We regularly get visits from reps from Cadbury’s, Nestlé, Mars and Kraft. Clearly they all what to influence which products we stock and how we merchandise their lines. On our merchandising plan I have to say that I have been a fan of the Mars approach since they launched Capital 2000 more than a decade ago.
When the Cadbury rep calls it is always clear why he has called and during the last few calls I have discussed the changes we have undertaken with the category. It is obvious from our conversations that he appreciates talking to retailers who use EPoS sales data to manage their range and layout plan. On this visit I talked to him about our desire to use space that we are freeing up from discontinuing the worst performing products to give the best dozen a double facing.
When I told him that by looking at profit performance rather than volume our best performing line is 250g Cadburys Dairy Milk and we now have it double faced in a central position on the display, something he has not seen in any of the other retailers he visits.
Understanding that each shop in the country has its own micro economy – in a village store like mine this is even more emphasised – certainly reinforces our willingness to be different.
