keen to “check out” their new store. Despite the difficulty, I’m sure it was a welcome signal to Sainsbury’s that Crayford was going to be very busy.

As I entered the store I was greeted with a product tasting station. Nice touch, with many customers sampling the delicious potato and bacon being served in small pots. From this vantage point you can cast your eye over the entire store. Very helpful when you are trying to get your bearings in an unfamiliar store. Traditional groceries to the right, fronted by banks of checkouts, and to the left, Sainsbury’s expanded range of general merchandise. Added to this, there is an impressive mezzanine floor housing the largest TU clothing range I have ever seen!

New Ideas

Where to start? The sheer size of the store presents quite a challenge; is this really a Sainsbury’s? As I walked the store there were several highlights worth noting.

There’s a Take-Away counter positioned right next to the front door. The staff manning the counter were busily serving hot drinks to take away – a great idea for time-challenged Crayford workers looking for their early morning Cappuccino. The counter also works really well for the lunchtime shop, with sandwiches and soft drinks positioned close at hand, making lunch very quick and easy to grab. The left of the store houses the general merchandise department that modern supermarkets are becoming synonymous for. Close by, the travellator takes shoppers upstairs to a mezzanine floor with a massive 20,000 sq ft self contained TU clothes shop.

There were a number of interesting additions to the usual grocery offer. The back wall of the store was adorned with an impressive counter display. Particularly interesting was the pizza counter where staff prepare fresh pizzas to order and, for an extra £1, they’ll even cook it for you!

Fresh pizzas were a feature of a number of Sainsbury’s stores 15 years ago and make an appealing return to the new counter offer. What was even more exciting was the fresh ready meals that are prepared in store each day. Customers can watch a small team of staff hand finishing a limited range of meals.

The products may only have a 2 day life, but they do have a real home made look that I’m sure shoppers will love.

Although the store was very busy, checking out was very quick with very short queues. For me that always leaves a great impression.

Innovation brings ‘Green’ Credentials to Crayford

The launch PR from Sainsbury’s highlights some remarkable facts. This store is the first to use technology that heats itself using natural energy. This energy is captured using bore holes buried hundreds of metres beneath the ground. The “geo-exchange” system, exclusive to Sainsbury’s, also captures and stores waste heat from the store, which is used to provide its heating and hot water. Adopting this technology gives the new store the same carbon footprint as the original Crayford one, even though it’s now 2.5 times larger! I think that’s something Sainsbury’s should be very proud of.

Mike Coupe, Sainsbury’s group commercial director, said:
“This is a very exciting time for Sainsbury’s and we are confident that these stores will be a massive hit with customers. With Crayford, we have worked hard to deliver an innovating, exciting store that has a number of new features, several of which are a first to Sainsbury’s”.

Sainsbury’s Crayford Store Takes the Fight to the Competition

I agree that this store will be a massive hit with customers, there’s very little that the store doesn’t offer. The layout is easy to navigate and leaves the shopper wanting for very little. This is the first of many future 100,000 sq ft plus stores, and I for one am looking forward to seeing more stores like Crayford in the Sainsbury’s estate. It’s been a long time coming but it’s certainly going to take the fight to the competition.

Corporate Sponsorship is the Key

We all like it when someone does us a good turn and likewise we revel in the warm glow when we do a good deed for someone in need of our help. Good deeds are not only within the gift of individuals though since very many large companies feel it’s important to do charitable work or to raise funds to support good causes.

For example, major manufacturers in the retail world have done their part for the greater good by supporting the Sport Relief charity in 2010.  The money raised by Sport Relief helps fund the charitable work done by Comic Relief to help disadvantaged people, both at home in the UK and also in the world’s poorest countries, wherever the need is greatest.

Whilst high profile celebrities like David Walliams cycling the length and breadth of the country or Eddie Izzard running 43 marathons in 51 days will raise a considerable amount of money in well publicised, one-off events, there is always a need for a constant and consistent flow of funds to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

This is where corporate sponsorship is key. And more importantly, this is where a major UK retailer and one of its global supplier partners become central to the fund raising effort. The retailer in question has been supporting Comic Relief since 1999, and has raised a staggering £43M to date and are the headline sponsor for the Sport Relief Mile.

