SAN ANTONIO -- "Consumer confidence is up, and we've exceeded the level of confidence we were at as the recession hit. When it comes to the retail landscape, an $802 billion market is up 1.3%, within the retail channels that we track. Drug is up 1.2% and Supermarket is up 1.1%," said Todd Hale, retail insights thought leader at Nielsen, said at the Global Market Development Center's (GMDC) 2014 General Merchandise (GM) Marketing Conference in San Antonio in early September.
"On the flipside, the mass merchandiser is having a tough time in this market, particularly those serving middle-class to low-income consumer," he said, presenting at Nielsen's GM State of the Industry 2014, a business session that provided more than 400 attendees with an exclusive look into the retail landscape and its performance in GM categories.
This business session allowed GMDC members to gain the most comprehensive industry and operational metrics and consumer shopping behavior insights directly supported by the recently updated GMDC/Nielsen GM Hierarchy--a benchmarking tool for GMDC members that tracks and creates visibility to important sales information by product in the GM industry for all channels of distribution.
"The GMDC/Nielsen GM Hierarchy was built for the members of GMDC by the members of GMDC to better reflect the categories they're in. We've added roughly 20 million UPCs to the hierarchy structure so it's a big amount of data," said Hale. "It's intended to be a business tool to take with you and help you make better decisions when collaborating with your retail partners."
Hale pointed out opportunities across various GM categories, telling members what to watch out for, what's up, what's down and providing insider knowledge about top performers standing out from the rest. In addition, Hale demonstrated how consumers are driving new retail models and capturing new behaviors from the everyday and seasonal consumer trip.
Attendees were also given a first look at how GMDC/Nielsen GM Hierarchy data applications are creating a stronger understanding of general merchandise's dynamic categories through a question-and-answer period with a panel of GMDC member executives discussing their experiences.
The selected panelists represented the range of business executives that GMDC members bring to the association and the overall GM industry. These panelists included John Jansen, director of GM/HBC for BI-LO Holdings LLC/BI-LO/Winn-Dixie; Lou Martire, vice president of trade development for Energizer; Anna Mancini, vice president merchandising for Valu Merchandising; and Cheri Taylor, director of retail merchandising for Kinney Drugs.
"The GM Hierarchy allows us to validate what we're doing. As center store and GM continue to shrink and fresh departments continue to receive additional focus, we have to focus on the right categories, items and space by using these insights to drive growth," said Jansen.
To watch the GM State of the Industry 2014 session, click here.
GMDC is a trade association dedicated to serving general merchandise and health beauty wellness retailers, wholesalers and suppliers.
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.