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Preparation Isn’t Enough – You Need Consumer Voices Behind You
How to Win Respect, Shelf Space and Market Share
You’re on your way to Bentonville. Look around you on the plane. How many of your fellow travelers are excitedly, nervously awaiting their meeting with Walmart buyers? (Okay, if you’re on the plane to Bentonville, they all are.) How many are thinking this meeting is a make or break for my year? Is that your thought too? Are you practicing your lines? The product is better than last year’s because we made it bigger and added a widget and three more color choices. Will that be enough? You polled the customer service department and all three of the telephone operators liked it. One asked when it would be available to them. Your design director likes it. Your wife likes it. Hopefully the buyer will too. If I can get the buyer to agree that this year’s offering is better, I’ll surely make the deal.
You could take that stance. Or you can read on for a position that will make a difference, will get you shelf space and will increase your market share.
Your meeting begins and you extol the virtues of the new introductions. And then you say “but don’t take my word for it. Let’s listen to what 300 Walmart shoppers who purchased our product category from you in the past six months said. When we compared this new product with the top five best selling items currently on Walmart shelves, those 300 consumers picked our new product as the second best in the group. They rated it statistically significantly higher on appeal and purchase intent. When we looked at the consumers by age, we learned that Millennials preferred it two to one versus your fourth best seller and equal to your overall best seller. This product has a future with Walmart’s youngest buyers. Plus, this product is preferred three to one by women over men, so we changed the packaging accordingly to show a young mom and her children. etc. etc.”
Which pitch would you rather walk into your meeting with tomorrow morning? The hopeful fingers-crossed one? Or the one solidly backed by consumer research with Walmart’s own shoppers? Want to learn more about the cost (generally less than $1000 per item tested when there are multiple items in a test) or the timing (generally 3 weeks) or any other aspect of consumer research. Call Rick Babick today at 609-896-1108 or write to Rick at Rick@Designres.com. We’re here to help you succeed.