Products Get CBS Boost

I love CBS Sunday morning and you should too. Today was the "Money" edition and housewares products received great PR from Kathy Ireland's home line to Batter Blaster [pancake batter in a 'whipped cream can'].

Correspondent Bill Geist featured interviews with the creators of Batter Blaster and Baker's Edge Brownie pan - these interviews just might result in some Google searches by consumers interested in the product. Create a shelf talker this week to remind other fans of the TV news magazine of the episode.

For more information, check out the show or the products at the following links:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/28/sunday/main6252159.shtml?tag=contentBody;featuredPost-PE

http://www.bakersedge.com/

http://batterblaster.com/

Cheers!

Michelle

Our Friend Bill

I’ve been staring at this blank computer screen for a while now since I got the call. A friend in the industry let me know that we lost a superstar this week - Bill Snyder of William Glen in Sacramento, Calif. passed away on Tuesday.

When I think of Bill all I can do is smile – if he were here right now, he’d be giving me a big hug, teasing with a playful joke and telling me with perfect Irish brogue that everything would be all right.

For those of us who were blessed to know Bill, well, it was like getting to know joy. Bill embodied joy. When he walked into a room, happiness and laughter were his companions.

I’ve been speaking with lots of people today about Bill, reminiscing, sharing our gratitude that we were able to spend time with him in San Francisco this past August. 

And no matter who I spoke with – above the sadness – the joy of knowing Bill is what resounds. He was a gentlemen’s gentleman, a businessman ahead of his time, a father, a husband, a grandfather, and a friend.

Someone said to me that to see him in his natural habitat – on the sales floor- was something to witness. He had an instant rapport with customers, with anyone. 

Bill’s passion for retail is evident in his store. William Glen has been at the cutting edge of retail for decades. The store was founded in 1963 by William Snyder and Glen Forbes as a decorating studio and candle shop. William Glen was one of the first cooperative independent retailer catalog services. Beginning in 1976, the company offered services to independents across the country, printing catalogs as a collaborative effort.

Although the catalog service stopped in 1999, it's just one example of Bill’s innovation and forward-thinking business sense. 

Bill embraced technology. At William Glen, gift registries have been in use since the 1970s. In 2003, William Glen launched a proprietary registry link that serves as a bridge between the point-of-sale system and the web-based gift registry itself. 

When Bill began venturing into cyberspace, he again relied on his own inventiveness to create a site deserving of his customers. He launched “Bill’s World” blog – [http://www.williamglen.com/billsworld/default.asp] a place, he told me this summer, he created to live on long after he was gone. I recall responding to him that nothing could ever go on without him.

He said only, “Ah but it will.” And he smiled that great grin that always made whoever was so lucky to be there to see it smile right back.

And he gave me a squeeze that let me know all was right with the world.

Bill will be missed by us all, by grateful individuals and a grateful industry. And most of all by his family, who we send our most heartfelt condolences and thanks for letting us all share in his life.

[William Glen was selected as the Global Innovator Awards with the International Home + Housewares Association. You can read about this fantastic store and retailer here.

http://www.gourmetretailer.com/gourmetretailer/esearch/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002276460]

A Focus on Vendor Relations

The Kitchen Table series this week brings the International Housewares Association’s Perry Reynolds and John Roberts from Blackpoint Management on the line for a conversation first broached at Retail 2020 – the independents educational conference co-sponsored with the IHA each summer. Reynolds and Roberts led a discussion on vendor-retailer relations during the event. They share what they learned with Editor-in-Chief Michelle Moran in this three-part series. This segment focuses on the inequities small retailers believe they face along with solutions develop from both retailers and vendors.

So listen in at TGRtalk.com, post your questions and comments and we’ll respond or even get you on the air for our next broadcast Tuesday, Oct. 27^th at 2 p.m.

You can also see what some retailers are doing to facilitate clear communications with vendors. Eugene, OR-based specialty retailer Hartwick’s created their own purchase order protocol, which they list on every PO that’s issued, along with a credit form they utilize in collecting credits. You can download these forms while listening to the conversation!

Unprecedented Moves

Members of the press were invited to a joint call Sept. 14 to discuss an unprecedented partnership between the International Housewares Association (IHA) and George Little Management (GLM) to survey vendors on industry shows.
 
Alan Steel, EVP of White Plains, N.Y.-based GLM commented, “These [surveys] are the kind of activities that IHA and GLM have taken independently before. This seems like a point in time to address the industry collectively to solve the issues we identify collectively.”
 
