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The Complicated Art of Multi-Channel Marketing
Eight years ago, I identified 26 channels of distribution that lawn & garden products can be sold through. Since then I stumbled across three more channels I overlooked the first time. The proliferation of sales and marketing channels for lawn & garden products makes it difficult to generate a return on your marketing dollars when you are fragmenting those dollars across six, ten or even fifteen channels of distribution to sell your products through.
The reasons there are so many channels to sell through is because consumers of lawn & garden products go to a wide variety of sources to buy their lawn & garden products. We, as suppliers of lawn & garden products, need to reach the consumers by selling to the channels the consumers buy from.
According to industry surveys, 34% of marketers cannot execute a coordinated, integrated, multichannel marketing campaign. I hope this isn't true, because selling lawn and garden products through multiple channels of distribution at the same time is a way of life, not an option. And with the explosion of social media and social networking (one of the new channels), our lives are only more complicated and fragmented.
The most difficult part of marketing your products through multiple channels like we have to in the lawn & garden industry; is it requires us to establish, evaluate, manage, then measure results of each of the selling processes separately for it to fit each channel distribution we want to sell through. Each channel of distribution has its own expectations of suppliers regarding:
Suggested Retail Pricing
Retailer Pricing
Distributor Pricing
Terms & Conditions
Timelines & Buying Cycles
Order Processing Procedures
Merchandising Tools
Advertising
Media & Publicity
Sales Force
Trade Events
Communication Procedures
Consumer Preferences & Behavior
Many of the above channels don't want to compete with each other because their business models are not compatible. Therefore they are asking suppliers for personalized or separately branded products. This makes the cost to enter each channel of distribution separately; mind boggling.
The successful lawn & garden companies know who their individual consumer is and which channels of distribution they go to when buying their products and then only concentrating on selling to those channels that present the greatest opportunity.
"The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice."
- George Eliot, English novelist (1819 - 1880)
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Truths, Myths & Rumors |
Scotts Miracle-Gro stated it would launch branded lines of bird food at Home Depot and Lowe's this year. Scotts has also expanded distribution of its Scotts-branded premium bird food at Walmart stores. Early shipments to Scotts retailers have been strong. In addition, they have locked in over 60 percent of their most sensitive commodities .
Sears signed a deal with Ace Hardware Corp. to sell Craftsman tools at 100 Ace stores starting in May, marking the first time a retailer other than Sears, and more recently its sister division Kmart, has sold the 83-year-old brand, By June, Ace plans to promote Craftsman products to its 4,500 Ace stores, independent dealers that are part of a cooperative.
Ace Hardwares' 2009 revenues were down 10.4% from the previous year but net income for the co-op increased 11.5% . In a sign of increasing supply-chain efficiency, the co-op pointed to an increase in the percentage of merchandise sold through its warehouse system -- 77.8%, compared with 76.6% in 2008. Direct ship sales were 22.2%, down from 23.4% in the prior year.
Industry analysis shows that as much as 60% of data suppliers provide to retailers is inaccurate. According to Forrester Research, typically less than 30% of order lines have 100% attribute accuracy. Walmart was so concerned about inaccuracies provided by its vendors it did its own survey and found an accuracy of only 46% for cube measurements provided, 55% for weight and 85% for Units per Case. A new Walmart Data Accuracy initiative is going to uncover the truth about your company's data accuracy that could cost you a bad scorecard from Walmart and other retailers who also discovered inaccurate vendor information.
Home Depot just reported theirSales for fiscal 2009 were $66.2 billion, a decline of 7.2 percent from fiscal 2008, according to the company. Total company comparable store sales for the year declined 6.6 percent, and comps for U.S. stores were negative 6.2 percent for the year.
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Check Out Our Web Site |
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Are you looking to:
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Visit www.LGPG.com and click "Industry Opportunities" to review listings and obtain more information.
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On the Road |
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I will be attending the following industry events:
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* USAGE & DUPLICATION "Smarty Pontz" Newsletter by The Lawn & Garden Performance Group LLC is a free electronic newsletter. Reproduction of this content must include the following attribution: Reproduced with permission from The Lawn & Garden Performance Group LLC. Rick Pontz is President of The Lawn & Garden Performance Group LLC. He is a nationally recognized marketer, author, and consultant on lawn & garden mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances, marketing rights agreements and the introduction of products to the lawn & garden industry. Contact Rick at 480-840-6023 or 602-549-6752 or visit www.lgpg.com.
