Archive for April, 2010
Inside Safeway’s New EDLP Program
Monday, April 26th, 2010Tweet Readers of our latest newsletter will have likely seen the story concerning Safeway’s new EDLP program, which it has launched in anticipation of the continued roll-out of Wal-mart Supercentres in Western Canada. The execution in store has been quite good with clear price stickers on shelf showing the savings from the new prices, in-store [...]
Market Visit Report: Vienna, Austria
Sunday, April 25th, 2010Tweet Thanks to everyone who showed such great interest in our Paris Market Visit Report which was published last week. I am glad that you found it relevant and useful in your business. Last week, I was in Vienna, Austria which also provided some great inspirations and insights for CPG suppliers and retailers. This market [...]
Book Review: Inside The Mind of The Shopper
Sunday, April 25th, 2010Tweet In the world of shopper insights there are two preeminent figures namely, Paco Underhill the author of “Why We Buy” and Herb Sorensen, the author of “Inside The Mind of the Shopper”. I recently finished reading Mr. Sorensen’s book and it took me on a fabulous journey through the retail environment and how shoppers [...]
Market Visit Report: Paris, France
Sunday, April 18th, 2010Tweet When I get the opportunity to travel to new markets I like to get out and see as many stores as I can. My recent trip to Paris, France was a great one with lots of interesting observations that could be of use to you too. Here is a sneak peek at the Top [...]
Canadian Retailers Need to Go Global
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010Tweet There was an interesting article in the Toronto Star last week that discussed a recent University of Toronto study about the management of Canadian retailers. While the findings are that retail management in Canada is on-par with talent in the US, Canadian retailers that have international experience are much better managed. This is not [...]
Couche Tard Makes a BIG US Play (Again)
Saturday, April 10th, 2010Tweet If I were to ask many of you who is the second largest Canadian retailer by revenue, most would likely say Sobeys, some might say Metro. Both would be incorrect. Couche Tard is the right answer. In fact Couche Tard is not only a Quebec banner but the owner of Mac’s in Ontario and [...]
Why are SDM’s Shares Falling and What It Might Mean for CPG Suppliers?
Thursday, April 8th, 2010Tweet On Thursday, shares of Shoppers Drug Mart fell nearly 10% based on news of changes the government of Ontario announced to generic drug prices. Basically, the new legislation cuts the prices on generic drugs to 25% of the branded equivalent down from the current 50%. The changes apply to all generic prescriptions including those [...]
It’s Annual Report Season Again!
Thursday, April 8th, 2010Tweet April brings sunshine, warmer temperatures and freak snow showers. For many of our suppliers, customers and competitors, April also brings a wave of annual reports being issued on almost a daily basis. This should be a time when you are gathering the annual reports for your customers (as a supplier) and competitors (as a [...]
Something Fishy Going On in the Seafood Section
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010Tweet There was a very interesting segment on CBC’s Marketplace this week which investigated the types of fish that consumers were receiving vs. what they thought they were purchasing at Grocery stores across Canada. Marketplace tested 150 samples of pre-packaged and store packaged fish and found a whopping 22% of the sample purchases were of [...]
In Search of the World’s Greatest Sales Person
Thursday, April 1st, 2010Tweet To most of you, the name Ogilvy strikes up images of the marketing machine. A big brand agency behind some of the most memorable advertising and brands in the world. What many of you likely didn’t know, is that the agency’s founder, David Ogilvy, started his career as a stove salesman in Scotland in [...]
