merchandising « SymphonyIRI Group CPG Blog

Posts Tagged ‘merchandising’

Getting the Big Picture

Friday, March 25th, 2011

By Joe Sakach, Director of Next Generation Analytics & Practices, Campbell Soup

It’s safe to say most of us don’t give much weight to a statistic when we realize the study involved a small number of people from the same region and of the same age. Why? Because, we know that the data retrieved by a study like that is anecdotal at best. It’s not widespread enough to represent an accurate account of a real population.

This idea is no different when evaluating the price increases and decreases in the CPG and retail industries. Methods often employed by marketers only evaluate a short period of price impacts and changes. The issue with this model is that the statistics it returns may not present the complete picture; the evaluated sample is simply not broad enough to understand true trends and consumer reactions.

During the Summit 2011 breakout session, “Measuring the ‘Carryover’ Effects of Pricing Using Dynamic Demand Modeling,” I will join Joy Joseph from SymphonyIRI to further examine best practices in product research, and we will explain why it is imperative for CPG and retail companies to move away from the current short-term price evaluation strategy. In doing so, organizations will be able to gain a more thorough understanding of consumer reaction and habits.

Joe Sakach and Joy Joseph will be presenting their session on Wednesday, March 30 at 2 p.m. in Glimmer 2. Check out the calendar for this year so you can plan your time at Summit!

Tags: Campbell’s Soup, cpg, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, Sales Leadership, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
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New Approaches in a Seemingly New Industry

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

At a time where shoppers remain cautious in their spending habits, it is even more critical for retailers to understand what a shopper is looking for the moment they enter the store. As one might imagine, taking on this task is no easy feat. The big question remains: how can anyone understand what each individual customer is looking for when each shopper brings different characteristics to the table, from background, age and dietary preferences to marital status and grocery budgets?

Manufacturers are facing this challenge head-on by considering “customized trip missions” to better understand how shoppers interact with various product categories and the results they hope to attain.

During the Summit 2011 breakout session, “Using Customized Trip Missions to Enhance Merchandising Strategy,” I will join Christina Sung, director of shopper analytics, SymphonyIRI, to discuss the importance of employing new tactics and measures to understanding the shopper in an unpredictable industry.

By attending our session, you’ll learn about opportunities retailers and manufacturers can take in developing key merchandising strategies that will attract, influence and maintain loyal customers. I hope to see you there!

Rob Chumley will be presenting his session on Tuesday, March 29 at 2 p.m. in Glimmer 1. Check out the calendar for this year so you can plan your time at Summit!

Rob Chumley, Vice President, Merchandising, 7-Eleven

Tags: 7-Eleven, cpg, Customized Trip Mission, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, Sales Leadership, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
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Maintaining a Competitive Edge in 2011

Monday, March 21st, 2011

By Tycho Ferrigni, SymphonyIRI

With the reduced cost of data storage and the introduction of frequent shopping programs, retailers are collecting data about their shoppers at a pace and breadth that has never been seen before. SymphonyIRI has the tools that will turn these data assets into future cash flows for both retailers and manufacturers.

While each retailer has specific information about what a shopper does within their firm, SymphonyIRI understands the shopper independent of where they shop. We have taken robust and reliable analytical capabilities from data rich industries and engineered them to work within the CPG space. Our models predict things like where a shopper is likely to shop, what they are likely to purchase as well as estimate their inherent health and wellness needs based on their risk for serious and chronic disease. All of this insight is calibrated by leveraging our “full market view” provided by our National Consumer Panel.

By leveraging a targeted direct-to-consumer capability, retailers and manufacturers will be able to increase the relevance of their offers, the returns on the marketing spend and increase the number of programs they launch in market. Offering gas points or bonus rewards coupons can be a clever way to temporarily induce customers to open their wallets, but it often takes more than that to keep customers coming back. SymphonyIRI’s Shopper Marketing Analytical Services Group is tackling this problem head on and is focused on gaining a better understanding of what it takes to attract and retain today’s consumer.

A key component of our study has been exploring the gap between the retailer and the manufacturer. By partnering, both organizations are able to identify and capitalize on key products and services that maximize the value to shoppers and create a win-win for the retailer and manufacturer alike.

By attending Summit 2011’s breakout session, “Leveraging Analytics to Target the Highest Opportunity Shoppers,” you’ll gain clear insight as to how utilizing the analytical insights and information from our Shopper Marketing Analytical Services Group will strongly assist in the attraction and maintenance of key shoppers, time and time again.

Visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register. Don’t forget to follow us on twitter at (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) for continued updates and information. See you in Miami!

Tycho Ferrigni will be presenting his session on Wednesday, March 30 at 2 p.m. in Glimmer 3. Check out the calendar for this year so you can plan your time at Summit!

Tags: cpg, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, Sales Leadership, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, Shopper Marketing Analytical Services Group, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
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Finding New Niches Through Market Analysis

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

By Mike Duffy and Lisa Maas, SymphonyIRI

In today’s competitive environment, it seems that everyone is looking for an edge—an undiscovered opportunity—that will drive profitable brand growth or store sales. Exploring these opportunities can be problematic for companies, with high hurdles for new products and changing customer behavior.

It would be much less risky if companies were able to identify and explore these possibilities with a safety net to gauge product potential before entering the market. SymphonyIRI prides itself on providing its manufacturer and retailer partners with the tools that make their businesses successful, and to fill this need, SymphonyIRI Hendry has worked closely with manufacturers to identify actionable market insights that will act as a roadmap leading to profitable growth.

At Summit 2011, we’ll discuss this approach and how it can be used to identify white space opportunities, recognize ways to extend your brand profitably and anticipate possible competitive moves. Through market simulations it’s not only possible to size the opportunity of filling a gap, but it will also help you prioritize innovation and optimize your brand spending.

Visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register. Don’t forget to follow us on twitter at (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) for continued updates and information. See you in Miami!

Mike Duffy and Lisa Maas will be presenting their session on Tuesday, March 29 at 3:15pm in Glimmer 2. Check out the calendar for this year so you can plan your time at Summit!

Tags: cpg, innovation, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI, SymphonyIRI Hendry, white space opportunities
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Industry Insights

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

In Track F: Latest Innovation and Solutions from SymphonyIRI Group, we want to share our latest innovations and solutions. Our goal is to create insight-driven solutions that complement the sales person’s knowledge and help build stronger retail trading relationships.

In working towards positive solutions for the industry, we have noted a major shift toward the mobile market. To meet this market demand, we are currently working on our SymphonyIRI Liquid Data mobile application prototype. This shift creates an opportunity to open discussion, invite feedback and enhance existing mobile platforms.

Additionally, we are becoming more aware of repeat shoppers’ needs. In this session, SymphonyIRI’s Shopper Marketing Analytical Services Group will reveal its latest technology on attracting those shoppers back into the store based on the products and/or services they are most likely to purchase.

Today, companies are looking to establish their own niche. Regional brands are looking to obtain wide-spread success by becoming national brands. SymphonyIRI will also present Market Advantage, a tool that will help brands achieve that goal. We will present a case study of one company’s success in obtaining drastic brand recognition on a much larger scale.

Mark Peiser, vice president of Marketing Research for News America Marketing, will join us to address the challenging question: How do you measure the media value of in-store marketing? While measuring this type of ad-value has long been a frustrating task, News America Marketing, Kantar and SymphonyIRI partnered to create a new tool that will help quantify the success of marketing initiatives.

Rounding out our final session, EmSense and SymphonyIRI will present their new technology that allows you to get into the mind of a shopper. You’ll be able to answer key questions, including what drives a shopping to select a certain item, or what motivates a shopper to choose a certain brand?

We are excited to share our latest innovations and solutions with Summit attendees, and we hope these tools and tactics will help each company strengthen its presence nationwide.

Visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register. Don’t forget to follow us on twitter at (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) for continued updates and information. See you in Miami Beach!

Tags: cpg, Market Advantage, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, Shopper Marketing Analytical Services Group, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI, SymphonyIRI Liquid Data
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Staying Ahead of the Competition

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

In an industry as competitive as retail, companies are forced to do all they can to set themselves apart in order to maintain market share. It is a day-to-day battle, and as an organization, you need to go into battle armed with the right information and tactics.

