 Not on-sale!
Everyone wants to maximise the availability of their products in-store and a lot of work goes into package design. However, a major factor influencing whether or not products actually make the shelves, is how clearly they can be identified from the information on the case or trading unit.
Our recent work with retailer-supplier teams initially focused on the issue of replenishment in the Health & Beauty, Household and Frozen categories. Working in major retailer stores, we found that one of the most common complaints referred to the lack of clarity on product casing. One colleague noted:
Category focus
Health & Beauty, Household and Frozen categories were initially focused on because in the store, they had recently suffered from poor on-shelf availability linked to replenishment issues.
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Health & Beauty often suffers from poor OSA |
The Health & Beauty category suffers from having a large number of similar products per metre of shelf delivered in non-descript cases sporting heavily abbreviated and difficult to interpret product descriptions.
The cases of many branded products in the Household category seemed to have been designed with the shopper in mind but fail to meet the needs of store replenishment colleagues.
Difficulties in identifying cases in the Frozen category make it unpopular amongst store replenishment colleagues. In this area, quick replenishment is crucial because of the limited time that products can be left out of the freezer and the uncomfortable working conditions in temperatures necessary for frozen foods.
Learnings from these most challenging categories will be adapted and applied to all other categories.
Insight
During the replenishment process, the supplier-retailer teams identified two crucial stages which were 'make or break' for products:
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Stage 1. |
When the case is stacked with other cases in a cage and there is a need to recognise the product type and match it to a particular aisle and shelf location |
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Stage 2. |
When the case is in hand and there is the need to verify that the trading unit code and product description match those on the shelf edge label |
Difficult identification at either stage can make the difference between a product being replenished or being returned to languish in the backroom. Stage 2 is particularly critical during range changes, out-of-cycle new product introductions and promotional pack changes.
During our programme, many of the product cases performed badly at both stages, but there were some that succeeded at one or other of the stages, and a few performed well at both.
Colleagues highlighted a clear need for industry to address this issue and as a result, we are continuing the IGD Easy ID Improvement Programme, designed to help the industry supply cases that perform well at both stages in all stores.
Lose seconds: lose sales
During August and September hundreds of products were studied in major retailer stores during the “Measure & Understand” phase of the IGD Easy ID Improvement Programme. Retailer-supplier teams recorded how long it took to identify products from their cases. Overall performance can be summarised as follows.
Many bad performing cases forced store replenishment colleagues to cut their losses and move on to other products with clearer cases. The frequency with which difficult identification became a show-stopper for store replenishers was very high.
Design for generalists
Packaging designers should not assume that store replenishers will be familiar with their category or that English is their first language.
Even for store replenishers who are familiar with their category, difficult identification can cause a major headache, making replenishment harder and more lengthly.
Cases should therefore be designed with generalist store replenishers in mind, using images rather than words wherever possible.
The neglected easy
“Easy ID” is the first of the five “Easies” highlighted in the definition of fit-for-purpose Retail Ready Packaging (RRP) developed back in 2006 by ECR UK (see IGD's Retail Ready Packaging guide). In some categories, the industry has made great strides, making use of colour coding and symbols to help store replenishment colleagues.
Meanwhile much broader progress has been achieved in making cases fit-for-purpose in terms of the remaining “Easies”: Easy Open, Easy Replenish, Easy Shop and Easy Dispose. The findings from the “Measure & Understand” phase highlight the need for the IGD Easy ID Improvement Programme to remain entirely focussed on improving case identification performance, not just for present day use, but to help future innovations in retail packaging.
Redesign & Pilot
The second phase of the IGD Easy ID Improvement Programme is now underway. Changes to improve easy identification performance are being designed and piloted by retailer-supplier teams in three major retailer stores.
These include using:
- Symbols more widely to qualify categories
- Improved naming, abbreviation and system field use conventions
- Common labelling for different case types based on a replenishment decision tree
- Improved Trading Unit Code and Shelf Edge Label rules that comply with existing guidelines
Once the results of the Pilots have been analysed attention will turn to the “Roll-out & Sustain” phase in 2010. This will involve taking the solutions successfully tried and tested in one retailer and one category and:
- Adapting them to work across several major retailers
- Adapting them to work in other categories.
Call to Action
There are many opportunities for other retailers and more suppliers to get involved in the programme, learn from it, further improve its outputs and step-change their performance. The following examples are in order of priority:
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Can you spot why these examples are Good or
Bad? Click on the image to enlarge |
- A leading supplier in the Frozen category to join right away
- Other retailers and more Frozen, Health & Beauty and Household suppliers to make contact now with a view to:
- getting early news of pilot results and adding-value to 2010 roll-out plans
- attending briefing seminars or in-store experience sessions in early 2010
- Suppliers in other categories wanting to ensure adaptation of findings in the Health & Beauty, Household or Frozen categories are adapted appropriately.
Get involved
Your first step is to email james.tupper@igd.com and leave your contact details with an indication of how you would like to get involved.
More information
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