The Branded Pantry

I have written extensively about the underlying product information challenges facing the companies attempting to inform consumers about eating more healthy through simplified labeling.   (more…)

In an early June rant, I gave my impressions of the recent FMI show.  I thought the show represented the changes in collaborative leadership that are beginning to emerge in the CPG and Retail Industries.    Clearly both FMI and GMA are in a state of flux about their direction and about the issues in which they wish to be involved. (more…)

by: John Pryslak, Prime Consulting

While current, accurate and complete product information data is the foundation of any Health & Wellness program, any competitive advantage is NOT contained in the data itself, but rather in how the program (Guiding Stars, ONQI etc.) is designed and communicated to the consumer.

That said, a lack of current, accurate and complete product information data will be the Achilles heel for a retailer’s Health & Wellness program.  Imagine a program where individual products are rated against a defined and proprietary set of nutritional criteria and assigned a rating based on how good they are for you (not TOO hard to imagine since several such programs are already in place).  The overall nutritional worth of any item is communicated through a shelf tag that essentially tells the consumer if a product is “safe” to eat, or if they should consult their doctor before ingesting.

The health and wellness effort represents an altruistic endeavor on the part of a retailer to help consumers purchase the most nutritionally dense foods for their money.  Unfortunately, the reality that underlies this system is flawed since most of the available data used for these systems is not designed for Health & Wellness in general much less any single rating scale.

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3 events this week prompt yet another commentary on the risks of using CPG product information in its current state. (more…)

The swirl of Health and Wellness activity continues to dominate the news in the grocery and food trade-rags, websites, blogs and even some consumer publications. This makes sense given both the real importance of helping the shopper simplify their grocery selection process and the quiet targeting of food manufacturers and retailers that is going on in both government and tort-lawyer back-rooms across the country.

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Great post on the GXS blog site by Melanie Ligons on 12/17/07 (link below).

Essentially she predicts/hopes that “leading companies will step up to the plate in 2008 and address the CPG product data quality issues by taking the first steps toward implementing solid B2B Data Management programs.” (more…)

There have been two major announcements about Healthy Eating programs this week offered by grocers and by a combination ofacademics and grocers. One by Yale and Topco, a service bureau for such companies as Price Chopper, Food City, Giant Eagle, Bashes, Harris Teeter, Meijer and others. The second is Delhaize, owner of Hannaford, Food Lion, and Sweet Bay in the U.S. Many other groups are working on similar efforts (more…)