Skip navigation

Wholesalers Suggest More Shelf Control

LAS VEGAS — IGA retailers should be willing to give up some control of shelf space and allow their licensed distribution companies to decide which new items to bring in and which ones to discontinue, wholesale executives said during the IGA Global Rally here.

“Everyone wants the latest, greatest new items because they bring excitement to your store,” Sam Mayberry, vice president of private brands for Minneapolis-based Supervalu, noted. “That may mean you need to leverage your supply chain and vendor relationships to get new items on the shelf. I realize it's hard to give up shelf control, but you must rely on your LDCs to get new items to you quickly, or else you could lose out on the newest, most exciting items."

Two other wholesale executives on the program offered similar comments.

“We are well positioned to make decisions on what items to list or delist,” Gary Sorenson, executive vice president and chief operating officer of H.Y. Louie Co., Vancouver, British Columbia, pointed out. “Retailers are faced daily with challenges to take care of their customers, and we can provide speed-to-market because of the time and effort we spend on category management, so when we pull an item, there must be trust — but it's a trust we have to earn.”

According to John Paul, vice president, sales and marketing, Nash Finch Co., Minneapolis, “The LDCs are committed to category management and going through syndicated data to justify delisting items. Trust must start with where our information comes from and allowing us to develop planograms for retailers to see what the best shelf systems are.”

Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish