This is the email I sent to Craig Herkert, CEO of Supervalu regarding their recent decision to thin out their selection of products.
Dear Mr. Herkert,
I am writing today
to talk to you about the direction that SuperValu stores (Jewel-Osco in my
area) seems to be taking. It is not a direction, I, as one of your loyalist of
shoppers wish to go. The recent article in Chicago Business was particularly
disturbing. Above and beyond all else, the "Project SHE, which stands
for Simplify Her Experience" jumped out at me.
Demeaning? Yes,
Insulting? Absolutely. Unless it is 1952, or this "concept" was
pitched by the cast of Mad Men I am completely stunned that this made it out of
the boardroom and into reality. In this economy, women (and shoppers as a
whole) are more informed than ever about the choices we make in purchasing
products. We are not overwhelmed, confused or mystified by a wide selection of
products. We do not need to have the largest supermarket chain in our area
"dumbed down" in order for us to be able to shop there. Paring
down your offerings by 15-25% will, in and of itself, cause some of your
customers to abandon you entirely. Doing it under the guise of making it
"simpler" for the dim-witted, easily confused poor little housewife
who couldn't otherwise navigate the complexities of shopping in your stores
will surely increase those numbers tenfold.
In the
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, you are quoted as saying "So when a
consumer comes to any one of our stores I want her to be able to make a choice.
If she wants to buy a national branded product, I want to have that national
branded product at a fair price for her. If however she chooses to want to buy
something that is a better value, then I want to have that. We have a great
private brand program. Quite frankly we haven't stepped up and really shown off
that fact to Mom". Again, the thought process behind this
statement seems to be that Mom isn't all that bright. That we don't know what a
better value actually is. Your SuperValu brand of products are in fact no value
at all. There is no value in a low quality paper towel which isn't strong
enough to absorb an eye dropper's worth of water. Speaking of water, if I
wanted water, I'd buy it. Please don't masquerade it in a bottle labeled
Shopper's Value dish-washing detergent.
I'd also like to
implore you to stop playing pricing games which are a clear indication of how
'simple' you think your shoppers are. If I walked into my Jewel today and went
down the aisle to the Reynold's aluminum foil , do you know what I'd find? Wow!
A red clearance sticker! Only $2.99!!! Too bad it is stuck underneath the
yellow sticker with the original price of $2.99. You'll have to do better than
that to convince me its a bargain. 'Simple' math 2.99 minus 0.00 is a 0%
markdown.
If you really want
to know what makes shoppers tick (and spend) I suggest you take the
"simple" approach and ASK us. It amazes me to think that
you seem to have actually fallen for Wal-Mart's slick marketing schemes.
Just last week an article ran in the Chicago Tribune touting Wal-Mart's rock
bottom pricing of $5.00 for a 24 pack of name brand soda. Meanwhile, I (as a
loyal Jewel shopper) bought the same brand name soda in your store which
was running a sale on 12-packs 4 for $8.00. Your ad also featured an in-store coupon for free Johnsonville Sausages with purchase of 4 12-packs. So, a
shopper could have spent $10.00 at Wal-Mart for 48 cans of pop. Or, they
could have come to Jewel and spent $8.00 for 48 cans of pop AND a package of
sausages. Truth be told I paid $6.00 by using a $2.00 off four 12-packs
manufacturer's coupon in conjunction with this sale.
But, sadly most
shoppers don't know that. Why? Because rather than directing your marketing
campaigns to let Wal-Mart hang themselves with their own noose, you decide
women need you to simplify your stores for us. A well executed print and TV
campaign directly highlighting examples of the real cost of shopping at
Wal-Mart will go much further to increasing your bottom line than insulting
your core group of customers with this Project SHE will.
Sincerely,
Note to readers: the reference to the Reynold's aluminum foil in this email was the subject of one of my posts. You can see the picture of the actual shelf tag by clicking here. To return to the post 'Supervalu thinning out its selection or dumbing down for women?' click here
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