STORES Magazine - January 2008 - (Page 12)

CONSIDER THIS / EXECUTIVE EDITOR’S PAGE StORES® Small Ideas, Big Payoff BY SUSAN REDA STORES Magazine 325 7th St. NW, Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20004 202/626-8101 ig ideas are the stuff of retail dreams: They’re the spark that ignites a new concept, a captivating store experience or a flurry of sales for the latest must-have item. But often small ideas can have a big impact and resonate with shoppers. Over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed a few small changes in merchandising and marketing initiatives that managed to capture my attention. The first was an advertisement from Stew Leonard’s Wines. I’m accustomed to seeing liquor ads that are little more than bottles and prices: Stew Leonard’s full-page ad delivered so much useful information that I drove drive 15 miles out of my way just to show my appreciation. The ad showed a photograph of the most common holiday dinners – ham, turkey, filet mignon, etc. Pictured alongside each meal were their wine suggestions. For someone (like me) who is easily intimidated by wine shopping, this was a delightful stroke of luck. I know reds go with meat and whites go well with fish, but words like “tannin” and “oaky” are lost on me. Stew Leonard’s helped me to step outside my comfort zone in choosing a wine and made me look smart. What hostess doesn’t like that? Then there was the story I read about the Hannaford Supermarket that opened about six weeks ago in Dover, N.H. What impressed me most was Hannaford’s “Cooking School to Go” program: pre-cut and pre-measured ingredients for more than 50 recipes are featured in a large showcase. They could not have made it simpler for shoppers to break out of burger boredom. Not only are the ingredients pre-measured, they are packaged in miniature containers numbered to make it easy to follow along with the recipes. The meals are offered in two- and four-person packages, and Hannaford execs plan to rotate the menu offering to keep it fresh. “Cooking School to Go,” where have you been all my life? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had every intention of trying something new, only to scrap the idea because of a missing (usually obscure) ingredient. And finally, in an effort not to make any “mistakes” with gift-giving for my young nieces and nephews, I happened upon a website called Not in My Cart. Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports, created the site, which amasses recall information from both the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the FDA in one very lengthy list. There also are photos of most items. Since 2007 might be remembered as the year of the recall, the site made it easy to track down important health and safety information. It epitomized the concept of a small idea delivering a powerful impact. B RICK GALLAGHER Publisher Vice President 202/626-8103 FAX: 866/640-8136 E-mail: publisher@nrf.com SUSAN PATTERSON Assistant Publisher 202/626-8102 FAX: 202/661-3042 E-mail: pattersons@nrf.com EDITORIAL SUSAN REDA Executive Editor 516/437-1245 FAX: 866/640-8138 E-mail: editor@nrf.com HARRY LISTER Managing Editor 202/626-8199 FAX: 866/640-8137 E-mail: listerh@nrf.com MARY ALICE ELMER Senior Copy Editor 202/661-3047 FAX: 866/640-8134 E-mail: elmerm@nrf.com LUCY D. REDDAWAY Creative Director ADVERTISING & MARKETING MIKE GRIBBIN Advertising Director 410/893-8003 Mike Gribbin Therese Draddy Tim O’Connell Molly Deise Dan McClure Executive Publishing Inc. 900A Main St., Suite 103 Bel Air, MD 21014 410/893-8003 FAX: 410/893-8004 E-mail: advertising@stores.org CIRCULATION ELENA CAIOLA Senior Director, Circulation and Information Management 202/626-8146 FAX: 866/640-8139 E-mail: circulation@nrf.com DORIS MASON Circulation Assistant 202/626-8172 FAX: 866/640-8140 editor@nrf.com At STORES, we appreciate hearing our readers’ thoughts and comments. Please address your correspondence to editor@nrf.com, or contact me at (516) 437-1245. 12 STORES / JANUARY 2008 For article reprints, including e-prints, please contact our Reprint Coordinator at Wright's Reprints 877-652-5295 or STORESreprints@wrightsreprints.com. WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - January 2008

STORES Magazine - January 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Build a 'Bot Sneak Peek at Fashion Trends What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story: Fishing for Talent Retail CEO Compensation Research Concept2Watch E-Commerce Payment Solutions Online Merchandising POS LPInformation LP Vantage Point Newsbeat Industry Watch Cover Story: Making LP PCI-Compliant Mall Security Video Surveillance Industry Perspective Forum RFID Business Intelligence Data Management Logistics Turning Green into Gold Love of – and for – the Outdoors Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - January 2008

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