STORES Magazine - November 2008 - (Page 22)

fullprice/markdown Wallet-friendly Dinners RETAILERS that want to endear L themselves to shoppers grappling FUL ICE with today’s financial frenzy need to PR & RETAIL HITS MISSES get creative. Food Lion’s new marketing program, “Dinner for Under $10,” is a stellar example. Once a week, the supermarket chain groups together the ingredients for a four-person meal that will ring up under $10. One week it was spaghetti; the next featured chicken biscuits. “We are focused on finding ways to help our customers save money in these tough economic times,” says Gene Faller, Food Lion’s vice president of dry category. “Our goal is to provide our customers with lowcost, quick-and-easy meal solutions.” Pro-active Energy Approach ENERGY management is mainly about sustainL ability and cost savings. As it turns out, it can also FUL ICE be instrumental in helping to alleviate stress on PR Wanted: Price Transparency THERE ARE two issues that are increasingly important to shoppers today. One is relevance; the RK MA N W other is transparency. Merchants at the Avanza DO stores operated by Nash Finch in Colorado apparently didn’t get the memo. Questions have been raised in the local press about a “shelf-plus” pricing program used by the stores, which cater to Hispanic shoppers. The store advertises item prices and then displays those same prices on the shelves with signs that read, “A great way to save — Plus 10% at the Register.” The 10 percent surcharge is added to the bill at checkout, and is identified as such on the register receipt. The problem, from where some shoppers sit, is that the signage is confusing – and the practice runs counter to what she sees almost everywhere else. Most – if not all – “at the register” deals involve reducing, not increasing, the item price. Nash Finch spokesman Brian Numainville has told local media that the pricing program is only used in certain store formats “where consumers are more price-conscious, as compared to our more conventional supermarkets.” He insists that the stores have done a good job of explaining the 10 percent price add-on and points out that the stores are attracting customers with this approach. 22 STORES / NOVEMBER 2008 the power grid and managing urgent energy situations in the wake of natural disasters. Hurricane Ike slammed into Texas and Louisiana in September, leaving more than five million residents without power and forcing many businesses to temporarily shut their doors. Site Controls, a provider of energy management software, pro-actively conducted configuration changes to reduce unnecessary energy usage and protect the grid. The company also worked with clients to avoid the intake of excessive amounts of hot, humid air during unoccupied hours, precautions that protected HVAC equipment. Calling Bull on PETA PEOPLE for RK the Ethical MA N Treatment for DOW Animals (PETA) has gone too far this time. Last month the group called on the executives of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream to stop using cow’s milk in its product. PETA asked the ice cream maker to begin using human breast milk, saying it would reduce the suffering of cows and calves and give ice cream lovers a healthier product. Not surprisingly, the idea got a cool reception from Ben & Jerry’s execs, the company’s customers and even La Leche League International, the world’s oldest breast-feeding support organization. Ashley Byrne, a campaign coordinator for PETA, acknowledged the implausibility of substituting breast milk for cow’s milk, but said it’s no stranger than humans consuming the milk of another species. WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

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

STORES Magazine - November 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Every Cup Counts What Shoppers Think Less Park Time, More Shop Time 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Retail Held Captive First Look Concept2Watch Marketing Technology Custom Software PCI Compliance Data Security Arts Update Newsbeat LP Issues: Q&A Cover Story Surveillance Systems Online Fraud Industry Perspective LOEB Retail Letter Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - November 2008

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