Shopper Marketing

The Kroger Co.’s second-quarter earnings slid 8 percent, prompting the company to cut its full-year profit expectations as a result of a sluggish economy and unprecedented changes in customer behavior that company executives said wwould likely linger for the foreseeable future.

With fall comes football, and more center store categories than ever -- even some of Procter & Gamble’s nonfood divisions -- are cashing in on the excitement generated by the upcoming Super Bowl with high-powered promotions offering money-saving coupons, recipes, health tips, trips to see the Big Game and even, in the case of Frito-Lay brand Doritos’ consumer-created ad contest, which gives winning entries exposure during the telecast of the event, fame and fortune. Meanwhile, retailers like Roundy’s are coming up with such innovative football-themed initiatives as a cereal to mark the Green Bay Packers’ 90th anniversary.

Supervalu’s Chicago-based Jewel-Osco subsidiary will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) with “Sabor de la Herencia Hispana” (Taste of Hispanic Heritage), a month-long celebration of culinary events featuring Latino vendor products and authentic Latin American recipes.

Online shoppers trust the online reviews of strangers more than the recommendations of their friends, new research finds. “Conversations Among Consumers,” a new report from online retail marketers Ripple6 and The E-Tailing Group, finds that shoppers buying products on the Internet are influenced both by online social networking sites and face-to-face conversations with friends.

Inspired perhaps by the wave of publicity surrounding the recent release of the film “Julie and Julia,” and the subsequent resurgence of interest in culinary icon Julia Child’s cookbooks and TV shows, B&R Stores, Inc.’s Russ’s Market location at 17th and Washington in Lincoln, Neb., is enlisting customers to pay homage to Child’s influence on American culture in an entirely different way, with a Julia Child look- and sound-alike contest.

In the year since the financial crisis first began to take a bite out of consumers’ budgets, coupon use has risen, according to the PMA Coupon Council. Marketers made substantially more coupons available to drive consumer purchases, and shoppers responded by upping their coupon use by about 20 percent during the first half of 2009.

The savory snacking portfolio of Pepperidge Farm® Baked Naturals has gotten bigger with the addition of the Cheese Crisps line.

Visual merchandising (VM) is an indispensable retail discipline, consisting of a series of practical selling tools that are used to influence what and how much consumers buy. Successful retailers -- supermarkets in particular -- can employ effective and integrated VM practices as part of the retail experience and overall brand delivery, to successfully maximize sales and profits in-store -- essentially, it’s a silent selling service of sales-driving levers and tools.