In this particular case, the retailer is raising money by selling Sport Relief branded merchandise, scratch cards and also encouraging donations from suppliers for selected products sold in their stores. They are joined in this fund raising effort by a number of their manufacturer, supplier partners, but it happened on this occasion that Fifth Dimension also became involved.

The manufacturer in question planned to raise £936,000 for this worthy cause by donating 5p per item from the sale of a number of brands in their product portfolio, and, in addition to that, donating 10p from their high profile, market leading brands.

Virtual Store developed to Visualise In-Store Campaign Materials

Pledging and planning to raise money is, of course, just the beginning of the program. To maximise donations both parties needed to work together to maximise the sales of the nominated products. They needed to drive purchase decisions in store by drawing shoppers’ attention to the campaign and encouraging them to support the initiative. With this in mind, the manufacturer created a comprehensive store implementation package of floor stickers, barker cards, shelf fins and channel stripping to help promote Sport Relief and make shoppers aware of how much money was donated to the charity whenever they purchased a nominated product.

The next step was to make sure the in-store implementation of these materials was second to none. The manufacturer wanted to use their field agency to ensure the highest standard of compliance in-store but they also wanted the individual store managers excited about the amount of support that they were giving. It was at this point that the manufacturer turned to Fifth Dimension.

The image above shows a frame from the Virtual Store animation, created by Fifth Dimension, which was used to communicate the in-store implementation of the promotional materials.

Fifth Dimension has a long history working closely with the manufacturer and was therefore well placed to help bring the campaign to life. It was decided that an explanatory movie was required showing what the manufacturer was planning and how it was to be implemented in store to achieve the best possible success. The movie would also show how much money was raised and where the money was going.

Perfect In-Store Execution Assures Success

The movie was given to the McCurrach team on Sport Relief and the manufacturer also provided branded memory sticks carrying the movie so that it could be reviewed by each of the retailer’s 400 plus store managers. This helped the store managers understand how important good in-store implementation was to the success of the campaign and also exactly what ‘good implementation’ should look like at the point of purchase.

The image above shows the final in-store implementation of the promotional point of sale materials in a typical store aisle layout. In-store promotions were not the only thing the manufacturer contributed to raise money and awareness for the campaign. They also increased on-line Grocery site signage and added campaign specific branding on 1 million Scratch Cards. They also sponsored the Colleague Pack and branding 160,000 colleague fund-raising leaflets and kits.

An Example to Us All

All in all, that’s a huge amount of support for a very worthy cause. Everything came together on the 21st March in a successful and worthy campaign result. The retailer and manufacturer concerned should be very proud of what they’ve achieved and by the huge number of people whose lives will have been immeasurably improved by their altruistic efforts. An example to us all.

Of course, this kind of collaboration is not unique to the project described here. Other retailers and manufacturers collaborate on a wide variety of campaigns. Here is another example, ‘Walmart Goes Pink with Mills, Purina‘, just published, which illustrates the success of such teamwork and the benefits it can bring to the needy or suffering.

Earlier this year Fifth Dimension had the opportunity to co-sponsor the Next Generation Retail summit in California. It was an excellent opportunity to network with retail colleagues and understand what challenges they’re facing, especially in the current climate.

Among the many one to one meetings and workshops we engaged in, the standout for me was the ‘behind the scenes’ discussion on the first evening between the CIOs and CTOs who attended. I had the opportunity to be involved and the theme that emerged was quite surprising. Almost every delegate in that discussion was concerned with the impact the the internet, social networking and the use of smartphones in-store to price compare, online, at the point of purchase.

