Commentary From Our President
Helping Non-Foods Become a Better Category
Michael D. Sleeper, Chief Executive Officer, Imperial Distributors, Inc.
Sometimes I feel General Merchandise and Health & Beauty Care isn’t getting as much attention these days as it should.
Even a highly rated consultant, whom we admire, hardly ever mentions GM/HBC in his dispatches to Retail Wire or in his books, the latest of which is entitled, “Inside the Mind of the Shopper.” By name, he is Herb Sorensen, and by reputation, he has consulted with the likes of Procter & Gamble and Unilever through his study of shoppers with their in-store reactions and their overall shopping experiences.
He doesn’t shirk from taking unpopular stands. For instance, he opposes the belief held by many supermarket executives that the longer a shopper stays in a store, the more he or she is likely to buy.
Sorensen contends that for many–if not most shoppers–time is of the essence, and for them, the faster shopping goes, the better. He says that the thinking that slow-down shopping is best for the store is behind some poor decisions.
As an example, he cites the fact that practically all supermarkets display milk in the back of the store, believing that—mechanical requirements aside–that it’s a good location by exposing shoppers to hundreds of items. According to Sorensen, this strategy won’t work with the many time-strapped shoppers who would rather take a hike to a drugstore or convenience store than take the long hike for milk in most supers. The solution, of course, is for supers to install secondary refrigeration, up front, for easy access to milk and juices.
While he doesn’t single out non-foods, Sorenson’s broad citations are often appropriate to it. For example, his dictum that supers should focus more on quick-trip shoppers leads to the checkouts, where both GM and HBC typically have pegged displays of last-minute shopping needs: Batteries for GM and for HBC, small sizes of headache remedies, and items for stomach distress. It’s important to stay in stock with these products, especially at busy express lanes, where in-a-hurry shoppers tend to go.
Another Sorensen “rule”—that products should be placed precisely where they will sell best–has a virtual component in non-foods. It’s known as related-item selling and extends from tie-ins with grocery endcaps, to selling in the growing perishables areas.
The list of successful non-food tie-ins is long, but here are some examples: In grocery, cereal bowls with breakfast cereal endcaps, paper towel holders with paper towels, and shippers of cold remedies in the tissue aisle(in season)…In the perishables areas, GM items enjoy a lot of profitable sales, especially in fresh produce with vegetable peelers; seafood crackers with seafood and in or near the fresh meat cases (in season), packaged cedar planks for barbeque; cheese knives or spreaders near the cheese case, and in the deli/ salad sections, spoons and utensils for serving.
We appreciate Sorensen’s commentary on the web and in his book, and try to adhere to his principles. But we hope he will also recognize the importance of merchandising GM/HBC by giving our categories the attention they deserve. The success of non-foods makes us all more successful.
For comments or questions, contact us by phone at 508-756-5156, or e-mail: msleeper@imperialdistributors.com