The objective for joining forces, according to Phil Brandl, president of the Rosemont, Ill.-based IHA, is a strategic evaluation as to how trade shows can best serve the industry. The first phase of the joint survey work will be to reach out to gourmet industry suppliers to receive their input on trade events. The survey asks how many shows are needed and when they should occur within the calendar year. Both organizations provide marketing, merchandising and educational opportunities to the industry through trade events, and both want to make certain that the needs of the industry are properly met.

The focus of the survey -- GLM’s Gourmet Housewares Show -- was not a surprise to those on the call. The viability of the show has been quietly questioned for the past few years. For those of us in the specialty industry, the connection to vendors and opportunity to speak to both large and small manufacturing entrepreneurs is an essential part of gourmet retailing, and so the loyalty to the show remains strong.
 
Still, the numbers have been waning, and with the present economy, the ability for vendors and retailers to attend the quantity of shows currently scheduled annually can be an economic burden.
 
“We are always looking at our shows, and we are looking at the gourmet show particularly,” said GLM’s Steel. “We want to extend our commitment to the show.”
 
I’d like to congratulate GLM and IHA on their efforts to poll the vendor community to determine if there’s a need for a second show, and further qualify the time and location of the second show.
 
The survey, which will be e-mailed to IHA members and gourmet show exhibitors who aren’t association members, asks for a response within seven days. After reviewing the results, Brandl said he expects the two organizations will reveal the findings by the end of September.
 
The survey, which vendors can answer online, is at www.housewares.org <http://www.housewares.org>.

2020 Lessons

After spending two information packed days with retatilers, industry experts and vendors at Retail2020 in San Francisco last week. I have a billion takeaways, but here are a few quick lessons I learned that you might also implement in your lives/stores. And to anyone else who attended event - let's start talking here and let us all know what you garnered from attending.

From Phil Lempert's consumer panel - Consumers don't always identify with brand names in the kitchenware arena as I thought they would. It was interesting to see the struggle they had naming cookware brands, but still they knew the uses for cookware and what they wanted.

From Harold Lloyd - Visit 26 stores a year to keep my retail knowlege fresh and insightful. Also be sure those stores aren't simply specialty food and kitchenware stores, but stores that cater to specific consumers. Watch the trends and pay attention to how they are merchandising and talking in those stores.

I also learned some working habits from Harold - splitting my week into 55 hours for work, 55 for sleep, 55 for family and 3 for me - does that math work out? Yes, but perhaps it doesn't apply to the publishing industry. But it's certainly a goal for the year 2020!

Another thing is to divide my periodical reading amongst my staff and have them report back to me their findings - great story ideas, new trends, and for me publishing design trends. This works for consumer magazines as well. Another great idea was to pay your team a bonus for vacations - that is while they are on vacation to pay them a bonus or reward if they come back with a great idea from a specialty food or kitchenware store. I love it - I have some ideas how to implement this with my own staff.

If you were at The Gourmet Retailer's Retail2020 Conference, let me know what you learned. If you weren't and have great business or management tips to share with other retailers, sound off now!

And here are some photos from the event I wanted to share. Cheers!

   

Gourmet Show Tips

With the August 8-10 Gourmet Housewares Show opening this weekend, exhibitors are crossing their fingers to discover how they fare in the Gourmet Golds competition. Selecting judges from top industry publications – including The Gourmet Retailer  - ensures that the winners in each category are truly the best of the best.

Gourmet Housewares Show exhibitors have been submitting new products introduced to the trade market between March and August of 2009. All submissions undergo a prescreening process and the finest products are selected for the Gourmet Golds Display.

Drawing from upwards of 100 entries the judges will have their work cut out for them. Selecting the top three in each of the following divisions: Cookware/ Bakeware, Kitchen Electrics, Gadgets, Cutlery, Accessories, Tabletop & Textiles, Gourmet Gifts & Specialty Foods, and Green by Design. In addition, a Best of Show Award will go to the one entry with the highest overall score.

Here are some highlights from the upcoming show:

Greystone Brand, Wine Things Unlimited, will be
expanding their collegiate collection of glassware, plates
and wine charms at the 2009 Gourmet Housewares
Show. Sure to be a favorite is the unique Party Plate-
designed to hold both food and a wine glass with just one
hand. Non breakable and dishwasher safe, the party plate
is a great addition to any gathering.

