The juggernaut of technology was on display last week in Tampa at MarkeTechnics. This is the Food Marketing Institute's annual convention on integrating state-of-the-art technology with merchandising and operations. A stroll through the exhibit hall was a stroll along the grocery industry's interactive, data-based, real-time, electronic, ECRed, cable-ready information superhighway.
In short: There's a lot of stuff happening. This dazzling display of technology will change the way retailers operate. It will also change the way manufacturers market their brands through the supermarket trade. Daniel Burrus, the opening day speaker and author of the acclaimed Technotrends, set a tone for the convention with a mix of predictions and advice, such as: "Apply technology creatively." The vendors on the exhibit floor certainly were following that advice with their wares. When prompted, they predicted how the industry will look in the year 2000, which once seemed like some distant gateway to the new millennium but is now less than six years away (58 months and ticking). So, here's a sampling of the way we will be:
· The brand management function has broad responsibilities with brands marketed by teams. It is an integrated approach involving logistics, sales and marketing. This modus operandi has allowed Efficient Consumer Response to work. · Card-based electronic marketing is the price of entry into the retail food business. Supermarket retailers without this capability cannot compete.
· Store-specific planograms are common, having evolved from the crude technique of using data to create something called store "clusters." · Because of demographics and ethnic diversity throughout the country, brand marketers are using 15 to 20 different promotional vehicles to reach their customers. · Manufacturers now outsource all distribution and logistics. A third-party "traffic director" coordinates optimum routes for product flow from manufacturer to supermarket. This third party also handles the flow of data and money. Manufacturers and retailers confine their energies to what they do best: marketing brands and operating stores. · Manufacturers and retailers widely use direct marketing to target households. The data comes from card-based electronic marketing programs which are earning shopper loyalty and preventing the loss of business to other classes of trade.
Some of these predictions are bolder than others. But collectively they signal a detour for brand marketing through the supermarket trade. And for those seeking a rest stop along this information superhighway, some words from Daniel Burrus may serve as inspiration: "If it works, it's obsolete."
