FAIRFAX, Va. -- A developing retail shift that requires business strategy changes by all supply chain partners will be the focus of the keynote address at the AWMA C-Metrics Convenience Industry Outlook Forum, to be held June 24-25 in New Orleans.
On June 25, Sandy Skrovan, research director for the U.S. at PlanetRetail, will explain how changes in the business environment, shopper demographics, technological advancements and business processes will influence go-to-market retail strategies. "Key trends, such as polarization, fragmentation, localization, personalization, and digitalization are set to impact the retail landscape in the coming years," she said. "The end result will be a retail environment that looks vastly different five years from now than it does today. Retailers, distributors and their manufacturer partners must not only react, but be proactive to realign strategies that will best position them to take advantage of the new retail realities."
The Forum is the first of two back-to-back programs intended to help convenience industry supply chain partners use convenience industry data to improve operations and profit. The second meeting, the AWMA DEF Harmonizing Assortment conference, will take place June 25-27, also in New Orleans.
C-Metrics Category Close-Up sessions will provide participants with an analysis of sales data from the first five months of this year and projections for the entire year, for these categories: cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, other tobacco products (OTP), candy, salty snacks and alternative snacks.
The closing panel discussion at the AWMA C-Metrics Convenience Industry Outlook Forum will feature leaders in distribution, retailing and manufacturing who will discuss ways that data collaboration among trading partners could improve c-store supply chain efficiency.
The session, to be moderated by industry expert David Bishop, managing partner of Balvor LLC, on June 25. It will follow a keynote address by Skrovan and Category Close-Up sessions that will detail sales trends in major c-store categories based on exclusive current C-Metrics data.
Panelists for the trading partners discussion will be:
- Sonja Hubbard, CEO, E-Z Mart Inc., Texarkana, Texas, with nearly 300 c-store locations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.
- Joe Hamza, vice president of sales and marketing, Tedeschi Food Shops Inc., Rockland, Mass., operating 191 convenience stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
- Keith Canning, managing partner, Pine State Trading Co., Gardiner, Maine, serving c-store retailers and other customers in New England and New York state.
- George Abdoo, vice president of business development, S. Abraham & Sons, Grand Rapids, Mich., serving retail customers in 10 states from Minnesota to Pennsylvania.
- Wilson H. Friend Jr., director, trade marketing for Altria Group Distribution Co., Richmond, Va.
- Bill Henry, sales director, Kellogg's Convenience Team, Elmhurst, Ill.
Overall, the AWMA C-Metrics Convenience Industry Outlook Forum will present the industry's first look at sales projections for 2013 for core in-store categories, providing information and insight to gain competitive advantage. C-Metrics, developed by global business intelligence leader InRhythm Inc., provides a strategic look at how in-store warehouse delivered products are performing today.
The AWMA C-Metrics Outlook Forum will immediately precede the AWMA DEF Harmonizing Assortment conference, to be held June 25-27 at the same hotel in New Orleans. The conference is intended to help distributors use data to improve category management and profits for themselves and their customers.
The Harmonizing Assortment conference, sponsored by AWMA's Distributors Education Foundation (DEF), was created specifically for distributors involved in making category management, buying, and sales decisions. Faculty will be Kit Dietz, Dietz Consulting LLC, and Doug MacKay, president The Glen Douglas Group, both of whom have long experience in the industry and have worked with AWMA on numerous distributor education programs.
The American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA) is an international trade organization working on behalf of convenience distributors in the United States. Its distributor members represent more than $85 billion in U.S. convenience product sales. Associate members include manufacturers, service providers, technology companies, brokers, retailers and others allied to the convenience retailing industry. In addition to convenience stores, their largest customer segment, convenience distributors also service grocery stores, drug stores, tobacco shops, mass merchants, newsstands, concession stands, gift shops, fundraising groups, restaurants, institutions and much more.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.