http://brandedpantry.com Blogging on the CPG industry Tue, 27 Jul 2010 02:09:54 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en RFIDWorld.ca  is predicting the extinction of the bar code and the end of waits in grocery cues because of new less expensive RFID tags.A component of their aggressive prediction is the announcement of the adoption of tag equipped apparel (jeans mostly) by the world’s largest retailer.   After all whatever those big ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/07/27/checkout-rfidor-not/ For a number of years the industry has been trying to deal with the challenge of that "first moment of truth", the collision between buyer, brand and banner.   We have had all manner of developments and innovations trying to triangulate on that moment in order to make the result of ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/07/27/its-the-facings-stid/ Can Tight, But Is It Right? Surprising new information about the difficulties and effectiveness of continuity merchandising. "Can tight" is a familiar term for grocery operators that indicates a shelf is fully ready for a consumer.  Products are fronted, and as fully stocked as available inventory will provide.  Shelves stocked "can tight" ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/07/16/can-tight-but-is-it-right/ Mid-June and Sears announces grocery delivery through their mygofer.com site.  Initial delivery can be found in New York City and the Hamptons in Long Island.   Pretty ironic move from a number of perspectives.  Grocery has not been the strong suit of Sears or K-Mart in...well in forever. ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/06/21/sears-has-everything/ Few new companies in any industry last through their first 12 months, 90% fail.Companies trying to bring new ideas into the CG and retail space are probably more challenged, than new companies in many other industries.  CG and Retail are notoriously slow to adopt, just ask venture capital companies.  Companies born in ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/06/19/heck-of-a-couple-of-months/ CG companies are struggling with the prospects of having line items, entire brands (and in some cases entire companies) delisted from the shelf lineup at the “BIGS.” The “BIGS” are the large retailers such as Safeway, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Walgreen, 7-Eleven, Target and others.  These retailers have been the engine of growth ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/04/18/life-after-your-sku-has-been-rationalized/ On January 17, 1952 Save Mart Supermarkets opened its first store in Modesto California.  58 years later it is estimated to generate $5.2 billion dollars from its 244 stores and 28,000 employees.   They are ranked as the 28th largest Supermarket retailer/wholesaler in the U.S./Canada in 2009.  Yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that for the ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/04/02/grocery-merchant-leadership/ Bloomberg seized some movement by the world’s largest retailer to add back some SKU’s pared in year old Win-Place-Show program as a sign that the pendulum was swinging back from SKU rationalization.  They quote one head-hunter as indicating that manufacturer’s are stepping up efforts to staff now that they have ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/03/22/the-sku-rationalization-pendulum%e2%80%a6or-wishful-thinking/ A very interesting newsletter, http://www.shelfsnap.com/newsletters/Volume15.htm examining the differences between how shelves look in the store, vs. the plan  for those shelves. "Traditional analysis focused on out of stocks, typically misses compliance to plan.  In fact, often we observe shelf sections with no out of stocks, and yet not one item on the shelf is ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/03/07/chaos-on-the-shelf/ Much has been written (perhaps most succinctly by CPGmatters.com http://www.cpgmatters.com/ProductTrends0310.html#anchor_140) about CPG’s move back into E-tailing.    A number of the articles focus on P&G’s initial “build their own” strategy.  Other articles focus on new platforms such as Alice.com which has attracted participation from 29 manufacturers.  Almost all of the articles give ... http://brandedpantry.com/2010/03/07/cpg-e-tail-redeux-or%e2%80%a6something-else/