At Housewares Show, Supermarkets Urged to Cross-Merchandise

CHICAGO -- During the International Home and Housewares Show here this week, experts told SN that the key for supermarkets to sell more kitchen items is to cross-merchandise them with related food items. “I personally don‘t think that grocery stores do a really good job of cross-merchandising housewares and food products,” said A.J. Riedel, senior partner, Riedel Marketing Group, Phoenix, who coordinates the HomeTrend Influentials Panel, named HIPsters, and puts together the Housewares TrendTracker Report. Consider the time-constrained shopper, she said. “Don‘t stick the housewares in one aisle. Match them with the companion food products, because that is helping the busy consumer out, and that is making her life easier because she doesn‘t have to go seek it out,” she said. Also at the show, Ron Tanner, vice president, communications and education, National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, New York, told SN cross-merchandising housewares with specialty food items can build sales for the supermarket channel, which has 69% of the specialty food market. “If they can bring in relatively easy [housewares products] to sell that are relatively inexpensive, I think that they could do quite well with them,” Tanner said. -- Dan Alaimo