STORES Magazine - July 2008 - (Page 28)

EXECUTIVE SUITE / MERCHANDISING STRATEGY added to 2,800 more stores earlier as savvy,” he says. “Our customers this year. Today, Family Dollar’s truly know the value of a dollar SKU count in the food segment is in and they’re very proficient at manexcess of 630. aging a budget.” “If you compare the food busiFamily Dollar is not the first ness today to the programs we had player in the small discount retailin place a few years back, one of the er channel to chase a portion of the biggest differences is consistency,” food business. Dollar General, Zelmanovich says. “Shoppers love based in Goodlettsville, Tenn., has the ‘treasure hunt’ approach in our been in the food business for severapparel and seasonal businesses, al years and launched the grocerywhere we’re more inclined to friendly “Market” concept in change up the offerings to reflect 2003. Still, analysts insist there’s current trends, but in the food area room for Family Dollar to capture it’s about consistently delivering the a share of the food dollar. “Our customers truly know the products shoppers regularly look “Dollar General operates a large value of a dollar and they’re very for. number of stores in rural markets, “It used to be that a shopper with a concentration of stores in proficient at managing a budget.” might find Special K cereal, for exthe South,” Adler says. Family Dol— Boris Zelmanovich, Family Dollar ample, on two consecutive shoplar “has about 25 percent of its ping trips but not on the third and fourth,” he says. “That units in urban areas and operates stores in 44 states. doesn’t happen anymore.” “What’s interesting about Family Dollar is its focus on urban Consistency also applies to merchandise displays. “By conshoppers — many of whom don’t drive and so rely on a local verting the successful promotional programs into basic prostore for convenient fill-in trips. We have a bi-modal economy grams, items such as snacks are always merchandised in the and the bottom tier is growing faster than many acknowledge.” same place,” he says, “so when the customer only has five minutes to run in and grab the soda and chips she needs for a party, POS technology upgrade she knows where to find them. It’s all part of understanding The rollout of upgraded POS technology currently in her hectic lifestyle and tailoring the assortment and the stores progress will allow the company to accept EBT and food to make sure we deliver on the promise of convenience.” stamps, so Family Dollar will be “in a stronger position to attract low-income shoppers and potentially lift sales,” Adler Food segment grows 25 percent says. Zelmanovich keeps the financial specifics on Family Dollar’s Zelmanovich points out that Family Dollar is not replacing food strategy success close to the vest, but is willing to share the traditional trip to the grocery store. “We offer our custhat “very clear targets” were established at the outset of both tomers a viable fill-in trip option regardless of format,” he says. the cooler and food programs and the company has “hit those Weinswig says Family Dollar “competes with a variety of reobjectives – and then some. We’ve grown the food business in tailers, including convenience stores, food retailers, drug stores excess of 25 percent over the last three years.” and discounters. Based on the dollar stores’ limited consumEvery initiative Family Dollar undertakes “is based on careables assortment, they serve the purpose of fill-in trips rather ful testing, precise ROI models and controlled rollouts. Once than stock-up trips.” we work out the kinks in a program – whether that’s around Rising gas prices “could lead shoppers to stock up once a operational costs or assortment planning or financial dynammonth at the discounters/warehouse clubs, and then make ics – we take the next steps,” Zelmanovich says, noting that more frequent fill-in trips in between at the dollar stores for bacross-functional teams assess all aspects of every program. sics such as milk and eggs,” she says. “To that end, Family Dol“Our best sounding board is the store operations team,” he lar could be taking some share from Wal-Mart.” says. “They have their fingers on the pulse of the customer and Price is a key point of leverage for Family Dollar as it takes watch the business unfold day in and day out. Their input is on convenience store challengers in the battle for the quick-trip invaluable.” food dollar. It has considerable buying power, which brings Regardless of what’s on his agenda or where he may be in a with it the ability to deliver competitive pricing. given week, Zelmanovich insists on spending time in the stores “We’re about helping the consumer to stretch the family doland welcomes the opportunity to stand in the aisles and talk to lar,” Zelmanovich says. “With strong vendor partnerships, customers. supply chain efficiencies, convenient locations and a large “The single mom shopping at Family Dollar might not have number of stores, Family Dollar is well-positioned for future StORES as much cash in her wallet as someone else, but she’s every bit growth.” 28 STORES / JULY 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

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

STORES Magazine - July 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Dearth of Retail Creativity What Shoppers Think Wow, Is That a Wawa? 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Merchandising Strategy Concept2Watch Point of Sale Outsourcing Human Resources Top 100 Retailers Store Design RFID IT Operations Systems Managements LP Vantage Point Newsbeat Cover Story Emergency Response Systems Background Checks LOEB Retail Letter Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.