From the retail point of view, there was general agreement that one of the greatest challenges was to match a customer’s online experience to their in-store experiences, and also to provide the right information to them whenever they sought it, on or offline – in or out of the stores. The impact on technical and financial resources was felt to be highly significant. Without exception, all thought that their organizations, particularly their IT departments, would be severely tested in rising to this challenge. IT departments were generally felt to be unable to keep pace with current developments in the market and were not taking a collaborative approach to solving the problem.

Quite an eye-opener for us. Still, it demonstrates that today’s retail world continuously provides us with opportunities to innovate so we can all compete successfully in an increasingly multi-channel and rapidly moving marketplace.

There is a synopsis of an interview I did with NGR on their online magazine site here. I touch on the use of Virtual Store technology and Shopper Insights as a supporting solution which any retailer can call upon in their efforts to meet this challenge.

Well, it’s been some time since I last settled into writing the first series of articles on this blog. Since then I, and our whole team, have been involved in many new and exciting retail initiatives, encompassing macro and micro space planning optimisation, assortment planning, virtual store research, aisle management and many innovative shopper insights projects all around the world, all of which have added enormously to our experience and breadth of retail knowledge here at Fifth Dimension. Our software development teams have also been busily building new generations of our advanced software for release this coming year, and so there a great deal to talk about.

In the retail world, of course, we have all been challenged by the recent global economic recession and many retailers’ and manufacturers’ strategies have been significantly affected as a result. We will be writing about these movements in the industry over the coming months as well as taking a look at new developments in the field of Shopper Insights and Consumer Research. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you in due course. Please stop by any time, or, to be sure of getting the latest posts, please subscribe to the site using the Subscribe button above – it’s easy and it’s a free RSS service!

And, if you would like to know more about what we do at Fifth Dimension, please try our new web site here.

Visual Merchandisers Need New Planogramming Software

This past two years we’ve seen traditional planogramming systems come under heavy scrutiny. These older systems were originally marketed, in the main, by data companies. This background, coupled with pressure from particularly influential clients, led to applications which were primarily optimised for analytics and overburdened with extensive but little used functionality. The net effect was software which was hard to learn and difficult to use. Today, clients have new requirements, which these older systems have difficulty in fulfilling.

In our detailed surveys of both manufacturers and retailers, it emerged that they want a new generation of merchandising tools. In general, both want easier to use systems that can be used by a wider range of staff, with minimal training. There is greater interest in high quality visual presentation of a broader range of merchandising styles, for a broader group of products. The ability to more realistically illustrate a display complete with point of sale signage, shelf edge labels, header boards etc is now far more important than a few years ago.

Manufacturers and retailers want a merchandising system that will not only co-exist and interoperate with their traditional legacy systems but at the same time open up new possibilities in merchandise planning and in the operational deployment of merchandising initiatives.

Virtual Shelf – Meeting Today’s Visual Merchandising Needs?

Recognizing this, Fifth Dimension has put a great deal of research and development effort into meeting today’s requirements with a new generation of visual merchandising application called Virtual Shelf. This work has culminated in the latest release (version 4.5) which contains many innovations designed to meet these needs and deliver, among other advantages;

• faster creation of new and revised planograms
• enhanced photo-realistic rendering of merchandise displays
• revolutionary drag ‘n drop charting and reporting for easy analysis
• advanced planogram and sku level performance analysis
• ‘realogram’ creation facilities for rapid in-store capture of displays
• advanced planogram visual comparison capabilities
• automatic fixture, range and display compliance analysis
• automatic calculation of in-store labour costing for new planograms
• rapid publishing of planograms in in-store briefing pack layouts
• improved speed, for greater productivity

This new version has been enthusiastically received by both retailers and manufacturers and, in collaborating with them so closely, we have together developed several excellent ideas to work on for the next release. This is our preferred way to work with committed clients. It helps us stay on track to deliver what they need today and what they will need in the near future.

The image above shows Virtual Shelf’s photorealistic display capabilities rendering a Carlsberg Beer Planogram. Click on the image to see a larger rendering.

Virtual Shelf is just one application in Fifth Dimension’s extensive portfolio of Store, Aisle and Shelf Display planning and performance optimisation software. For more information, contact Fifth Dimension at +44 (0)1908 327650 or visit our new web site.

