ETD: 796 European Business Week 50; Emerging Trends Marketers
Target The Mommy Track; Patience, planning are critical for RFID
projects
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Jun 29 11:25:21 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0796 June 29, 2004
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] European Business Week 50
[3] Emerging Trends Marketers Target The Mommy Track
[4] Patience, planning are critical for RFID projects
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
For those of us who do business in Europe, the Business Week 50 Top
Performers may be of interest. Even if you don't do business globally, you
can learn something from these leaders, which is probably a theme for
success - "Know Your Customers." Do you know your customers or your
target? What do they want? Do you deliver?
For those Baby Boomers who spent their lives providing the comforts for
their children, take note: they wanted you, not your money! At least that
seems to be the trends now with mothers who used to be latchkey
children. Now they are spending more traditional roles as parents, and
smart retailers are targeting that trend. What do you think?
I am still fascinated with RFID, and am looking forward to the
implementation. At a recent expo, speakers told what was needed to
succeed. And WalMart - the most prominent name in this arena - is still on
target and expects some major roll outs in the coming years. Are you ready?
Tell us about your business which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?"
site. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have a
form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first proposed
this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't
know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] European Business Week 50
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Business Week listed it's top 50 European companies. So what does it take
to make the list? According to BW, you start with a strong brand. Then add
a close relationship with customers. Finally, you need a flexible
management team.
Here's some highlights of these companies, which, BTW, have a common thread
- know your customer!
1. Porsche was in tune with their customers when they introduced its
Cayenne sport-utility vehicle at the Geneva car show in 2002. The company
believed there was an underserved market for the powerful new model, based
on market research that showed car buyers would pay a premium for the speed
Porsche is famous for in the shape of an SUV. The crossover vehicle, which
can go from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in just 5.6 seconds, proved a
big hit with consumers, especially in the U.S. Brisk demand for the Cayenne
helped drive Porsche's sales up 15% last year and push its profits ahead by
22%. Largely because Porsche was in tune with what its customers wanted,
the Stuttgart company takes pride of place as No. 1 in BusinessWeek's
second annual ranking of Europe's 50 best-performing companies. "The only
thing that counts is success and that you deliver what you promise," says
Porsche Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking.
2. Retailers such as Tesco PLC (No. 12) are a big presence, thanks to
credit-card-fueled shopping binges.
3. Many banks such as HSBC Holdings (No. 5) and France's Société Générale
(No. 23) are seeing a boom fueled by record low interest rates and a pickup
in loan demand.
What do these top-ranked companies across a broad range of industries often
have in common? They have had success in spotting what customers want --
and then delivering it efficiently. British food retailer Tesco is thriving
in large part by mining data generated by its Clubcard loyalty scheme,
which monitors purchases and rewards frequent buyers with discounts. The
company, which also solicits customer feedback through phone and written
surveys, is considered by analysts to be top of the class at using the
information it garners. Tesco detected that customers wanted more
nutritional information over a year ago. That allowed management, led by
Sir Terry Leahy, to target sales more effectively by instituting a new
labeling system that will give shoppers more detailed information on the
fat, salt, and sugar content of hundreds of products starting this fall.
One country dominates BusinessWeek's ranking of European top performers:
Britain. The nation contributed 24 of the 50 and 7 of the top 10. In part,
that's because Britain has far more listed companies than any other
European country, which automatically increases the likelihood of their
making it onto the list. But analysts also give credit to a buoyant British
economy, which has achieved 47 quarters of unbroken economic growth since
1992 and has consistently outperformed the euro zone. Another key factor is
the greater flexibility of the British economy, which gives companies room
to grow. "The environment in Britain is different [from Continental
Europe]," says Porsche's Wiedeking. "The people [there] have confidence in
the future. That helps [British] companies."
To be sure, superior performance is not all growth-stoking takeovers and
brilliant boardroom strategy. The best European companies have been helped
over the past year by a more favorable economic climate. After three years
of stagnation, the euro zone economy is finally showing signs of life.
That's good news for the likes of Swedish retailer H&M Hennes & Mauritz
(No. 37) and British-based hotelier Hilton Group (No. 43), whose business
picks up as the economy gains traction. The continuing buildup of the
Spanish economy, which has outperformed the major euro-zone countries in
recent years, helps explain why three Spanish engineering and construction
groups -- Grupo Ferrovial (No. 21), Grupo ACS (No. 27), and Abertis
Infraestructuras (No. 34) -- made the list. Meanwhile, a strong economy in
the U.S. has helped companies with a presence there, such as the Royal Bank
of Scotland Group PLC (No. 16), which increased sales by 12% and profits by
31% last year.
What separates the best performers from the rest of the 50 is clearly
superior management, which can create value even when times are tough. The
BW Europe 50 weeds out one-year wonders by melding the performance of
companies in the Standard & Poor's (MHP ) Europe 350 over both one and
three years. That provides a basis for evaluating companies through good
times and bad.
Europewide, the economic picture has been mixed, which is reflected in the
rankings. In Germany, for instance, unemployment is more than 10%, so
consumers there tend to save their money for a rainy day. Not surprisingly,
there is only one German retailer on the list -- Metro (No. 32). Shoppers
in Britain, by contrast, where unemployment is at a 30-year low, are
bolstering the bottom line at retailers such as GUS (No. 9) and Next (No.
11). The only euro zone retailing chain on the list is Spanish apparel
group Inditex (No. 38), which owns the Zara chain, among other things, and
has caught the imagination of young people in more than 40 countries by
spotting fashion trends, then designing and delivering attractive clothes
to the market quicker than its rivals.
Details at...