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About Us |
The Lawn & Garden Performance Group LLC provides a full range of services to companies, including identifying new market opportunities for existing business and serving as intermediary and negotiator to companies seeking acquisitions, mergers or strategic alliances. Launching new companies, brands or products in the lawn & garden industry, trouble shooting, market and sales analysis, recruiting, training and managing direct sales forces and manufacturer representative agencies.
The Lawn & Garden Performance Group LLC provides Lawn & Garden manufacturers with the tools it takes to successfully market their new products. The Lawn & Garden Performance Group LLC was formed in 1999 under the leadership of Rick Pontz. Rick is a noted guest speaker at many industry events and has been an active member of professional organizations including being a board member of the National Hardware Show, General Merchandise Distributors Council, Lawn & Garden Merchandise Council, and the Lawn & Garden Marketing and Distribution Association.
Rick, who held positions of president, vice president of sales & marketing and national sales manager at various lawn & garden companies over the past two decades, said he was driven to start the company after watching numerous products fail. "Most of the products failed not because of lack of performance or consumer demand," Rick said. "They failed because the product marketers didn't know about or didn't pay attention to the idiosyncrasies and pathways to marketing lawn & garden products."
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phone: (480) 840-6023
web: http:/www.lgpg.com
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Rick Pontz, author, speaker and veteran business development expert in the lawn and garden industry, founded The Lawn & Garden Performance Group, LLC in 1999.
During his tenure in the lawn and garden industry, Rick has managed large and small lawn and garden product companies as President, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Sales & Marketing and as International Sales Manager. Rick Pontz was the primary negotiator in six acquisitions within the last four years and has successfully introduced over 42 products to the lawn and garden industry during the last twenty years. Many of the products are currently being sold by such major retailers as Home Depot, Lowes, ACE Hardware, WalMart, True Value, Target & Kmart.
Mr. Pontz has been an active member of professional organizations including General Merchandise Distributors Council, Lawn & Garden Merchandise Council, Mailorder Gardening Association and the Garden Writers Association. He is on the advisory board of the National Hardware Show and the National Lawn and Garden Show and is a guest speaker at many industry events. Mr. Pontz has been quoted in USA Today, Home Channel News, the Wall Street Journal and Green Beam publications. Mr. Pontz is also on the Board of Directors of three lawn and garden corporations.
Joanne Schlosser is a certified coach who works with high performing leaders that want to grow their career to the next level. Her vibrant business career of over 25 years has included positions of leadership in healthcare, economic development and non profit work. She founded and ran two entrepreneurial companies. She has also worked in high technology, aerospace and the hospitality industry. As a consultant, coach, trainer and professional speaker, Joanne's clients include over 100 firms ranging from small, rising stars to large Fortune 100 stars.
Joanne has worked extensively as a change agent, with projects ranging from small process improvements to the opening of a state-of-the-art hospital. Joanne has provided leadership development and organizational development services to thousands of leaders. That led to her interest in leadership coaching. Joanne is a lifelong learner who is passionate about helping Rising Stars, particularly high potential leaders, newly promoted leaders, senior leaders, and business owners achieve their full potential. She is skilled in using numerous assessments, to such as DISC, Emotional Intelligence, Strengthsfinders, and 360 Feedback to help you learn more about your own strengths and developmental opportunities. Joanne's coach described her as a "Possibilities Person" and her goal is to help you find the possibilities in your life to achieve your desired goals.
Alison Tanner has partnered withThe Lawn & Garden Performance Group, LLC
Ms. Tanner works with The Lawn & Garden Performance Group LLC on acquisitions, mergers, new business development, and financing. Drawing upon her wide-ranging experience as both an investor and a senior corporate development executive, she adds acquisition skills and insight in negotiating mergers and strategic alliances to the Lawn & Garden Performance Group LLC creating an organization dedicated solely to lawn and garden industry Mergers & Acquisitions and Business Partnerships.
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"The Truths, Myths & Secrets of Marketing Products in the Lawn & Garden Industry" |
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