Grocers Recognized for Breakthrough E-Marketing
Stop & Shop, Paw Paw Shopping Center and Supervalu were each honored last month for their innovative uses of electronic marketing.
They received awards at the annual Global Electronic Marketing Conference (GEMCON), an event for retailers, manufacturers, application providers, academics and consultants.
Other winners included Land O’Lakes (consumer packaged goods manufacturer), POSNet Services (system and program supporting vendor) and Webstop.com (system and program vendor).
The criteria to select the winners were program innovation and creativity, communication, and success.
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, Boston, received its award for two years of testing, improving and measuring the Shopping Buddy, a device the company feels will significantly enhance the consumer shopping experience in its stores. The cart-mounted computer made by Cuesol, Quincy, MA, is a wireless, Web-based system for self-checkout, information, deli orders and targeted offers. The program was tested in four stores for 24 months. It is scheduled to roll out in January.
“The measurement found increased basket size based on targeted offers in the aisles and increased shopping frequency of secondary customers,” said Michael Gorshe, executive director of retail and consumer packaged goods for Chicago-based Accenture, which sponsored the GEM Awards. “They also saw better labor utilization as consumers with larger offers began to check out their own orders.”
Supervalu’s Midwest Region, based in Pleasant Prairie, WI, won the wholesaler award for electronic marketing support of its associated independent retailers. The division began the frequent shopper support seven years ago. Today it supports 80 stores under the “Preferred Perks” or “Hometown Perks” name. The wholesaler coordinates support centrally using Catalina Marketing’s R-DOL program. This includes store-specific marketing support and detailed measurement of each program for each retailer.
The judges “were impressed with the creativity and the execution of many of the Supervalu programs,” said Carlene Thissen, president of Retail Systems Consulting of Naples, FL. One program limited shopper defection to a new store to less than 5%, and another increased private label paper towel spending over 440% among top shoppers.
Land O’Lakes, Arden Hills, MN, won the CPG Manufacturer award for its Internet promotions featuring spreads. The goal was to integrate online marketing into offline marketing programs with as many touchpoints as possible. There were several objectives: reach women, identify the loyal and competitive users, increase usage of spreads, drive trial of Soft Baking Butter, expand reach of offline consumers and enroll consumers in the online rewards program called the Simply Rewards Club. Coolsavings, Pine Brook, NJ, was the vendor partner in the program.
“Measurement and results were most impressive,” Thissen said. “Seventy-eight percent accurately recalled advertisements, and 27% purchased the product without a coupon after seeing the program.”
POSnet Services, LLC, Rolling Meadows, IL, won in the system and program supporting vendor category for its open promotion management infrastructure. The system processes customer-specific electronic offers in real-time at the checkout lane. It is being used in Pathmark Stores.
“The system begins with the CPG manufacturers, third-party vendors and retailers who feed offers into the POSnet offer database,” explained Thissen. “The retailers give those offers to consumers at the checkout. The redemption engine validates the offers, and then clears and settles the funds at the end of the process.”
Webstop.com, Palm Harbor, FL, won in the system and program vendor category for its custom Web site development in the grocery industry. The firm integrates its grocery Web site modules with shopper card and login modules, all based on a retailer’s customer loyalty database. Features can be customized based on consumer profiles, and they support direct mail and personalized Web page content. Current clients include Price Chopper (Schenectady, NY), Paw Paw Shopping Center, Dick’s Supermarkets, Associated Wholesaler Grocer’s Price Chopper and Country Mart, Martin’s and Penn Traffic.