Last week saw the expansion of Marks and Spencer’s Mobile ‘Food To Go’ service in Milton Keynes. This builds, no doubt, on M&S’s expansion into Simply Food outlets at various locations such as petrol stations and motorway service stations and the ‘order in advance’ LunchToGo services via their micro web site.

This move is all the more interesting when you recall the closure of a number of Simply Food stores earlier this year. It seems that the ‘new’ service has been run in pilot mode for some time in Milton Keynes and in Swindon, with two mobile units in each town. According to our local man there are to be two more units regularly servicing MK offices and another sixty across the country by the end of this year.

I’m not sure what the local sandwich shops and existing mobile vendors will be able to do to respond to this move, but what a great idea! It brings the all the convenience and quality of their packaged foods right to the doorstep of your offices, and in Milton Keynes’ outlying office developments, as in many cities, that’s a great timesaver as well as a way to buy quality lunch items rather than poor food value snacks.

Our two M&S associates say that the service has been an ‘instant’ hit. The most popular purchase being fruit. They also carry more exotic items such as sushi, which is also very popular. As you can see from the image below there is a wide choice available.

It made us think about the Category Management meetings that must have gone on deep inside the M&S offices, working out the strategy, tactics, goals, assortment, display planning and logisitcs behind such an apparently simple proposition. I’ll bet it was huge fun though. No doubt, time will tell if they have it right. You’ll notice that the assortment includes sandiwches of all sorts (upper left), various soft drinks, water and smoothies (lower left), the centre display houses wraps and more sandwiches, sushi and various salad choices and on the right are a wide rage of crisps and biscuits. It must have been a nightmare arguing that one out! One thing should be obvious though – all the product is M&S Own Label. Just what you’d want, I guess.

Retail Communications for the new Home Living Range

Late last year, as part of an ongoing program of modernization, Wilkinson opened four new stores sporting their new company branding. Earlier this year they commissioned Fifth Dimension to help them with another initiative; the launch of their new Home Living range, which they had re-branded with a more modern design. To implement the new range they had also developed new display equipment that included a bed, curtain displays, carpet plinths etc., all of which would be new to the store staff.

Wilkinson trialled the displays in a number of stores, using a dedicated team to carefully implement the new equipment and layouts, in each test store, to a very high standard. Early results were favorable, so to ensure a successful roll-out to the remaining stores, Wilkinson asked Fifth Dimension to develop highly visual Store Briefing Packs to show the store staff how to implement the new range most effectively. The goal was to achieve the highest standards of compliance with the guidelines and so create the best possible presentation of the new range, consistently, in all stores.

Wilkinson’s Virtual Store

First, we built a Wilkinson Virtual Store focused on the re-branded category. From this Virtual Store we created an overview movie that introduced the new Home Living concept and what it was going to do for Wilkinson and for their customers. We then created detailed animations showing how to implement the new equipment, how to “dress” the product on each type of fixture and how to maintain the display each day.

The Briefing Packs were published as a DVD, which was presented to all store managers at their conference in April. Using this approach, Wilkinson achieved a greater sense of unity among the store managers, who returned to their stores after the conference highly motivated to achieve the company’s goal. Each manager received copies of the DVD Briefing Pack and used the presentations to train their local staff.

The image shows the new ‘Home Living’ Lighting Department rendered from the Virtual Store, built by Fifth Dimension, from which the Store Briefing Packs were created

This note from Wilkinson’s Richard Biggin described their success;

‘ ….. I wanted to say a big thanks and congratulations to you and your team for the Wilkinson Home Living DVD and training guide.

To produce such a high quality and inspiring piece of work on such short timelines was absolutely outstanding. The team and I have been extremely impressed with you and your team’s professionalism, rigor, attention to detail and commitment to deadlines. This made you very easy to work with and enabled our companies to very quickly create a strong working relationship.