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_26/b3889402.htm
The BW 50:
1 Porsche
2 BHP Billiton
3 SABMiller
4 Renault
5 HSBC Holdings
6 HBOS
7 Man Group
8 ENI
9 GUS
10 Imperial Tobacco Group
11 Next
12 Tesco
13 A.P. Moller-Maersk
14 VINCI
15 BP
16 Royal Bank of Scotland
17 Centrica
18 TIM
19 Continental
20 Reckitt Benckiser
21 Grupo Ferrovial
22 Royal Dutch Petroleum
23 Société Générale
24 Barclays
25 Total
26 National Grid Transco
27 Grupo ACS
28 Marks & Spencer Group
29 Norsk Hydro
30 Shell Transport & Trading
31 Sanofi-Synthélabo
32 Metro
33 Wolseley
34 Abertis Infraestructuras
35 Lloyds TSB Group
36 E.ON
37 H & M Hennes & Mauritz
38 Inditex
39 Scottish & Southern Energy
40 SAP
41 FöreningsSparbanken
42 GlaxoSmithKline
43 Hilton Group
44 UBS
45 Fortis
46 OMV
47 Groupe UCB
48 Enel
49 Rio Tinto
50 BG Group
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[3] Emerging Trends Marketers Target The Mommy Track
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Food service, apparel and other consumer companies are targeting mothers
with a range of campaigns designed to appeal both to their sense of
responsibility and their sense of nostalgia, according to Find/SVP
Marketing and Demographic Consultants Christine Hayes and Carter Turrell,
who have been jointly tracking the trend.
Why: The younger generation of mothers, many of them the latchkey offspring
of over-committed super-moms, are returning to more traditional family
modes. "They saw their mothers going crazy trying to do it all," observes
Turrell. "This is a different group of women, and they have different
concerns and different ideas about what's important." And marketers are
responding by regenerating brands and licensed characters--like Strawberry
Shortcake, Care Bears and Scooby-Doo--that these moms would have known as
kids, adds Hayes. "They're trying to position products to appeal to both,
and not just rely on pester power."
Opportunity: "There's a real emphasis on family," says Hayes, as evidenced
by mom-centric campaigns by Red Baron, KFC and Applebee's. Marketers can
look back to the future with strategic partnerships and licensing but still
emphasize convenience says Turrell. "Even full-time moms say they're
overwhelmed," so products that offer savings and convenience without
sacrificing nurture should prevail. And this is a vigilant consumer group.
Women make 80% of purchasing decisions for the family, and today's mothers
are concerned about health and nutrition. "Food marketers, especially, need
to appeal not only to the soft side but to hard issues," advises Hayes.
Outreach programs, like McDonald's McMom's newsletter and Red Baron's time
management tips, try to aim past product marketing to address long-term needs.
Danger: Not every new mother has turned off the professional track,
cautions Turrell, so it's important to remember to market to careerists as
well as stay-at-home moms. And even the latter defy stereotypes: They're
better read and better educated than in the past. "Deciding to become a mom
doesn't turn you into June Cleaver," says Hayes.
Details at...
http://www.forbes.com/2004/05/19/0519findsvpmoms.html
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[4] Patience, planning are critical for RFID projects
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At the recent Distribution Computer Expo in Chicago, executives from three
radio frequency identification (RFID) companies discussed the key steps for
establishing this emerging technology and the early benefits being observed
by their clients.
Preliminary education, patient experimentation with technology and finding
appropriate technology partners were consistently mentioned as critical
starting points for RFID exploration. Noted benefit goals included reduced
"stock outs," charge back reductions, and price verification of returns.
Mike Allocco, vice president North American sales with RFID tag
manufacturer Alien Technology Corp., Morgan Hill, Calif., indicated that
the company's client Gillette had a very specific goal in mind when
implementing an RFID program. "Gillette's stated goal was to reduce stock
outs, which have a significant impact on revenue," Allocco said.
Not everyone is so clear in knowing their RFID goals. "In addition to
meeting RFID mandates, you can uncover opportunities for [return on
investment] in other areas where you can apply the technology," said Ken
Finkel, strategic accounts group leader for supply chain software provider
RedPrairie, Waukesha, Wis. "What does it mean to my suppliers? What impact
does it have on tracing ingredient lots, and other asset tracking? These
and other, unknown benefits can be derived when implementing an RFID program."
Despite the ability to find hidden pockets of ROI, all panelists agreed
that initiating an RFID program is not an easy management exercise.
"Because RFID drastically changes the volume of information and accuracy of
information, it will be disruptive. Small steps and patience are the keys,"
said Dean Frew, president and CEO of Dallas-based Xterprise, which is
helping five Wal-Mart suppliers and others with RFID consulting.
Details at...
http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=96512
In another article it was reported at a briefing with its top 300
suppliers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced it wants to be live with RFID
technology in up to six distribution centers and 250 stores by June 2005.
Wal-Mart did not provide many more details, beyond milestone dates.
"We discussed implementation plans with our next top 200 suppliers," said
Linda Dillman, executive vice president and CIO for Wal-Mart. "Over the
next 16 months, we also plan to significantly increase the number of
Wal-Mart stores and SAM'S CLUB locations where customers can benefit from
this revolutionary technology."
The first group of suppliers affected by the mandate is moving forward as
planned, although some details are still vague.
The company is already moving toward its January 2005 deadline for the
first 137 companies in the group with a pilot program in North Texas.
Wal-Mart will not require suppliers to transmit RFID data via electronic
data interchange (EDI) at this stage in the roll out.
By next October, the company plans to be live in up to 13 distribution
centers, and 600 stores, although it has not yet announced what regions
will be affected. By January 2006, the next 200 suppliers will begin
tagging cases and pallets.
Wal-Mart launched its North Texas implementation in April with eight
suppliers and 21 products, which was "progressing as planned."
Details at...
http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=100453
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