Private Label brand managers or slotting fees and legacy brands what’s working?

Slotting fees are a way of justifying being a poor merchant with rationalization. Diminished is the role of the legacy national brand manager in a world where private label is branded. When national brand manufactures continue paying slotting fees to grocery stores and supermarkets as the easiest way to reach the consumer, then the battle is ½ lost by the brand.

Slotting fees continue to go for space on the shelf of many legacy brands.  All the while many leading companies are utilizing End Caps with the stores own private label products including Trader Joe’s 9highest seals per SQ Ft in retail foodservice.)  If your paying a National Brand manager and your brand value is gone, fire the brand manager or pay higher slotting fees and fool some of the people some of the time.

Don’t become like Campbell’s soup filling the shelves via slotting fees with “less salt soup” only to find out that customers want the salt. Who likes slotting fee’s well for one Wall Street analyst love to see sales via pushing slotting fees at the end of a slow quarter to meet “goals”.  Why they like it is beyond logical reason. 

Mediocre C-level grocery store chain managers like slotting fees better than being force to become merchants.  They utilize slotting fees to supplement profits.  Slotting fees are a way of justifying being a poor merchant with rationalization. By the way Wall Street likes that too! 

The brand managers of the private label products are utilizing a tool out of the National Brand Managers playbook to build loyalty, reinforce value and generate additional sales and profits for the store and their particular private label product.  They are taking the end caps for themselves! While selling high quality products with and ever increasing acceptance by the consumer.

Deep in the store, the private label battle continues with ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat fresh prepared portable food.  All prepared fresh and in most cases right in front of the customer.  Private label Grocerant niche ready-2-eat and heat-N-eat food now has brand managers of their own and they are building sales not with slotting fees.  Think about it, building sales on demand from consumers?  Novel ideation or business fundamentals, you choose.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. For product or brand positioning assistance contact Steven A. Johnson and Foodservice Solutions® or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant or on Facebook at Steven Johnson, GOOGLE: Steven Johnson, Grocerants or twitter.com/grocerant