 

New for Fall 2009, the iSi North America Creative Whip is a multifunctional tool for today's imaginative home chefs. Replacing the need for a hand beater, emersion blender, stand mixer, frother, whisk and any other kitchen tool designed for beating and incorporating air into other ingredients, the Creative Whip is a handy tool that meets any chefs needs. Show attendees will be able to indulge in some sweet and savory Espumas (the Spanish word for foam or mousse) being served up by local Chef Frank De Luna from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Totally Bamboo will be launching new products at the Gourmet Housewares Show, one of which has been accepted into the Gourmet Golds competition under the "Green by Design" criteria. Totally Bamboo introduced  the world's first dishwasher safe cutting board GreenLite series.  At the Show they will present the latest addition to this series - the GreenLite Pizza Peel.  It's a classic made even better because it's bamboo, lightweight and dishwasher safe.

The Rice Plus Multi-Cooker with Fuzzy Logic Technology by Cuisinart features pre-programmed menu options, a 24-hour programmable finish time and an automatic "Keep Warm" setting that activates after cooking is complete.  One of the Multi-Cooker's most distinctive benefits is Fuzzy Logic Technology, which is comprised of a built in "brain" that senses fluctuations in cooking and automatically adjusts operation to ensure perfect results every time.   In addition, the unit has Quick Cooking and Reheat functions, making it one of the most versatile pieces of kitchen equipment a home cook can possess.

Centered in the culinary capitol of the US, the Gourmet Housewares Show in San Francisco continues to attract top of the line exhibitors and smart retailers looking for the best the gourmet industry has to offer.   Please visit www.thegourmetshow.com for additional updates and more detailed information.

Devour this book!

"Eat Like There's No Tomorrow," my personal mantra, is the title of a new cookbook by Georgia boy Hans Rueffert. What a joy and surprise this read held for me. As a chef, food-a-holic and cookbook gourmand, I could not put it down. Of the stacks, boxes, racks, shelves and crates of cookbooks I currently own, I can't remember any that I have read cover to cover in one sitting; I generally look at some photos and then to the dusty shelf it goes.

Yet, "Eat … " kept me focused on its prose, like when I frantically devour a bucket of spicy boiled peanuts; one page of this book flowed to the next. Each incredible photo and numerous recipes never broke my stride; stories of Georgia, Hans' bout with cancer, family photos of Germany and Norway, stories of hunting wild products and picking fruits, all bound by a feeling. The words resonated with me -- the emotion and passion he holds with food a familiar cloak.

Given to me by my friend Sarah from Out of the Blue, a cooking/gourmet store in Blue Ridge, Ga., the book lived up to her promise. Strictly speaking, the book focuses on Georgia products; there are simple recipes, numerous photos and short, engaging blurbs of everything from going organic to gathering fresh local ingredients, along with some technique and creativity, but that is where the similarity ends with most cookbooks.

The photography, by Hans and his wife Amy, is truly incredible. Pictures of food, plated recipes, family and landscapes are broken by numerous pictures of a chicken or turtle or spider or some other living thing intrinsic to food and the earth. The recipes, "suggestions" as Hans sees them, no matter how pretty or detailed, never seem complicated. "Eat … " speaks to the novice and professional alike, with insights of taste, vision, style and life. It is a book you won't find publicized in your monthly publishing house mailers, but it's one that you should definitely track down for your stores.

After reading this and then looking at the pictures, I was inspired. Never encyclopedic or condescending, "Eat … " made my mouth water though I felt satiated. After all my years in kitchens around the world, gathering truffles, digging cattails and searching for the perfect fresh goat cheese or salumi, I should have been envious, but in the end, all I could do was smile. Thanks, Sarah, for turning me on to this book and to Hans for the inspiration.

"Eat Like There's No Tomorrow" by Hans Rueffert, published by Luna 7, 1st edition 2009. Call Sarah at 877-211-6716 for more information.

Failure to Success

Challenges Foster Innovation, Specialty Poised Benefit from Change

"Innovation is so much more than new products. Innovation is part of the whole business, that's the way we fight our way out of this," Nielsen’s President/CEO, North America John Lewis explained during The Nielsen Company's Consumer 360 Conference in Orlando.

So what is the true root of innovation?

 

Yesterday, I quoted David Bowie in my post about changes the industry faces. Today, author Malcom Gladwell [Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers: Why Some People Succeed and Others Don’t] stepped onto the stage and began talking about Fleetwood Mac.

 

Fleetwood Mac is often referred to as a band that became an overnight success. Instead theirs is a story of a band that went from failure to success. It is their effort that brought them success, not mere chance. Rumors was their 15^th album.

 

“I had assumed this was an overnight success. But it took 10 years for them to get to the top,” Gladwell said, adding that to achieve mastery you have this long period of gestation - the 10,000-hour rule.

 

“It is impossible to master any cognitively complex activity without spending 10,000 hours of practice on that activity,” he explained.

 

That’s 10 years of practice.

