Secondary Meal-Solution Displays Drive Dairy Sales, Study Says

Rosemont, Ill. — The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, an organization funded largely by dairy producers, last spring released results of a merchandising pilot test aimed at boosting sales of breakfast, dinner and produce items by pairing them with high-profit dairy products. On average, dollar sales increased 20% for targeted items and 30% for dairy at the six regional chains that participated in the tests."Any time you can take product out of its primary location, put in a secondary placement and create a solution for the customer, more product will be sold overall," says Paul McGillivray, vice president of sales and merchandising for Wellesley, Mass.-based Roche Bros. Supermarkets, which operates 15 stores in the Boston market and participated in the tests.Five refrigerated display concepts – some of them mobile units that could be moved to varying locations on the selling floor – were tested in six stores:Breakfast Zone: A section near the dairy case where breakfast items were paired with dairy products.Fuel Your Day: An area near deli and pre-made meal departments showcasing nutritious, hunger-satisfying snack options.What's For Dinner: A one-stop endcap that presented quick dinner solutions.Chef's Creation: A mobile refrigerated display featuring restaurant-quality meal solutions that could be moved daily to relevant departments.Perfect Pairings: A produce department cross-merchandiser offering healthy snack options.The Innovation Center focused the test on mid-sized, regional retailers – K-VA-T Food Stores' Food City, Roche Bros., Save Mart, Weiss Markets, Harris Teeter and Brookshire's – being squeezed on both ends of the pricing spectrum by large value and high-end chains. "What was extremely unique about this program was the level to which these retailers took ownership of it," says Bill Bishop, chairman at Barrington, Ill.-based Willard Bishop. He worked with Barrington, Ill.-based Balvor LLC on analytics for the test. "Retailers shared experiences, guided the research and participated in creative solutions concepting."The level of retailer cooperation was key to the project's success, says Land O'Lakes director of sales Joe Squires, one of a handful of manufacturers who helped plan the non-brand-specific project. "On the manufacturing side, we often talk about solutions such as this but are unsure of the operational capabilities at retail to bring them to life. But having the retailers in the room removed so many obstacles. With the mobile refrigerated displays, for instance, we may have been stymied by the availability of electricity in certain parts of the store. But in this meeting, a retailer said, 'That's no problem. We'll run a line and drop some power down to that aisle.'"The idea behind the Innovation Center's display initiative was to capitalize on consumer desires for convenience and healthy solutions as a way of altering their usual shopping habits. The ultimate aim: incremental sales and increased store loyalty."Most retailers sell products, not solutions," Bishop says. "Merchandising the whole meal is something very different. So you come in with something quick and healthy. You put yogurt together with berries in a highly noticeable display in produce. You've stopped them with a meal solution. They say, 'Oh, I like this idea,' and put it in the cart. It's additive to the shopping list."This concept – positioning displays "earlier in the shopping process" in high-traffic departments – was deemed one of the key takeaways from the test according to the Innovation Center, whose analysis of the test noted that meal-solutions displays worked better if situated in locations that made "intuitive sense" to shoppers and provided them with true solutions and not just "nice afterthoughts."The Center also found that such solution-based merchandising is more successful if it presents a simple idea and a limited product mix and addresses specific "need states" – convenience and health in the case of the dairy display study.Squires hopes that the dairy industry's initiative to use its profitable products to drive sales throughout the store will open up possibilities for retailers large and small. "Many retailers feel handcuffed by the designs of their stores," Squires says. "But if they can use displays – mobile refrigerated displays – in creative ways in surprising locations, they can stop people and make them take a look."Post-test, Brookshire's and Harris Teeter have added refrigerated meal-solution displays to their merchandising mixes, Bishop says.

Secondary Meal-Solution Displays Drive Dairy Sales, Study Says

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