Grocery is a unique, vast and complex world unto itself, driven by customers, and changing every nanosecond. Succeeding in such a dynamic environment requires astute analytical decision-making based on relevant, current and complete information that's easy to access, display and share, contend experts at Schaumburg, Ill.-based Manthan Systems, a leading producer of retail analytics and performance management solutions.

To constantly move a retail organization in the right direction, all collaborative decision-makers need intelligence pertinent to their roles and specific business processes. With this in mind, Manthan offers the following insights to accomplish this forward movement.

Adaptability
Give the business control and eliminate IT bottlenecks. Without delay, business users should be able to explore different viewpoints. A category view can lead to a brand question; a brand view can spark a price point or location question. The end user should be able to easily create exceptions, filters and alerts, and drill down or across to find and quickly understand available business opportunities.

Intuitiveness
Unless the experience is rewarding and easy, business users will push requests for information and access back to IT, thereby losing the competitive advantage of making strategic decisions faster than the competition. Information should be available in a variety of formats, including Excel, .pdf, Q&A or even a lively, colorful dashboard view. And when you need to know right now, info should be on your mobile phone.

Comprehensive Information
You can't feel confident in making decisions unless you know you have all of the relevant intelligence necessary to take action, including market data, space data, competitive data, market share analysis, category comparative analysis, YOY category performance, category productivity analysis and space productivity.

Actionability
What good is intelligence if you can't be productive with it? Crucial, business process-oriented, retail information in presentation-ready formats empower you to take action immediately. Price changes, product deletions, staff scheduling, DSD delivery and promotions can all be addressed and acted upon swiftly.

Impact
Intelligence helps you to make quick decisions, but more importantly, it also helps you to make big decisions. The more you learn, the wider your scope becomes, which leads to greater opportunities for monumental change and growth in the areas of SKU rationalization, market basket analysis, customer churn and ABC analysis.

Make it Quick
In this competitive environment, buying a toolkit, and taking the months or years required to develop and deploy a solution, is just not acceptable to the business. A complete and fully functional solution featuring all of these best practices and more should be deployed in your organization in just months. Among the points to consider:

To constantly move a retail organization in the right direction, all collaborative decision-makers need intelligence pertinent to their roles and specific business processes.

When analytics are fine-tuned to responsibilities, retail category partners will not only save valuable time with timely, insightful decisions, but also gain critical insights to improve merchandise performance and boost the bottom line.

For more information on solutions from Manthan Systems, visit www.manthansystems.com

Supplier Perspective

Talking with...

Russ Onish
Vice President of Shopper Insights and Category Solutions
Campbell North America

The recent integration of the category management functions of Campbell North America and Pepperidge Farm has helped facilitate a pivotal change in the company's approach to shopper insights and category management— and has also led to Russ Onish's new role with the organization.

Progressive Grocer: How pivotal is category management at Campbell?

RO: The breadth of categories, meal occasions, consumer segments, and events is powerful from the perspective of shopper understanding and insights-driven solutions we can offer our retail customers.

PG: How would you describe the category management function at Campbell?

RO: Today at Campbell Soup Company we put shopper insights at the heart of our function and strive to deliver tailored solutions for our customers to realize the full potential of their categories. Our approach is highly collaborative and starts with our customers' strategies and a diagnosis of their opportunities to win with shoppers. I like the term "category solutions" as it's not our role to "manage" our customers but rather to recommend solutions that will engage shoppers and drive category growth via a range of activities such as assortment, shelving, shopper marketing, etc.

PG: What is the latest news in category management at your organization, and where is it taking you and your team?

RO: I am excited that the Campbell Soup and Pepperidge Farm senior leadership teams have identified our function as a strategic point of difference for the company. Under Ted Kantor, Vice President-Sales Strategy and Integrated Shopper Marketing, we've recently connected it organizationally with Integrated Shopper Marketing and are working closer together to uncover deep shopper insights, develop category solutions, and drive activation with customers in a tailored manner. We recently completed fielding an ambitious research project on the critical decision points along the Path to Purchase, and we're sharpening our category strategies based on key learning from the study. We're also tapping into the diverse experience and expertise across our team to align around a world class approach to product assortment. We are committed to bringing all these assets forward to help our customers achieve profitable category growth in a challenging retail environment.