At Summit’s Track E: “Winning at Retail: How to Compete Successfully” breakout sessions, you’ll hear how a few well-known companies have managed to stay one step ahead of the curve in this ever-challenging market. Featured speakers will include:

Cara Bernosky, president and co-founder for IMC Licensing: Cara will address creative approaches restaurants have taken during the recession, such as contributing to licensing activity in this sector to supplement for recent lower foot traffic and gradually drive in traffic as the economy increases.
Dan Strunk, Category Management Association and Center for Sales Leadership of DePaul University: Dan will introduce the importance of evaluating point-of-sale data scanners as a means to improving sales.
Joe Sakach, director for Campbell Soup: Joe will explain how to break out of the cycle of short-term price evaluation and understand the true “carryover” effect of pricing and promotion activity.
Kevin Durkee of Delhaize America: Kevin will present the next generation of category business planning, offering a new technology that will support an efficient and reasonable business plan called “CMI” for companies.

These forward-thinking companies have a plethora of insights to share. Don’t miss out on how you can stay ahead of the curve and identify the next step toward evaluating and maintaining success.

Visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register. Don’t forget to follow us on twitter at (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) for continued updates and information. See you in Miami Beach!

Tags: Campbell Soup, cpg, Delhaize America, DePaul University, IMC Licensing, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, Sales Leadership, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
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Who is Shopper Jane Doe?

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

During the past few years, we’ve all become creative in our spending habits. Whether it’s been carpooling, cutting back on vacations or shopping more cautiously, the current economy has made us all aware of our wallets. And hey, who doesn’t want to save some cash whenever possible?

These adopted saving habits have created a new challenge in the retail industry: newly unpredictable shopper behavior. CPG and retail marketers are facing the challenge head on by developing and implementing strategies that will provide retailers an insight into today’s consumer.

At Summit, we are addressing this concern through Track D: “Shopper-Centric Retailer-Manufacturer Collaboration.” Industry experts and thought leaders will join us to discuss the importance of new technology that assists category incrementality, and ways to ensure that you’ve stocked the right product at the right price point in the right place at the right time to satisfy today’s shopper.

We will also be addressing effective category management strategies in the store as one of the most important tactics in response to the changed spending habits.

By attending this track, you’ll be able to identify what is driving your customer’s choices and how you can best cater to them from the moment they walk in the door. While getting reacquainted with our target audience seems like a difficult task to take on, gaining a fresh perspective for your organization will become a win-win for retailers and customers.

Visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register. Don’t forget to follow us on twitter at (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) for continued updates and information. See you in Miami Beach!

Tags: cpg, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
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Keeping Your Balance with New Shopper Trends

Friday, February 18th, 2011

As you flew through the streets, wind and shouts from concerned parents and onlookers whipping past you, you had no idea that you were about to fly over the handlebars. To this day, I bet you can still remember the sting of asphalt on your cuts. Even though you probably rode your bike more cautiously for a while after that, slowly, but surely, you began to regain your confidence and pedaled a little faster during each ride as you let both your hair and your caution fly.

On the back end of our financial downturn, consumers will also be pedaling a little faster this year, and we’re going to explore where they’re heading in our Summit 2011 breakout sessions that fall under Track C: Latest Trends in Shopper Behavior.

Our first session, hosted by Quester and SymphonyIRI, will give you a total view of today’s consumer. Whether you’re a retailer, manufacturer, or agency representative, everyone is going to come away from this session with valuable insight on how consumer behavior evolved during the last two years, what new products were successfully launched during a down economy, and how these products were launched so successfully.

To help give you a boost down the road, another interesting session will shed light on the healthiest, wealthiest, and best-educated generation of women in history—whose real strengths and interests are often ignored in the retail marketplace—Baby Boomer women.

Still have your training wheels on? We’ll limber you up with our two-hour introductory “Data Detective” workshop that will help you grasp the methodology and calculations behind the data collection of our National Consumer Panel. We offer this extremely popular session year after year, because it will definitely help you make better business decisions through panel data.

Last, but not least, SymphonyIRI will announce the most successful new brands of 2010 during the New Product Pacesetters session. Let’s face it; it has been downright daunting to launch new products during this challenging time. Amazingly, some products have been able to beat the odds and make a splash in the CPG world despite today’s less-than-ideal market conditions. Not only will you discover the best-of-the-best learnings from 2010’s most successful new CPG products, but you will get key longitudinal insights from SymphonyIRI’s groundbreaking “Innovation Highlights from 15 Years of New Product Pacesetters” report.

These sessions will provide you with a renewed perspective as you continue planning for 2011 and the years to follow. So what are you waiting for? We hear good marketing is just like riding a bike!

Check back here and on Twitter (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) often for updates! You can also visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register. We look forward to seeing you in Miami!

