4 Partnerships That Scored Big for Retailers
By Steve Holtz on Oct. 19, 2016ATLANTA -- From exclusive products to marketing test cases, convenience-store retailers can gain an advantage by partnering with their suppliers.
“How can we be better?” asked Michelle Davis, senior director of sales for f’real Foods and moderator of a NACS Show workshop titled Partnership Success Stories. “By working together” was the clear answer in four examples explained by four panalists.
Here’s a look at how four retailers became better with the help of their supplier-partners …
Cumby’s Coffee
In 2008, Cumberland Farms’ coffee sales were hurting. After five years of steady decline, the Framingham, Mass.-based retailer decided to do something about it by partnering with Sara Lee. And not in any small way. Rather than just try to turn sales around, Cumberland Farms “wanted to develop our stores as a destination for coffee” and an entry point to a large foodservice program, said Greg Lorance, dispensed beverage category manager for Cumberland Farms.
Lorance worked with Sara Lee to identify why customers were leaving Cumberland Farms’ coffee (It didn’t taste good.), who the chain should be chasing (younger consumers) and who was the key competition (Dunkin' Donuts).
“What we found was our coffee was everything but what our customer wanted it to be,” Lorance said.
Following the research, Lorance worked with Sara Lee to “develop a coffee that exceeded expectations.”
With a new taste, a new look and a welcoming introductory price (99 cents), Farmhouse coffee debuted with radio ads, social media support, store and billboard signage and an in-store awareness program that included free coffee on Fridays.
The result: five-times growth over the past eight years, and the creation of one of Cumberland Farms’ strongest house brands.
“We were able to take that Farmhouse brand and expand it to other products,” Lorance said, including ice cream, snacks and shakes, among other products.
Kwik Trip’s Blended Solution
Kwik Trip was caught off guard when in July 2015 f’real Foods announced it was bringing new blenders to all its stores. It meant new training and site retrofitting that would be costly and timely.
By talking through the concerns, the La Crosse, Wis.-based c-store chain and f’real reached a compromise that ended up helping both companies, according to Terry Roesler, procurement manager for Kwik Trip.
KT had a planned store-improvement schedule. If f’real could delay the delivery of the new blenders to coincide with that remodel schedule, the retrofit could become part of the remodel expense. At the same time, rescheduling the deliveries allowed f’real more time to coordinate the manufacturing of the new blenders, allowing for more consistent production rather than a quick product build.
It was a true win-win scenario, Roesler said.
“Communication is the building block to a good relationship,” he said. “The building blocks add up to the success stories that you’re hearing about today.”
Rutter’s Goes Outside the Box
Rutter’s Farm Stores’ Derek Gaskin thinks of vendor partnerships well beyond the suppliers whose products fill his stores. Gaskins, chief customer officer for the York, Pa.-based chain, has reached out to other businesses in and around Rutter’s stores to build a one-of-a-kind rewards program, reaching as far as a local Jeep dealer.
The companies worked together to give away a new Jeep in a rewards promotion—the Summer of Freedom—that boosted both businesses and many others.
“Most rewards programs position [store] products as prizes,” Gaskin said, “but I didn’t want three prizes with a slim likelihood of winning, I wanted 50,000 prizes that could stretch through the entire summer.”
Rutter’s also keeps close tabs on what the reward-program participant are buying so that they receive rewards that they’ll enjoy. “I don’t want to give an energy drink to a customer who doesn’t like that or who has never tried it.
“The challenge,” he said, “is to keep reinventing and raising the bar that we set with the rewards.”
Maverik’s Mix Up
Maverik convenience stores don’t like to do anything low key. So when Hershey’s said it was bringing out a stuffed Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, the North Salt Lake, Utah-based chain of 300 stores wanted to get them first and introduce them to its customers its own way.
“We wanted to be the best in the rollout of this product,” said Joey Hobson, executive director of category management for Maverik Inc.
The chain took a “coming soon” approach, building excitement via social media and email to customers. “We let customers know before it hit stores that it’s coming and that Maverik will be the place to get it,” Hobson said.
Maverik also worked with Hershey to develop an update take on a classic Reese’s television ad in which two pedestrians eating peanut butter and chocolate, respectively, run into each other and discover a new great combination of tastes. In Maverik’s version, the pedestrians are eating a peanut butter cup and Reese’s Pieces. When the two collide, voila, Reese’s Stuffed is born.
“That one launch acted as a halo to our entire candy category,” Hobson said. “We outgrew our competitors by 54 points in two weeks.”