The DVD was a real hit during the 4 retail staff training days we had at head office – we used the overview in the introductory session and used the fixture training videos as part of the practical training sessions during the day. The content really added to the delivery of the day and I am looking forward to hearing how the materials helped the training process in store, where I hope they will make a massive difference.

The overview DVD has proved a big hit with other head office managers and the senior managers in the business. We have shown the DVD at our key trading meeting and at the Executive Management Team meeting (which includes our CEO). One of our HR officers called it the most inspirational piece she had seen in her 17 years in the business!

I believe that together we have demonstrated the real value of investing in retail training and engagement and may have now created a new benchmark for how we launch major new initiatives in Wilkinson.

So thank you once again for all your efforts and well done on an outstanding piece of work….. ‘

Regards,

Richard
Richard Biggin
Commercial Planning
Wilkinson

Wilkinson is a UK high street discount retailer operating over 300 stores, each averaging about 17,000 sq.ft. in size, from Newcastle to the South Coast. They offer a broad range of items in Bathroom products,Cleaning, Homewares, Kitchen, Confectionery, Clothing , Textiles, Stationery, DIY and Pet Care categories and in some of the larger stores ‘Food to Go’ and Grocery. Wilkinson’s approach is to sell at low prices and to concentrate on increasing the basket’s value, both to it and to the customer.

More images from this project can be seen on our Multimedia blog

Trade Promotion – the King is dead; long live the King!?

Or so some would have you believe.

Trade Promotion or In-Store Marketing – The King of Prising Open the Retailers’ Iron Grip on Shelf Space – is perhaps still well and truly alive and kickin’; even in the depths of the deepest recession we’ve seen in decades. But, what if Joe Mandese’s prediction had been right in his article ‘Fast Forward: Is Mass Marketing History About To Repeat Itself?’, just over two years and a bold, ‘booming’ economy ago? Who knows what would be happening now in trade spending?

Joe had a point in his favor though. I guess there’s more than a grain of truth in the saying that what goes around, comes around, and he could see more change coming. His recollection of the impact of television on the advertising of post second world war days, the widedspread availability of product sales data and it’s impact on trade promotion in the eighties, the increase in the retailers’ influence on consumer marketing because of the insight gained from massive loyalty data sets and now, the unstoppable growth of advertising on the internet – it all looked to him like marketing history repeating itself.

We can all see that advertising, in the ‘traditional’ sense, is today under enormous pressure. Print is in slow decline and the media is fragmenting into a chaos of ‘noise’. The plethora of channels for marketing spend to dissipate into is increasing by the day – just think of the number of web sites carrying paid advertising, let alone the increase in cable, digital TV and satellite radio channels. Couple this with the state of the economy, the drive towards every day low prices (value) and the so-called steady rise of the Private Label, it’s no wonder there are questions about trade marketing spend and it’s current effectiveness.

The Decline of In-Store Marketing Spend?

Bob Houk, in his very able response, criticises Joe’s view, but I still think Joe was genuinely divining a river of change; just not a raging torrent. Bob thinks that, as the influence and market share of the internet grows, more traditional trade promotion spending will decline. I am not so sure. There are just as many opportunities for new forms of ‘slotting fees’ etc., as there ever was – in Virtual Stores!

One thing is for sure. In-Store Marketing ‘investment’ will evolve – just as it is changing now under the microscope of loyalty data analytics. The coming of Virtual shopping worlds will most assuredly change the landscape too – especially if Brand Manufacturers create alternative business channels which might undermine the dominance of the real world retailers. I won’t hold my breath, just yet.

All of this makes a rivetting backdrop to the recent interview recording Bob’s current views on the subject. In it, he makes the important point that In-Store Marketing spend will move from a ‘cost-based’ model to a ‘value based’ one. He’s right on the button there. Internet shopping offers both an educational and a selling opportunity – for both parties! He makes the point that ‘Virtual End Caps’ may still have to generate a ‘benefit’ to the Virtual Retailer though. Hmmm, it will be fascinating to see how ‘old thinking’ unravels and new models take its place.