Too Many Products, Too Many Prices — Top 10 Retailer

A top retailer continued to find their pricing on key promotional items being topped by various competitors. One week it would be competitor A, the next competitor B.

Using Market Track’s Advanced Analytics tools the Merchandisers at the retailer were able to identify the low price offered on all their planned purchases targeted for promotion

Now the retailer rarely finds that something they decide to go big on for key event periods gets trumped by a competitor.

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The way Easter categories were promoted this year is distinctly different according to the media type in which they appear. In this analysis we examined the way opt-in promotions such as email and social media compare to print in terms of SOV of promotions dedicated to Easter categories. In the circular, the focus shifts to Easter items most heavily during the second week. Email increases emphasis on Easter items all the way up to Easter Sunday. Email provides flexibility to react to market conditions with a very short lead time, allowing retailers to match pricing or adjust category strategy. During the Holiday Shopping Season it was readily used as a reactive mechanism to price threats. Promotions in social media did not ramp up until two weeks before the event.

For the complete report, email us at perspectives@markettrack.com

Influencing the Retail Climate No Matter What the Weather — Lawn Equipment

The retailer market is influenced by weather year-to-year and week-to-week. By analyzing historical advertising trends, this manufacturer is able to advise their retailer partners on the timing of effective advertising programs. And by observing actual sales trends week-by-week, they are able to propose adjustments that positions ads for maximum impact.

The immediate benefit: respond to current conditions to have correct products in the correct markets.

The long-term benefit: craft long—term advertising strategies that pay off, year after year.

How can Market Track help you mow down the competition? Click here for an online demo.

While email and front pages of print fluctuate in the share of voice dedicated to BTS categories, website home pages remain relatively steady through these key weeks. This demonstrates a disconnect when considering the correlation between the peak of internet search for the phrase “Back to School” and online promotions featuring Back to School.  According to Google Trends—the highest volume of search for “Back to School” occurs the week of 8/14—which is a week prior to the height of promotions online and via email. Search trends are an indicator of consumer appetite for information about these type of products.

Consider a more concentrated focus earlier on BTS/BTC online and optimize your search efforts during peak times. In print, the highest level of BTS categories occurred the week of 8/14, while the highest volume of emails relating to these products spiked the following week. During the week of 8/21, nearly 80% of all promotions in email were dedicated to BTS products.

For the full report, email us at perspectives@markettrack.com

Delivering Data Before the Expiration Date — Fruit Juice

Perishables branded products like orange juice face constant competitive pressure from both local and national marketers, as well as from the calendar.

That’s why Market Track is critically important in helping a major brand monitor competitive advertising activity, particular super—low pricing activity that requires a quick response to avoid date concerns.

Market Track automatically delivers “alert” reports on current competitive advertising across markets and regions by size and variety.

This way, emerging trends and successful niche products are quickly spotted—in time for proactive distribution shifts and effective temporary markdowns.

For fresh data you can slice any way you want, click here for an online demo.

During Back to School/Campus in 2011, there were considerable increases in promotions across a number of retailers as seen above when compared to 2010. Office Max, Micro Center, Kmart and Best Buy all more than doubled the number of circulars sent during this time. ShopKo dropped the largest number of flyers, followed by Staples, Office Depot and Kohl’s. JCPenney, who had the highest number of circulars during the BTS/BTC time frame last year, reduced their activity significantly in addition to starting their BTS/BTC promotions a week later than last year. Walmart, Conns and PC Richards also showed a decrease.

Finding Needles in the Information Haystack — Health & Beauty

A manufacturer of health & beauty products felt they had the in-house capability they needed to track all competitive activity.

But when Market Track notified them of a key competitor’s new product introduction in several markets they missed, they took a second look—and realized that they would need to double their support staff to keep up with the competitive monitoring workload.

Now they rely on special “alerts” whenever Market Track spots new product introductions or unexpected competitive activity.

And that’s not all. Market Track also reports on FSI coupon activity, providing complete analysis of competitive marketing strategies.

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In our recent Spring/Summer Grocery Planning research piece we reviewed the volume of promotions across Grocery and Mass. While grocers decreased the total number of drops for their flyers, page counts increased in all months except August, which was flat. Mass decreased page counts in the months following May, the most significant of which occurred in August, corresponding to the decrease in number of flyers as shown in Figure 1. It is interesting to see the delineation in strategy between Mass and Grocery, with Grocery producing larger inserts less frequently potentially to gain operational efficiencies. Conversely, Mass is sending more flyers into the market to gain more frequent contact with shoppers who are increasingly being hit with multiple messages through digital channels. Since 85% of consumers are influenced by the circular according to Acosta’s “The Why Behind the Buy”, Mass merchandisers recognize the power of this medium to make an impact on purchase decisions. For a copy of the full report, email us at perspectives@markettrack.com

Sales numbers indicate that overall the HSS can be described as uneven, with two big seasons split by a lull in the middle. From a promotional perspective, there were some interesting variations when you look at promotional activity in print across trade classes. Above is the percent change in page counts compared to 2010 across retailer class. Department stores in general produced significantly fewer pages in December 2011 when compared to 2010 despite a stronger start in early November. Electronic retailers started early, increasing activity significantly before Black Friday and again in early December. For the full report, contact perspectives@markettrack.com.

As retailers and manufacturers come off of a holiday season that was largely driven by promotional activity, strategies for spring and summer holiday are well underway.

Request our latest Dimensions report to:
•    Find out how strategies between Mass and Grocery differ when it comes to the number of pages and inserts being released around key events
•    Compare the volume of promotions across Local, Regional and National Grocery and Mass
•    See how digital promotions are being used to promote holiday related items
•    Discover what changes are happening in promoting key categories
•    Find out how commodity pricing affects promotions early in the ad planning cycle

Email perspectives@markettrack.com to request a copy.