Alfie Vivian
Vice President, Ice Cream & Beverages
Unilever

Available in nearly 40 countries, Magnum has become a global icon of adult ice cream and chocolate pleasure. One of the world's largest ice cream brands, it was introduced in the U.S for the first time earlier this year in six flavors: Magnum Classic, Magnum Almond, Magnum Double Caramel, Magnum Double Chocolate, Magnum White and Magnum Dark.

Progressive Grocer: How are Magnum ice cream bars differentiated by taste in the ever-competitive ice cream category?

Alfie Vivian: Magnum ice cream bars are delicately crafted from the finest ingredients, including silky vanilla bean ice cream with rich Belgian chocolate. The taste and quality of Magnum ice cream is extraordinary and the brand has left an indelible mark on the collective palate of discerning consumers around the world.

PG: Are the Magnum ice cream bars available in the U.S. the same formula as the European Magnum products?

AV: The Magnum ice cream bars in the U.S. are made from the same high-quality ingredients as those distributed in Europe. There are some ingredient differences based on regional preferences, but we strive for all our products to deliver an indulgent taste and experience.

PG: How is the Magnum ad campaign unique and buzzworthy in the ice cream category?

AV: Our exciting launch campaign, which kicked off in the spring and summer, encouraged consumers to look for more pleasure in their everyday lives, no matter where they are or what they are doing. With so much going on in their busy lives, they sometimes forget to enjoy life. The Magnum campaign reminds them that pleasure is theirs for taking—they just need to reach for it.

PG: What are some key components and highlights of the campaign?

AV: To celebrate the U.S. launch, we collaborated with Karl Lagerfeld, a creative genius, and actress Rachel Bilson, a style icon, to express the distinct luxury of the Magnum lifestyle through a series of short films. The film series, directed by Mr. Lagerfeld and starring Ms. Bilson, premiered during the Tribeca Film Festival, where Magnum was a signature sponsor. The campaign's ongoing striking print advertisements and television commercials also feature Ms. Bilson.

Doug Kling
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Village Farms

Village Farms, a premier grower and marketer of branded hydroponic greenhouse grown produce with U.S. offices in Eatontown, N.J., has introduced an exclusive new variety of specialty tomato, "Heavenly Villagio Marzano." Originally grown in the rich volcanic soils of Mt Vesuvius, this heirloom plum tomato variety got its name from the town of San Marzano near Naples, Italy. Village Farms is the first grower in North America to introduce this variety, which will be showcased at this year's Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit in Atlanta.

Progressive Grocer: Please describe this new variety of tomato.

Doug Kling: Our exclusive Mini San Marzano variety is distinctive in appearance with a unique elongated, slightly pear shape. They are absolutely delicious, with a remarkably sweet taste, not at all acidic, and very few seeds. Its cousin San Marzano variety has been a favorite of chefs the world over, famous for its high quality and exquisite flavor.

PG: How did Village Farms become the first grower in North America to offer this tomato?

DK: Heavenly Villagio Marzano was developed by Village Farms through its exclusive partnership with a world renowned seed company. In fact, Heavenly Villagio Marzano is a first of a series of exclusive varieties to be offered by Village Farms.

PG: How are "Heavenly Villagio Marzano" tomatoes packaged for grocers?

DK: Village Farms is offering Heavenly Villagio Marzano in a convenient dry quart size and packaged in zippered stand-up pouch. This size and package is very appealing to the growing healthy snack segment within the fresh tomato category.

PG: How does this product reflect Village Farms's mission and goals?

DK: This is just another way Village Farms continues to strive to be above the competition and anticipate our customer needs before trends hit the masses People can see — and taste — for themselves how fresh just got fresher during PMA at Booth #5035.