Supermarket Perimeter - January 2019 - 32

Deli

Seasonal
merchandising
BY RYAN ATKINSON

Working together
Building a successful seasonal merchandising plan in the
deli and prepared foods department takes a team effort.
Today's supermarket departments can't fully succeed by
themselves.
Portland, Oregon-based New Seasons Market takes
advantage of cross-merchandising its prepared foods in
aisle end cap displays, mobile refrigerator units and in
its Solution Counter, where items are demonstrated and
displayed.
"We love to collaborate with other fresh perimeter
teams," says Tracy Hardin, New Seasons' director of merchandising. "Cross-merchandising can be a challenge
with perishable items, but mobile refrigerated units and
ice bins are really effective tools to allow staff to merchandise Grab & Go products in high-traffic areas like
the checkout, making the shopping experience easier for
the customer, while maximizing every shopping trip and
transaction."
Getting all of your perimeter departments to work
together - and for the greater good instead of their own
best interests - may not always be the easiest task.
32 - JANUARY 2019

"That's a battle that everyone has to deal with
and I feel like we've gotten much better as a company,
although we can still get better," Walters says.
Take the housewares department for example, she
says. Long viewed a bit like "the red-headed stepchild of
the store," because it typically does not bring in the revenue the other departments do, it sometimes presents
a dilemma when cross-merchandising. Walters says a
common attempt in years past might include just throwing some potato peelers next to the potatoes.
"But that doesn't help tell a story," she says. "We've
worked really hard with getting housewares more
involved with whatever is happening on the perimeter.
It kind of helps ﬂesh out the displays and makes it look
more cohesive."
Dorothy Lane gets ideas from other regional retailers, like Metropolitan Market, as part of a share group.
New Seasons Market utilizes interdepartmental
cooperation when it's planning seasonal merchandising
opportunities. For example, when the produce team gets
its selection of apples in the fall, that turns into seasonal
apple products in the deli and bakery.
"We get to turn seasonally abundant ingredients
into exciting recipes," says Hardin. "We create a wide
variety of recipes utilizing apples and we often engage
with the chefs in our stores and our central kitchen to
help contribute recipes and ideas. Sometimes we run
internal contests around innovation. It's all extremely
rewarding and helps celebrate not only the local ingredients, but the talent of our people."

Leverage the power of
seasonal merchandising
to put shoppers in
the mood to make
impulse purchases.

www.supermarketperimeter.com

PHOTOS: DOROTHY LANE MARKET

CARRIE WALTERS, corporate chef for Ohio's Dorothy
Lane Market, recalls how seasonal merchandising decisions were made just a few years ago.
"It used to be as simple as 'Oh we've got National
Donut Day coming up, so let's do something with our
donuts,'" says Walters, who oversees Dorothy Lane
Market's extensive and locally based line of prepared
foods. "There wasn't any storytelling or any real thought
put into it. It's a lot different these days."
That's because perimeter shoppers are a lot different these days. They're no longer showing up for just
deli meat and cheese to stock up for the week. They
want to be inspired. They want new ideas and easy decisions on what to have for dinner that night or the next.
"You have to be on the same page and have a solid
plan for how you're going to tie things together and
present them," Walters says. "It's part of the experience."

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Supermarket Perimeter - January 2019

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