Chapter Seven (2:48)

 Steve Frenda:  

Context is really important.  Display execution is extremely important. Today if you look at a warehouse delivered item, it's typical that a mandatory display will, (across the industry), get about 35% compliance.  We are leaving a lot of opportunity on the table.

I looked at the late '90s as a very important point.  That was when the brands were moving away very aggressively from direct sales organizations and their own people in the store.  Retailers were consolidating and abdicating some of their responsibility for execution.

There was this collision of these two forces.

During the 2000s, we didn't recover from that.  Only now with the ability to utilize new and improved techniques across loyalty and compliance, the things we're talking about are coming back.  As you look at the marketplace today, where's that responsibility for compliance exist? Brands or retailers.

Brandon Barr:

I think it has to be a partnership. As a brand, there are only so many things that I can do to get things on the floor. 

I have a sales force that's in the store once a week, but that's just a single point in time.  The displays we send into stores are to drive the category.

Real time data is going to take a partnership between retailers and brands to make it drive the increased compliance.

The retailer will need to be able to communicate with their stores so those people in the stockrooms, who can put the displays out, will know exactly where they are in the back room.  We can tell them exactly where to put it in the store.

On the brand side, we'll have our people in the stores as well.  If I'm only in there once a week and I missed it, I need the retailer to help us out.

If we are both partnering together, we'll get more displays on the floor.  Getting more displays on the floor equals greater sales for both the brands and the categories.

Peter Bond:

Having spent a good deal of time in stores over the last couple years and particularly in the back room, there is some responsibility, certainly on the part of the retailer.

All too often the display gets lost.  If you've ever been into a back room, you will know what it's like.  I certainly know what it was like in a chain drug retailer.  There can be a lot of product there and it can be lost very easily.

Having tools that help us identify what's missing, allows people at retail to go find what's not been executed and make a judicious decision to put it up. 

That's what ultimately is going to get it in front of the customer and drive incrementality of sales.

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