SIRS
Webinar:
Building Your Value Position in a Down
Economy
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Wednesday, April
22nd, Noon (EST)
Register
Today!
SIRS has been tracking
Value for over 20 years - what it means to
shoppers and what retailers need to do to
improve it
- from
the Shopper's viewpoint and thru POS/Frequent
Shopper Data
Analysis.
Recently -
within the past 6 months - there's been a major
shift among consumers that's causing a lot of
problems. Today, more time-starved and
skeptical consumers are looking for ways to get
more Value for their dollar. In fact, how
they define Value has changed. Likewise,
retailers are attempting to fine tune their Value
Proposition. Some have succeeded . . .
others haven't. There are 10 factors that
explain this shift and identify what retailers
need to focus on in this down economy. They
define the most important elements needed to be
evaluated to maximize ROI on a Retailer's Value
Equation.
This Webinar will
cover:
· The most important elements
that need to be evaluated to maximize ROI on a
your Value Equation
· Examples of what the
most successful merchants are doing to capitalize
on what might be called the Shopper's New Value
Equation
Presenters:
Bill
Welch, President, SIRS
Chris Ohlinger, CEO,
SIRS
Register
Today!
As a thank you for participating, you
will be entered to win a $100 gift card to
the retailer/restaurant of your choice, or a
donation of $100 to the charity of your
choice!
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Tactical
Value-Driver Services: Top 10 Value
Factors
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Enclosed is the FOURTH of FIVE
articles of SIRS Shopper Insights & Retail
Solutions. This article will take you
through the last 2 of 10 Factors that some of the
most successful merchants have focused on to
adjust to today's new Shopping Value Equation
caused by a seismic shift in consumer demands and
expectations resulting from the current economic
upheaval. They also happen to be some
of the most common areas where merchants who DON'T
get credit for Value fall
down.
STRATEGIC
AREA: TACTICAL VALUE-DRIVER SERVICES... Focused on
Trust in Saving Time, Money and other
Resources
Value is not only
price-related. It is also saving the
shopper's time and other valuable resources (gas,
health, their part of the world, etc.). It
is providing skeptical, time & cash starved
shoppers with services that are congruent with the
rest of your store and their lifestyles. The
most successful Value merchants have strong
"destination" specialty departments and
services. Their departments and services are
considered among the best in the market - not
merely a convenience added as an after
thought. More than 50% of their targeted
shoppers think of their departments and services
as a "relevant shopping option" - versus less than
30% for a typical food merchant. These
merchants also provide unique promotional offers
to communicate the value of their brand and the
special services they provide to target groups
(representing groups no smaller than 11% of their
potential shopper base) in predictable situations
(celebrations, main shopping trips,
stock-up/fill-in, minor emergency, to and from
work, etc.)
SAM's CLUB: Using their
buying
UKROPS: Using their pharmacy knowledge
expertise to help shoppers
save to
help shoppers buy smarter
 Today, consumers are shaken
to the point where their lack of trust in
institutions, including retailers, is
extraordinarily low. In fact, the "Trust"
ratings that SIRS has used for 15 years to
evaluate a retailer's Brand Position are
substantially lower than any other ratings
shoppers give us. The retailers who are
exceptions to this - and who have a competitive
advantage in Trust - prove the importance of this
key emotional element on a retailer's
success...especially offering new departments
& services.
Answering the KEY
QUESTIONS after each Key Factor will
allow you to identify if your Value Added Services
are positively impacting the Value
Position.
Key Factor #9: Value Added
Services...Destination, Congruent &
Effectively Targeted: Shopper Loyalty
Efforts, "Gas" Effect, Web Offerings, Health,
Time, Unique & International,
etc.
KEY
QUESTIONS: Are your service departments, specialty
services, unique product offerings and promotional
efforts adding Value to the total store? How well
are they recognized by shoppers? Are you
simply a place to "buy gas," "get deli items,"
"pick up a prescription." Or are your
departments as good as the best and being used to
leverage your strength in Value? Are
they cost effectively targeted to meaningful,
relevant, attainable and profitable
segments? Do they save shoppers' time,
money, resources, etc.? Do they differentiate you
from your Core Competitors in Total? By
Department? Is your POS driven information
significantly helping your marketing/merchandising
decisions?
Are your services
thought of as well as the same services offered in
outlets where they are their Core Services? (i.e.,
if you offer gas, are you as well thought of as
Gas Stations? If you offer pharmacies, are
you as well thought of as the Drug Stores?)
In most cases, no. And lack of "Trust"
is the reason
Key Factor #10: Private Label
Quality & Value Position vs. National +
Competi-tors' Brands.
KEY QUESTIONS: How much are your store brands
helping your value position? Which
categories offer the greatest opportunity for
increasing Sales, Loyalty, Traffic, Brand Equity?
