MARKET WATCH
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NGA to Deliver Online Retail Intelligence Platform
The National Grocers Association will collaborate with The Coca-Cola Company and RetailNet Group (RNG) to provide a customized retail marketplace intelligence platform exclusively for NGA independent retail and wholesale member companies.
The multi-year effort, supported by The Coca-Cola Company and powered by RNG's proprietary retail database, will provide NGA's retail and wholesale member companies:
- 24/7 online access to a customized global database of over 212,000 store photos in 2,600 photo galleries covering all retail channels;
- A weekly newsletter featuring latest news and analysis on the grocery industry and in-store trends
- A quarterly insights and trends webinar series;
- Access to select RetailNet Group reports, including Retail Store News and Rankings
- RetailNet Group subject matter expert participation at select NGA events.
"Innovation, nimbleness and strong customer service are key areas of differentiation for the independent supermarket channel," said Peter Larkin, President and CEO, NGA. "The Coca-Cola Company and RNG partnership will greatly enhance the ability of NGA member retailers and wholesalers to compete at the next level by providing access to the latest in global retail format innovation and marketplace trends, across all channels - with only a few clicks."
Malt-O-Meal Brand Launches Integrated Marketing Campaign
MOM Brands flagship Malt-O-Meal brand is launching a national integrated marketing campaign focused on building awareness of its extensive assortment of its ready-to-eat cereals. The campaign will be supported with digital advertisements, a new interactive online hub, social media, as well as TV advertising.
The brand's new online hub "Flavor Nation" allows consumers to explore, discuss and share their favorite flavors of Malt-O-Meal cereals through a variety of interactive experiences, including “What’s Your Flavor?,” “Find Your Flavor Match” and a “#cerealselfie” social hashtag campaign. In the “What's Your Flavor?” section, consumers can discover their secret cereal identity by answering eight short questions. The #cerealselfie invites consumers to share their favorite flavor for a chance at “cerealebrity.”
Delhaize America to Deploy Sophisticated Payment Terminals at POS
Delhaize America is installing more sophisticated payment terminals in its stores to enhance consumer engagement at the point of sale (POS).
The retailer will deploy multi-media, EMV and NFC-capable MX 925 payment terminals from Verifone in more than 1,200 Food Lion and Hannaford stores across the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the U.S. The terminals feature digital color displays, graphic processors and large memory that will enable the retailer to deliver targeted promotional content to shoppers at checkout.
GS1 Connect 2015 Keynote Speakers Announced for 15th Annual Conference
Three keynote speakers will headline the 15th annual GS1 US conference themed "Innovate. Collaborate. Transform.” The conference will take place May 31 - June 4, 2015 at the JW Marriott Austin in Austin, Texas.
The keynote lineup includes: Guy Kawasaki, chief evangelist of Canva, bestselling author and former chief evangelist of Apple; Jennifer Golbeck, professor and director of the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland; and Luke Williams, professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business and executive director of the Berkley Entrepreneurship Center for Innovation at New York University.
New Software Platform for Vendor Collaboration with Roundy’s
Roundy’s has selected a trading partner software platform from Market6 to deliver a new vendor collaboration portal for its CPG suppliers and enterprise-wide merchandising team.
Merchants and supplier teams will be able to collaborate around the same set of daily store-level operational data, analytics, and performance measures by using the Market6 Foundation solution. Market6 provides web-based retail collaboration applications. The Partnering Group will design and imbed the Roundy’s-supplier collaborative planning processes and policies.
“By infusing our daily supplier interactions with better information, and by making our business relationships more transparent and accountable, we can make our stores more competitive and compelling to shoppers while managing our cost structure more efficiently,” said Bob Mariano, CEO of the company that operates 148 stores in Illinois and Wisconsin, and in the greater Chicago area under its four-year-old Mariano’s banner.
Mobile Remains Number One Priority for Retailers: Survey
Mobile is still the top priority for retailers this year as more shoppers use smartphones and tablets in stores, says a new survey. Fifty-eight percent of those polled put mobile at the top of their list - an increase over last year’s 53 percent.
The 2015 State of Retailing Online survey from Shop.org/Forrester Research found that smartphone sales as a percentage of online sales increased from 8 percent in 2013 to 12 percent last year - an increase of 50 percent; tablets’ share of online sales was up from 13 percent in 2013 to 16 percent in 2014.
“Consumers are flocking to retailers’ mobile sites at a faster pace and with more interaction than ever before, so naturally they expect retailers to offer fast, well-designed mobile services that meet their needs,” says NRF Senior Vice President and Shop.org Executive Director Vicki Cantrell. “With that in mind and with several years of mobile commerce now under the industry’s belt, retailers feel confident in their mobile investments. For retailers - when it comes to mobile strategies - small but continuous incremental changes really do go a long way to keep their savvy customers happy.”
Omnichannel is second and marketing optimization is third on retailers’ priority lists this year.
Southeast Grocer Adopts Food Safety Platform
W. Lee Flowers and Company has deployed an Internet-based solution to manage its food safety-related risk. The company operates or supplies 90 IGA / KJ’s Market and independent supermarkets in the Carolinas and Georgia.
“With the Food Safety Modernization Act regulations now requiring us to store and manage literally thousands of vendor documents, we knew we had to eliminate the paper shuffle happening on both sides of our business,” said Henry Johnson, President of W. Lee Flowers.
He adopted the ReposiTrak solution for its automation and validation capabilities. Powered by Park City Group’s technology, the platform also enables traceability as products and their ingredients move between trading partners.
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