Grocery Chain See 20 Percent Sales Lift After Advice from Wrigley and Mars

01 Dec 2016 --- Wrigley and Mars claim that retailers are seeing a 20 percent lift in sales after taking advice from the two companies on merchandising techniques. The two food giants have collaborated on an initiative called ‘Transaction Zone Vision’, which they claim can help transform grocery sales by offering grocers advice on how to maximise sales from changing trends such as increased snacking as well as shopping through new channels such as on mobile.

"We know as industry leaders in front-end merchandising that we have to invest in insights that help our retail partners build their baskets and leave a lasting positive impression on their shoppers."

"By investing in the Transaction Zone Vision, we have provided our retailers a framework that guides them in how best to satisfy their shoppers' needs by offering choices," said Tiffany Menyhart, director of U.S. Category Management at Wrigley.

Over the past year, more than a dozen retailers across channels have begun working with Wrigley and Mars Chocolate to bring these insights to life and are seeing tangible results, say the two companies.

For example, a national grocery retailer recently used Wrigley and Mars Chocolate's recommendations to test a redesigned self-checkout and subsequently saw need-state items experience a 20 percent dollar sales lift.

Wrigley and Mars are to release further findings in 2017 including research, currently being tested within the U.S, which will help retailers better understand shoppers' behavior while in line, or "queuing," and maximize conversion during that part of the shopping trip.

"Jewel/Osco is working with Wrigley to leverage their Transaction Zone Vision insights to understand shopper behavior in the queue and how to best merchandise impulse categories to create positive shopping experiences, drive conversion and generate incremental sales," said Jeff Hancock, assistant sales manager, Candy at Jewel/Osco.

"When we partner with Wrigley, we know the program will be best-in-class and developed from both global and local insights that directly benefit our shoppers and total business."

"We've found that as part of the Transaction Zone Vision, shopper need states continue to be essential to drive conversion, which impacts how retailers set up their Front End," said Shaf Lalani, VP, Customer Experience at Mars Chocolate North America.

"Our goal is to tie the shopper insights to the retailer's specific strategy. It's these types of insights we are continuously investing in for our partners. We look forward to launching additional findings as we move into 2017."