How could they be improved? How many tiers
do you offer and who are they targeted to (NOTE:
They don't have to only be targeted to "price
sensitive" or extremely "price sensitive"
shoppers. "Natural" driven shoppers,
"health" driven shoppers, etc. are also
candidates.) Which categories are
underperforming versus their potential among
targeted
groups?
STRONGEST
MERCHANTS: OFFER MULTIPLE PRIVATE LABEL TIERS
OF TRUSTED PRODUCTS and they promote these brands
clearly and directly against National and
Competitor's
Brands.
 
COMPARE
YOURSELF:
HOW EFFECTIVE IS YOUR VALUE APPEAL TO TODAY'S
SHOPPERS?
The survey link below
contains questions that can allow you to
identify how well your stores are creating an
effective "Value" appeal to today's shoppers
compared to some of the most successful value
driven merchants. More importantly, your answers
can help identify what areas you need to address
to improve your Value Position at a time when
doing so is critical.
Please take a few moments to
answer these questions. As a follow up, we will
share with you how your responses compare to some
of the most successful Value Merchants & how
these comparisons identify where your efforts need
to be focused. We will treat your input with the
utmost confidentiality - our reputation depends on
it.
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 Around the World of
Retailing:
Harvey
Nichols - Edinburgh,
Scotland
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HARVEY NICHOLS: Creative
and Upbeat
Now, Jenners is probably the best store in
Scotland that you've never heard of. But
although the Queen Mum likes to shop at Jenners,
even over Harrods, the people I talked to think
Harvey Nichols is the best store. And I
agree with them. Harvey Nicks, as the locals
call it, is one of the most creative stores I
had the chance to
visit.
 First of all, his window
displays are actually fun...scantily clad and
suggestive mannequins with popular clothing and
skeletons mixed in with the displays let you know
that you're going to have a good time
here. Next, Harvey Nicks has really
cool and trendy restaurants in the store that
attract the upscale youth, as opposed
to Jenners, which appeals to the more mature
group - the age 99+ group headed by
the Queen. Not that 99 year olds can't
be trend setters, but lets just say in 10 to 20
years their "ranks" will thin out a
bit.
And talk about a view...Harvey Nichols in
Edingurgh also looks over a spectacular view of
the Scotish Coastline leading to the North
Sea.
The young people in the street really
feel that you can get anything at Harvey
Nicks at a price not as "dear" as
Harrods. And I don't think I can blame
them. As far as creative chic, there
are few stores in the world that compare.
You can see this from the bottom in the
window displays to the top - which offers a full
line food store and
restaurant.
And finally,
Harvey Nichols has expanded the Day Care Center
Idea that has become more and more popular in
retailing today. They not only provide Games
and TV's, but they sell alcoholic drinks to
husbands. It's a Husband's Day Care Center,
which includes a full service bar, playing
sports on TV for the types shoppers who are not
too interested in shopping for stretches longer
than 10 minutes ... AKA
"men."
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Smilers...thoughts to make you smile from
SIRS Back to
Top
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A young man was hired by a supermarket and
reports for his first day of work. The
manager greets him with a hearty handshake and
smile, hands him a broom and says, "Your first job
will be to sweep out the store." "Sweep the
store? But I'm a college graduate," the
young man indignantly replied. "Oh, I'm
sorry. I didn't know that," said the
manager. "Here, give me the broom - I'll
show you how
first."
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Inspirations...thoughts to inspire you from
SIRS Back to
Top
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"There is only one boss. The customer. And he
can fire everybody in the company from the
chairman on down, simply by spending his money
somewhere else." ~Sam Walton
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| For more information on
these articles, please email sjobedye@sirsinc.com |
MARCH
MADNESS
Over six in 10
Americans bought groceries at a low price
mega-store, such as Target, Costco or Wal-Mart in
the last month.
Over $.15 on every grocery
dollar is now being spent at
Wal-Mart.
FAMOUS RETAIL VALUE LIES THAT FOOL
ONLY THE RETAILERS
THEMSELVES INTO THINKING
THAT THEY OFFER GREATER VALUE THAN TRUE VALUE
STORES
We give better service.
They target a different type of
customer.
They don't offer the same quality that we
do.
Our prices are
competitive.
SPEAKING OF VALUE
In a survey among Senior Retail Executives
about the value of the different types of
information they were receiving, Consumer
Marketing Information was extremely
low.
"Only 13% said that attempts to
leverage consumer information increased
sales."
"Only 3.8% said that
attempts to leverage consumer information
increased margins."
"14% said that it enabled them to penetrate
new markets and serve new customers."
If you are among these disappointed Retailers,
please remember what Kroger's CEO said about our
work:
"(The research of the SIRS Team) is the
fundamental strength of the Kroger
Co."
Call us. We can advise you how you can
add Value to your Marketing
Information.
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