STORES Magazine - April 2008 - (Page 26)

fullprice/markdown Store of the Future THE STORE where America shops is expanding its vision of the AmeriLL FU ICE can shopper and blazing a trail that PR others should emulate. Wal-Mart opened a new store in Dearborn, Mich., that caters to the nearly half-million Arab-Americans who live in the area. Stocked with falafel, Lebanese extra virgin olive oil, Halal meats and Islamic greeting cards, it’s like no other Wal-Mart in the United States. The 200,000-sq.-ft. supercenter is the most extreme example to date of the “store of the community” strategy that Wal-Mart has been testing over the past two years. In front are 22 tables stacked with fresh produce, including squash, eggplant and lesser-known items like kusa and batenjan. Shelves are filled with Arab favorites like mango juice from Egypt and vine leaves from Turkey. Arabic, Spanish and English are spoken at the Dearborn store, and employees will wear special name tags that indicate if they speak languages other than English. Signage also comes in all three languages. The ethnic mix carries over into the non-grocery items; shoppers can pick up a CD from Lebanese pop singer Ragheb Alama or buy Muslim greeting cards. & RETAIL HITS MISSES Wanna Lick? PRODUCT SAMPLING is generally RK considered a good thing: If you can MA N DOW get people to taste a new product, you lift the purchase potential exponentially. But inviting shoppers to take a taste is a whole lot different than persuading them to have a lick. That’s what Welch’s grape juice has done with what is believed to be the first-ever consumer magazine ad that enables readers to sample a product by licking the ad. Welch’s full-page ad in People in February showed a bottle of grape juice and, alongside it, a peel-off strip that reads: “For a TASTY fact, remove & LICK.” Introducing the sense of taste is a good way to grab attention; the theory, according to some experts, is that using multiple senses to process ads helps consumers build a stronger connection with a brand. Still, it’s really difficult to get past the “eeewww” factor here: How will the pass-along reader feel when they get to the “already-been licked” page? Scratch and sniff ads can be fun; lickable ads are just gross. Beaming “Buy Me” HOW DO YOU secure a spot on a store shelf L without spending a dime on advertising? Creative FUL ICE packaging may do the trick. PR Messing with Comfort Foods RK- reported that Sara MA N DOW Lee is reformulating IT’S BEEN widely NXT shaving gel for young men stands out from the competition because its triangular container lights up from the bottom, illuminating air bubbles suspended in the clear gel. The container is tinted blue, so when a light-emitting diode (LED) turns on (and stays on for a few seconds) it looks like a miniature lava lamp. The NXT collection debuted at Target last month and is soon to arrive at Wal-Mart, CVS, Duane Reade, Winn-Dixie and Fred Meyer – a pretty impressive initial rollout for a company that has no intention of plunking down millions to advertise. NXT is not the first to use lightup packaging as an attention grabber; Huggies has a children’s hand soap with a built-in light that flashes for 20 seconds — the recommended wash time. Still, the idea of winning eyeballs at point of purchase makes good sense. 26 STORES / APRIL 2008 some of its regional bread brands with cheaper, lower-protein wheat. General Mills is pairing the number of Hamburger Helper varieties from 75 to 40. Even Campbell Soup is cutting back on the number of ingredients in its soups – everything from meats and vegetables to flavors and spices. That’s just mmm mmm bad news for consumers who take comfort in comfort foods. To be fair, the changes are based on market conditions. A wheat shortage has driven prices to all-time highs; prices for corn, soybeans and other grains are also expected to climb — particularly as demand for grain-based ethanol rises and middle-class consumers in emerging markets like China and India push up demand for meat, milk and eggs. Poor weather and tight supplies of other commodities, such as coffee, have also caused costs to rise. Most consumers get that, but they still want to go home and know that the bowl of soup they love and the hunk of bread they use to sop it up will taste as good as it has in the past. WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

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

STORES Magazine - April 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page More Retailers Bagging Monthly Comp-Store Reports Time-Warner Center's Economy-Defying Results What Shoppers Think 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Eating Locally Grocery Concept2Watch Restaurants Online Services Marketing Human Resources Product Lifecycle Management E-Commerce: Peer Reviews Drive Online Buyers Kiosks Recycling Operations Payment Systems POS Logistics E-Commerce: Getting Personal Website Management LOEB Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - April 2008

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