 

“I wonder, while we were in the last 10 years of this bubble where things seemed to be happening magically, whether we have fallen into the trap that effort isn’t in the center of mastery,” Gladwell questioned. “When you ask American kids what it takes to be good at math, they’ll tell you it is something you are born with, it’s innate not learned…Is this a problem confined to mathematics? I don’t think so.”

 

Gladwell illustrated his point with American Idol which fosters the idea of the overnight sensation, become a star in the next 10 minutes.

 

“It is so profoundly false and so profoundly toxic. And I cannot help but thing that this is a behavior that is seeping into our business culture,” he exclaimed.

 

There are two very different learning strategies. The first is Capitalization, where you build on your strengths and grow toward success. The second is the Compensation strategy, where you compensate for your weaknesses.

 

“You are given a series of disadvantages and overcome them to build on your value,” Gladwell explained. “This is the more valuable strategy. You see a very different quality coming from people or businesses that follow the compensation strategy.”

 

People who are willing to work harder to overcome their limitations succeed. In illustrating his point, Gladwell noted that one-third of the most successful entrepreneurs have been diagnosed with a learning disability. They have acquired, while overcoming their disability, a set of skills critical to the business world - leadership, problem-solving, oral communication, and delegation.

 

 “The Compensation strategy is a better route to greatness than the Capitalization strategy… We are at a moment when compensatory strategies are all we are left with. They are not obstacles to creativity, they are highways to creativity,” Gladwell concluded.  “I worry we have lost sight of the notion that the root to achieving something of value requires failure along the way. There is no way that Fleetwood Mac could have made it today. We would never wait 15 albums for success. We would not even wait one album to see promise. And I cannot help but wonder…Is that kind of attitude costing us of all sorts of genius and innovation?”

 

As this industry faces a new set of challenges – of disadvantages – those ready to harness their energy, their teams and work harder to meet the demands of consumers and the new social structure of the shopping environment are on a track for success.

Changes: Consumer Perspective

Collaboration is the theme vividly painted at The Nielsen Company's Consumer 360 morning kick off, as attendees found themselves consumed in data illustrating a continuously changing consumer mindset, fed by an ongoing shift in consumer psychology. And the message was clear from the start: collaboration at the retail-vendor level will be key the successfully navigating this challenging, changing landscape.

 

The grocery industry, indeed all of retail, is caught in the turmoil described in David Bowie’s 1971 classic “Changes.” Ch-ch-changes...turn and face the strain…Ch-ch-changes…just gonna have to be a different man. And while Bowie may have focused on the compulsive nature of artistic reinvention, the retail industry is focused now on its own reinvention – and that of today’s consumer.

Almost as if echoing Bowie’s own theatrical presentations, The Nielsen Company collaborated with Infinia Group to create a multi-media experience, entitled “Consumed: The Economy Hits Home.” The dynamic learning platform brings guests into the minds of consumers with a series of video screens – streaming messages, visions, pictures, thoughts and observations, and of course, cutting-edge Nielsen data -- combined to paint an exhibit of Mark Leiter [President, Professional Services] and John Lewis’ [President & CEO, North America of Nielsen Consumer, North America] analysis Consumer or Consumed: Achieving Clarity in an Uncertain World.

 

 

Viewers of Consumed literally walk through Nielsen’s data and the consumer mind, sharing the latest perspective on how macro forces in today’s unpredictable economy are shaping consumers’ attitudes and behaviors. The fact is that today’s consumer is stressed, but the fact still remains that consumers are still actively shopping, buying and using a wide range of essential products. How the industry chooses to move ahead in the most productive manner is critical.

 

“Navigating through this new landscape requires bold leadership coupled with a sophisticated, analytical edge, one that allows you to see around the next corner and spot the many new options for growth as quickly as possible.”

 

Consumed spotlights nine chapters or elements to navigate– Contrast, Changes, Coping, Challenges, Channels, Choices, Competition, Clarity and Curiosity. In a blitz of media messages, the participant’s vision becomes clear - change is inevitable and welcome. The mission now is to get close to our consumers as an industry, understand and service their needs.

 

Key points include:

• The American dream is enduring, although that dream was just heavily edited.
• Most Americans can still afford the essentials: food, clothing and shelter.
• Living a healthier lifestyle isn’t a passing fad or fashion
• Consumers are creatively redefining the media landscape.
• Long-term demographic forces will continue to created unprecedented growth opportunities.
• The home is quickly becoming the centerpiece of eating, entertainment and work.
• Discount shopping has become a full contact sport.
• Trading across (or out) of categories are today’s most important consumer decisions.
• Trading down (or over) to private label brands continues to gain momentum.
• Value messaging loses its meaning if everyone adopts the same positioning.
• Consumers may be ready for fewer, simpler and more meaningful choices.

