Study: Stores Not Doing Enough to Sell Green

Looks like Walmart Stores’ recent plan to develop a sustainbility index that clikcs with consumers will arrive in the nick of time: A new study finds that when it comes to giving information about green purchases, consumers give retailers a D-.

Last week, Walmart announced plans to develop a worldwide sustainable product index with 1,500 suppliers, which will establish a single source of data. “Customers want products that are most efficient, that last longer and perform better,” Mike Duke, Walmart’s president and CEO, said in making the announcement. 

A Webinar presented by The Food Institute & Miller Zell — August 6, 2009

Featuring

Curt Johnson, SVP Consumer Industries, Miller Zell

Moderated by:

Brian Todd, President, The Food Institute

In the study, Gone in 2.3 Seconds, Miller Zell surveyed 999 shoppers to understand which in-store and out-of-store elements most influence brand perception and purchase behavior. In today’s economic climate, retailers and manufacturers cannot rely on rote routines to motivate shoppers to buy. They must understand the core sensibilities of shoppers and engage them based on their own predispositions.

This webinar will examine the data gathered through that research and provide guidance on how to more effectively target food and beverage shoppers in the grocery and mass channels by using the store as a valuable media.

DATE: August 6, 2009 12 PM Eastern Time

WHERE: Via your Internet connected computer and telephone

LENGTH: One Hour

Who should Attend: Food and beverage retailers, manufacturers, restaurants, suppliers, distributors, consultants to the industry and trade press.

In-Store Marketing Triggers Webinar – $149

**Special Discount: Food Institute Members Register For $99** (Contact Sue at santista@foodinstitute.com or 201-791-5570 ext. 212 to request promo code) The webinar will begin promptly at 12:00 PM on August 6, 2009. Registration entitles you to participate in the webinar from one PC, so the direct contact information must be provided for the person who will be attending. Once you register, you will be receiving an email from Boston Conferencing with instructions for attending the webinar, so please add the bostonconferencing.com domain to your list of accepted e-mail, otherwise the e-mail from Boston Conferencing could be held up by your spam filter.

About Curt Johnson & Miller Zell, Inc.

Curt Johnson is Senior Vice President for Miller Zell’s Consumer Goods Division. Mr. Johnson was promoted to this role in November 2006 after serving as Vice President Client Strategy for Miller Zell’s Consumer Packaged Goods accounts. In his current position, Mr. Johnson is responsible for managing the activities of several consumer goods clients including Hershey’s, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, Crayola and Kraft Foods. Prior to joining Miller Zell, Mr. Johnson headed up the Roswell, Georgia office of BEN Marketing for 5 years prior to BEN Marketing being acquired by Ogilvy & Mather. After the acquisition he stayed on as Vice President Customer Marketing for Ogilvy Action Marketing Services. Mr. Johnson has served in a variety of brand management and marketing service roles over the past 18 years, managing and growing blue chip clients such as Procter & Gamble, General Mills and S.C. Johnson Wax to name a few. Johnson speaks fluent German and spent a year abroad working and studying for his MBA at The Koblenz School of Economics and The Pennsylvania State University, earning his graduate degree from Penn State. Born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Johnson graduated from University of Northern Iowa with honors and a BA in Communications.

Miller Zell is a leader in strategic retail consulting specializing in retail design, graphic design, shopper marketing, shopper insights research & analysis, and store implementation, serving some of the world’s best known brands. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. for more than 30 years, Miller Zell designs and builds award-winning selling environments across retail sectors including grocery, financial institutions, dealer-based businesses, restaurant chains, consumer products and mass merchandise. More information can be found at www.millerzell.com

About Brian Todd & The Food Institute

Brian Todd became president of the Food Institute in 2002 and has worked for this 81-year-old organization since 1980. Mr. Todd oversees the day to day operations of the Elmwood Park, NJ-based association which disseminates industry information through its weekly report, daily e-mail updates, seminars and webinars, reaching over 100,000 industry professionals. Mt. Todd graduated from Ramapo College in Mahwah, NJ in 1980 with a B.A. in Political Science and serves on the New Jersey Food Alliance of Rutgers’ Food Policy Institute.

The Food Institute is a nonprofit organization with a single purpose: providing information. The Food Institute strives to be the best “single source” for current, timely and relevant information about the food industry from “farm to fork.” The association serves as a trusted source of information, providing balanced coverage of the issues. It delivers information through multiple media so that industry professionals worldwide can tap in when and how they choose. For more information, visit, www.foodinstitute.com.

• Who are you?
• What is your point of view?
• Why are you different?
• How can you enhance my business?

We know that today, the battleground for customer loyalty and brand recognition is in the store. This is where significant increases in sales, margins and true brand building take place.

When we talk to new clients we express the importance of being able to directly influence shoppers’ decisions where 70% of actual shopping decisions are made. Developing programs that are cost effective, measurable and structured to be continuously improved and modified for varying shopper profiles lays the groundwork for long-term success in the retail environment.

The first step in that process is research. After years of in-depth experience with the world’s leading retailers and CPG’s, our teams have learned to create innovative, targeted strategies and powerful selling messages that penetrate. But the vital second step is what brings the first step to life: insuring in-store execution with 90% verifiable targeted installation. Most programs, even the award-winning, only achieve 30-40% installation. It doesn’t matter how good it is if more than half your customers never see it. Thus, our proposition for clients is Results, Delivered…consistently.

Here are a couple of articles that appeared recently hightlighting MZ’s expertise in retail design. Check it out!

Retail as Theater, The Hub Magazine, September/October 2008

John Wilkins, Vice President of Client and Retail Strategy, discusses how to use the retail space to create captivating displays that reinvent the brand for shoppers.

Relaying the Message, Grocery Headquarters, September 2008

Rick Barrick, Vice President of Digital Media, was tapped to comment on the influence of in store digital media.