Tags: cpg, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
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Blueprints for Understanding Your Consumer

Friday, February 18th, 2011

We are offering more than 30 breakout sessions at Summit 2011, and I think many of our conference attendees will find our sessions under Track B: Innovation – The Cornerstone to Business Growth to be particularly enlightening, as everyone is trying to adapt to the “new normal,” optimize their brands and increase revenue.

Discovering which analytics and metrics really matter is one way to get a leg up on the “new normal.” Because today’s sophisticated consumer calls for more sophisticated analytics, Ventana Research is hosting a thought-provoking session that will teach you to disregard the analytics that are irrelevant and discover the right ones instead. They will show you which analytics are holding you back from truly connecting with your customers.

You can also learn how to separate yourself from the pack using downstream data during a session presented by Gartner. Marketing won’t mean a thing if you don’t understand how shoppers behave at the shelf, and Gartner will discuss how industry-leaders are using downstream data to improve performance and promotional effectiveness.

You also won’t want to miss a session hosted by SymphonyIRI Hendry that will zero in on how to bring the right products to market. Since shopping behaviors are changing so rapidly, you really need fact-based insights about the consumer and the competition to get it right. SymphonyIRI Hendry will help you identify white space opportunities, extend brand profitability, and even anticipate how the competition will behave. They will present a top-line view of market structure through simulations, which will provide guidance for prioritizing innovation and optimizing brand spending. If that isn’t enough, SymphonyIRI is hosting another session in this track that will examine the best practices that the most successful CPG companies have implemented to achieve their growth goals.

SymphonyIRI is also hosting the final session in this track, which will delve into the factors that drive a brand’s performance. You will examine lessons from share forecasting that will help you develop improved analytic approaches, avoid potential pitfalls, and encourage market share growth. Sales and marketing teams alike will walk away from this track with new ideas that will put your organization on the track to success.

Check back here and on Twitter (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) often for updates! You can also visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register. We look forward to seeing you in Miami!

Tags: cpg, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, shopping trends, Summit, SymphonyIRI
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CPGs Gone Digital in Miami Beach

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Digital advances are changing the shopper marketing landscape daily. Think about it: we are almost never away from a digital gadget today. At home, we have our computers. On our commute, many of us are surfing the web or checking emails on our mobile phones. At the café, there’s a 3G connection that will have you up and running while you sip your morning latté.

Consequently, every digital development offers new opportunities for brands to grab attention, so this year at the SymphonyIRI Group Summit, we are proud to offer many exciting sessions that will help you hone the tools in your digital marketing arsenal.

To set the scene, Steve Frenda, Managing Director of In-Store Marketing Institute, will help us break down the current media environment, and decipher shifts in shopper behavior in our

“Future Marketing – Digital and Mobile” track session.

Building on those key elements, comScore will focus on the key trends in digital marketing for the CPG industry. comScore will present its insights into the industry’s ad effectiveness and growth opportunities in one session, and share study findings from recent digital copy tests across CPG brands in a second. These two sessions aim to shed light on what’s working, what’s not, and how these insights can be put to work in future campaigns.

In-store sales aren’t the only place that consumers are affected by messaging. As more and more shopping is done online, clever marketing methods are being developed to sway customer behavior all the way through check-out. In its session, Target will present a case study of its own use of Shopping Media, which offers highly relevant advertizing throughout the online purchasing process.

But today’s customer is tech savvy. Many know how to search online for a product, checking for reviews, sales and even coupons. Google will be joining us at this year’s summit to present a case study detailing how a CPG company’s sales and ROI can be driven by search and display advertising.

It’s no longer just electronics and books that are being purchased online either. The e-grocery trend is making weekly food shopping even easier for our busy lives. A panel of e-grocery masterminds will join us to discuss the changes in the way manufacturers are selling their products.

With so many new and exciting ways to reach out to consumers, these different sessions will all bring into focus different ways of addressing new marketing niches.

Visit www.sigsummit.com for more information and to register, and don’t forget to check back here and on Twitter (@SymphIRI and #SIGSummit) often for updates! We look forward to seeing you in Miami Beach!

Tags: Consultant, Coupon, cpg, Digital Marketing, Dollar Stores, Facebook, FourSquare, Groupon, Linkedin, Marketing, merchandising, pricing, Retail Solutions, shopper attitudes, shopper behavior, shopping trends, Social Media, Social Networking, Summit, SymphonyIRI, Twitter, Yelp, YouTube
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Posts Tagged ‘merchandising’

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