Manufacturers and retailers need to keep focused on what’s changing and just as importantly what’s not changing. For exampled, in the world of private label, Nielsen reports that 62% of consumers agree private label is just as good as national brands and 90% say they are comfortably served by those private label options. Still, national brands continue to serve the consumer.

Beyond the flashing screens of the Consumed exhibit, Lewis reinforced these visions in  his opening remarks, noting the industry must focus not only on their own “micro-wars” of local competition but on the “macro-war”  being waged in other economic spheres such as restaurants and spas. As consumers shift discretionary dollars from outside dining experiences and salon treatments, how is the grocery industry responding?

“What are you doing to make this an opportunity for you?” Lewis questioned. Finding clarity in the challenges ahead will make this an industry that leads change rather than one consumed by it.

Consumed – the video experience - will be available on Nielsen.com in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

 

 

Changes: Consumer Perspective

Collaboration is the theme vividly painted at The Nielsen Company’s Consumer 360 morning kick off – as attendees found themselves consumed in data illustrating a continuously changing consumer mindset, fed by an ongoing shift in consumer psychology. And the message was clear from the start: collaboration at the retail-vendor level will be key the successfully navigating this challenging, changing landscape.

 

The grocery industry, indeed all of retail, is caught in the turmoil described in David Bowie’s 1971 classic “Changes.” Ch-ch-changes...turn and face the strain…Ch-ch-changes…just gonna have to be a different man. And while

Bowie

may have focused on the compulsive nature of artistic reinvention, the retail industry is focused now on its own reinvention – and that of today’s consumer.

 

Almost as if echoing Bowie’s own theatrical presentations, The Nielsen Company collaborated with Infinia Group to create a multi-media experience, entitled “Consumed: The Economy Hits Home.” The dynamic learning platform brings guests into the minds of consumers with a series of video screens – streaming messages, visions, pictures, thoughts and observations, and of course, cutting-edge Nielsen data -- combined to paint an exhibit of Mark Leiter [President, Professional Services] and John Lewis’ [President & CEO, North America of Nielsen Consumer, North America] analysis Consumer or Consumed: Achieving Clarity in an Uncertain World.

 

Viewers of Consumed literally walk through Nielsen’s data and the consumer mind, sharing the latest perspective on how macro forces in today’s unpredictable economy are shaping consumers’ attitudes and behaviors. The fact is that today’s consumer is stressed, but the fact still remains that consumers are still actively shopping, buying and using a wide range of essential products. How the industry chooses to move ahead in the most productive manner is critical.

 

“Navigating through this new landscape requires bold leadership coupled with a sophisticated, analytical edge, one that allows you to see around the next corner and spot the many new options for growth as quickly as possible.”

 

Consumed spotlights nine chapters or elements to navigate– Contrast, Changes, Coping, Challenges, Channels, Choices, Competition, Clarity and Curiosity. In a blitz of media messages, the participant’s vision becomes clear - change is inevitable and welcome. The mission now is to get close to our consumers as an industry, understand and service their needs.

 

Key points include:

 

• The American dream is enduring, although that dream was just heavily edited.
• Most Americans can still afford the essentials: food, clothing and shelter.
• Living a healthier lifestyle isn’t a passing fad or fashion
• Consumers are creatively redefining the media landscape.
• Long-term demographic forces will continue to created unprecedented growth opportunities.
• The home is quickly becoming the centerpiece of eating, entertainment and work.
• Discount shopping has become a full contact sport.
• Trading across (or out) of categories are today’s most important consumer decisions.
• Trading down (or over) to private label brands continues to gain momentum.
• Value messaging loses its meaning if everyone adopts the same positioning.
• Consumers may be ready for fewer, simpler and more meaningful choices.

 

Manufacturers and retailers need to keep focused on what’s changing and just as importantly what’s not changing. For exampled, in the world of private label, Nielsen reports that 62% of consumers agree private label is just as good as national brands and 90% say they are comfortably served by those private label options. Still, national brands continue to serve the consumer.

 

Beyond the flashing screens of the Consumed exhibit, Lewis reinforced these visions in  his opening remarks, noting the industry must focus not only on their own “micro-wars” of local competition but on the “macro-war”  being waged in other economic spheres such as restaurants and spas. As consumers shift discretionary dollars from outside dining experiences and salon treatments, how is the grocery industry responding?

 

“What are you doing to make this an opportunity for you?” Lewis questioned. Finding clarity in the challenges ahead will make this an industry that leads change rather than one consumed by it.

 

Consumed – the video experience - will be available on Nielsen.com in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.