Cover Feature
2017 Category Captains
GroCerY-FooD & BeveraGeS
Canned/PaCkaged Food Category advisor
ethniC Foods Category Captain
Hormel Foods
Hormel Foods
Hormel conducted research and developed a robust strategy to help several key retailers implement a strategy for boosting sales of canned meats and meals. insights based on consumer demographics resulted in a “utopian microwave convenience set” that expanded the demographic footprint, pulling in larger household penetration. For one retailer, Hormel rebuilt the chili planogram to simplify shoppers’ purchase experience, creating space for better-for-you varieties and regional brands. For another, Hormel employed adjacency and assortment insights to make shelving recommendations. For a third, the company used eyC data to analyze primary shopper sales, exclusivity and switching by brand within the microwave meal set, with the goal of optimizing assortment. significant sales lifts resulted across all partnerships. CraCkers Category advisor
Kellogg Co. the cracker category enjoys high closure rates and revenue productivity, but with fewer consumers shopping center store, driving traffic to the aisle is key to increasing category exposure and converting shoppers. Kellogg developed a simple framework to assess which brands were best suited for leading the category as a brand beacon. Brands were assessed based on brand health, household penetration and visual cues. With Kellogg’s Cheez-it leading the pack, the company used softwarebased heatmaps to create concepts that maximized visual attention. in-market tests with key retailers have proved successful, with others still in progress. dry PaCkaged Potatoes Category Captain
Idahoan Foods despite negative trends across center store, this category is showing volume growth driven by idahoan’s innovative prescription for Category growth program, which analyzes each retailer’s opportunities and recommends specific growth-building programs aligned to the four ps (price, promotion, product and placement). retailers following this program saw significant growth. idahoan concentrated on driving household penetration and annual shopper trips to the category and store as a whole through meal solution programs that bundled packaged potatoes with items in other departments, such as rotisserie chickens and other meat products. to make the category more attractive to on-the-go Millennial shoppers, idahoan helped retailers place a renewed focus on the single-serve cup segment, growing penetration and dollar volume.
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progressivegrocer.com
the Mexican food category is one of the few in center store that continues to outpace sales and unit trends. through product innovation and continued insights investment, Hormel and its MegaMex Foods division worked with retailers to enable continued growth within the Mexican food aisle. the company’s partnership with a southwestern regional retailer on adjacency and aisle optimization resulted in double-digit total household penetration shopper growth, with buying households up similarly. Further, Hormel teamed with a major northeastern grocery chain to develop a broader center store Latino/Mexican food aisle, and to adopt those best practices in produce, deli, bakery and frozen as well, with significant sales and unit growth.
Meat snaCks Category Captain
Jack Link’s Protein Snacks to help a national retailer boost its meat snack sales, Jack Link’s recommended category growth opportunities, assortment optimization, and expansion of the primary set and secondary locations. Leveraging macro snacking and protein trends, consumer shopping behavior, and category insights, the retailer expanded space and optimized assortments within the set at seven of its divisions. since the implementation began in 2017, the retailer’s total meat snack sales are up 20.1 percent, growing faster than both U.s. food sales, at 12.2 percent, and extended all-outlet combined sales, at 6.2 percent. in five of the seven divisions where the change was implemented, sales have outpaced corporate growth, with a range of 21 percent to 45 percent in dollar growth. the retailer has asked Jack Link’s to partner on future category leadership projects.