Shopper Insights in Action 2009 Speaker: Diane C. Wallace
Diane C. Wallace
Vice President, Shopper Marketing
The Coca-Cola Company
Diane leads the Shopper Marketing organization and the Shopper Marketing center of excellence for Coca-Cola North America. Diane assumed the role of Vice President in 2007 based on the leadership role she played in the transition of the organization from Retail Marketing to Shopper Centric Retail Marketing. Diane joined Coca-Cola in 2003 as Director, Retail Customer Marketing. She was promoted to Group Director, Shopper Marketing, in 2006.
During her six years at Coca-Cola, Diane has been instrumental in leading: the increased engagement with retailers in the areas of shopper insights, the increased shopper insights and shopper marketing capabilities within Coca-Cola North America; and the development and execution of idea driven, brand centric, shopper relevant merchandising approach at retail. Her team is responsible for the development of the retail channel strategies, marketing plans and in store merchandising looks of success, as well as the ownership o f the shopper insights and marketing relationships with retailers.
Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Diane spent four years with The Eastman Kodak Company. She was recruited to Kodak in 1999 as the Group Director, Customer Marketing and Category Management. After two years, she was promoted to Vice President, Sales Strategy, Planning and Execution. During her tenure at Kodak, Diane instrumental in leading: the creation and transition to customer centric brand planning; increased headquarter and field based customer marketing and category management capability; and, increased customer execution results of national brand initiatives.
Diane began her professional career at The Quaker Oats Company. During her ten plus year career at Quaker, Diane held numerous headquarter and field based brand marketing, sales and sales planning positions.
Diane holds a B.S. degree in Marketing from The University of Tennessee. She resides in Atlanta with her husband and two young children. She is active in a variety of community and non-profit interests.
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Consumer Concerns About Food Safety
This post on retailwire discusses that according to a study by IBM, less than 20 percent of consumers trust food companies to produce and sell food products that are safe and healthy for them to eat. The large number of recalls within the last couple of years has really had quite an effect on the perception of the consumer. According to the study, consumers want more information about the food products they purchase, in order to ensure the safety of their families. This is something that retailers and food companies will have to keep in the back of their minds when stocking retailer shelves this year.
Variety reduced on retailers shelves
The Wall Street Journal took a look at how many retail companies are reducing the variety of available products at their stores. After stores have reduced the variety of different products available, they have found that it has actually increased sales and lifted profit in certain situations. It is also resulting in more shelf space becoming available to large brands, a good example would be Campbell's in the soup aisle. There is a trend showing as well that many suppliers are cutting back on the number of varieties they're introducing to the market.
Read the full article here.
Alice.com Offers CPGs Direct to Customers
Just launched in beta, Alice.com offers free shipping and built in coupons for customers to purchase household goods. The makers of Alice are banking on the idea that the CPG market is relatively untapped online--although mega retailer Amazon.com, offers many of the goods. According to a report on AuctionBytes.com, "Alice.com CEO and co-founder Brian Wiegand said, "The vast majority of consumers don't buy their household essentials online, and we set out to change that at Alice by taking a completely fresh approach to the CPG industry. By eliminating the traditional retail layer, we allowed the companies that produce these goods to connect directly with the people who use them. The result is a neutral platform for CPG manufacturers to work together as an industry and channel their resources in exciting new ways for the consumer." AuctionBytes.com continues, "consumers create an account on Alice.com and select and save all of their favorite products, ordering only the items they need. Alice.com keeps track of items and reminds users when they are running low. Each shipment is bundled together in a single "Alice" box and delivered directly to the consumer." 
Alice.com Bypasses Retailers on New Consumer-Goods Shopping Platform
Kroger Thrives by Listening to Their Customers
This post in retail wire discusses how the grocer Kroeger has managed to receive higher same-store gains than its rivals by keeping a close tab on the shopper behavior of its customers.
David Dillon, chief executive of Kroger, gives an example of their style when he mentions:
"We send our very best customers coupon books specifically targeted at what they actually buy. The redemption rate of these coupons is significantly higher than other coupons."
Dillon ends by saying that it is important to know what your competitors are doing, but it is far more important to pay attention to what your customers want in your stores.
Brand Loyalty Falters in Recession
Reuters reports that brand loyalty has taken a turn for the worst during the global recession. Companies who were once. According to a study from the Catalina Marketing Corporation, "just four out of 10 brands held on to at least half of their highly loyal customers from 2007 to 2008." The loss in brand loyalty may be related to the increase in private label brands by Wal-Mart, Target and regional grocery stores.
What other factors may be steering customers away from specific brands? Is price the only issue?
Follow us on Twitter to share your thoughts!
Retailer Eddie Bauer Files for Bankruptcy
This post on retailwire discusses how the apparel retailer Eddie Bauer will be filing for bankruptcy for a second time since 2003. The chain, which is targeted to those with an average income of $77,000 has not made a profit in three years. The prolonged recession has definitely taken its toll on this classic retailer, which has been around since the 1920's. What are some other clothing chains that are facing the same problem?
Home Depot looks to revamp their instore marketing
Home Depot is working on reshaping their current marketing plan to reach out to customers to let them know that it's easier to shop at their store now.
"We've reduced the number of SKUs, and increased in-store marketing. And we're striving to eliminate rebates, coupons, sweepstakes, and gift cards. We don't have to want consumers to have to do something else to save money when they leave the store, like fill in a rebate card," stated Craig Menear, EVP of merchandising.
Read the full article at MediaPost.
Reminder: Free Webinar Tomorrow by MarketTools: Quality Research on a Budget
There are a lot of online survey tools available these days that allow you to do one-off research projects for next to nothing. While these inexpensive tools are relatively fast and easy to use, they don’t always yield quality results on which you can base important decisions. Why compromise? There are ways to do quality research without breaking the bank. Let us tell you how.
Join us to hear how your peers are doing high-quality research on very limited budgets. Our panel of experts will discuss their experiences and provide real-life examples of how they’ve been able to do it. During this one-hour webinar you’ll learn:
* Five simple guidelines for doing quality research
* How a panel can reduce your research cost and improve quality
* What companies are doing to deal with “professional” survey respondents
* When is it a good idea to call in the experts
* And much more…
Facilitator:
Mike Waite
Panelists:
Chris Schroll, Senior Manager Strategic Research & Analysis, Wolters Kluwer
Pat Merrill, Founder/General Partner, Merrill Research
and other research leaders from Fortune 500 firms
Register below, make sure to mention priority code MWS0025BLOG
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/375147800
Small Steps by Marcal: The Eco-Friendly Paper Company
According to this article in CPG Matters Marcal will be re-launching its brand after mixing up some shopper insights and marketing tactics to create a new brand that represents taking steps to a greener earth. They will re-launch as Small Steps by Marcal.
The company will take unwanted wastes from office garbage, junk mail, and waste from printers and use it for something good. Small Steps distinguishes itself from other companies marketing green paper products because most of them do not make their own product. Small Steps does the full line of pulping, paper making, and converting.