May 20, 2005
CHICAGO, IL – The IGA Coca-Cola Institute was created
more than a decade ago to provide a dynamic center for learning
and research. In recent years, the Institute has developed
into a balanced, state-of-the art training resource unlike
any other offered in the industry. Not only are students from
the IGA System able to use the free online manual training
and certification program, they also have the opportunity
to participate in personalized classroom training every six
months through the IGA Coca-Cola Supermarket Operations Class.
During the weeklong experience, students engage in a small,
community-like atmosphere where there is a productive exchange
of knowledge. They receive the information they need to become
more successful in their businesses from the 20 faculty members
as well as from networking with fellow IGA Retailers.
“I believe that the sharing of best practices and exchange
of information come to life at the Supermarket Operations
Class,” said Paulo Goelzer, Ph.D., president of the
IGA Coca-Cola Institute. “We create an environment in
which participants and high-level faculty join together in
conversation. That’s the kind of learning our retailers
really need to improve operations and enjoy continued growth.
Recent research provides evidence that retailers who are growing
are those with skill and not scale.”
This year’s spring session of the Supermarket Operations
Class was held April 17–22, at McDonald’s Hamburger
University, a 130,000-square-foot, state-of-art training center
in Oak Brook, Ill. In attendance were 37 IGA associates from
the United States, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica, the Caymen
Islands, St. Lucia and Poland. IGA’s first Supermarket
Operations Class was held in March 2004 in St. Louis, Mo.
According to Goelzer, relocating the class this year to Chicago’
metropolitan area was advantageous to everyone involved.
“We were incredibly pleased with the McDonald’s
facility,” Goelzer said. “Because our students
were lodged on campus, the class became a total emersion.
It was easy for our participants from all over the world to
stay in a learning mindset and continue to network with each
other even after the classes were over for the day. In addition,
the location allowed for a trip to the IGA corporate office.
The Week at a Glance
The broad array of topics covered during the Supermarket Operations
Class ensured that participants left armed with knowledge
and resources to pass along to other associates once they
returned home. The interactive course sessions taught by industry
training experts included topics ranging from consumer behavior,
health and sanitation, branding, positioning, advertising,
marketing and retail culture, to courses on developing departments
within the store such as bakery, deli, produce and floral.
The course also focused on IGA-specific topics such as the
store assessment program and the institute’s Web-based
certification program. One of the most popular aspects of
the class was the supermarket tour session that explored a
variety of store formats in the metropolitan Chicago area.
Positioning and Strategy
In this constantly evolving marketplace, it is more important
than ever for IGAers to find a way to position their stores
to stay competitive and stand out from the crowd.
With this in mind, industry speaker Ryan Mathews began the
store-positioning sessions by questioning the “myth
of excellence” (Mathews has a book by that title) and
proposing strategic alternatives. An overview of the major
retailing concepts currently used to sell food was presented
by Paul Adams, a popular grocery-industry speaker. To provide
attendees with operational insights that they can apply to
their stores, Adams followed up with a tour of several Chicago-area
supermarkets.
Dr. Bob Kelley, president and principal consultant of Pure
Culture Consulting, continued the theme of store positioning
with a session on the leadership skills necessary to build
and sustain high-performance retail cultures. The necessity
of correctly identifying consumers’ needs was addressed
by supermarket retail expert Willard Bishop of Willard Bishop
Consulting. St. Joseph University marketing professors Richard
George and John Stanton returned for the spring class with
their popular session of effective events-advertising methods.
Maximizing Department Sales
It is certainly no secret that trends in the grocery departments
change frequently. To stay ahead of the competition, IGA Retailers
need to know not only how to maintain perimeter departments,
but also how to revamp them to meet the evolving needs of
consumers. With that in mind, the Supermarket Operations Class
included sessions on each of the perimeter departments, including
those that many retailers may not have previously considered
essential to their stores’ success. One such session,
led by Nick DeRose of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board,
focused on current sales trends within the cheese category.
DeRose made recommendations for product mix and merchandising
designed to maximize sales and profit potential for this frequently
overlooked department. In the same vein, IGA Global Advisory
Board member John Klein of Nestlé Purina Petcare Company,
held a pet-category management session that included an IGA
pet department before-and-after workshop, and TotalFloral
President Chris Buss discussed ways to grow floral sales.
More traditional perimeter departments also were addressed,
including a session on bakery by 30-year training veterans
Shirley Brown and Vernon Cornelius. There also were sessions
on the meat and produce departments.
Tours of Stores
In addition to touring several Chicago-area formats like supercenters,
organic markets, limited-assortment stores, club stores and
food/drug combos, students of the Supermarket Operations Class
visited Chicago’s premier specialty supermarket, Fox
& Obel. President Keith Montague led the tour and gave
a brief history of the origin of his unique store, which bills
itself as the store that has it all, “from the everyday
to the exotic, from ounces of herbs to gallons of extra-virgin
olive oil and from a boxed lunch to a banquet for 50.”
Afterwards, the class dined in the store’s event space
on a meal prepared by Fox & Obel chefs.
Fall Class Scheduled
Although the spring Supermarket Operations Class is barely
behind us, preparation is already well under way for the next
informative six-day program. The fall Supermarket Operations
class is scheduled for October 2–7 and will again be
held on the campus of McDonald’s Hamburger University.
For more information, visit www.igainstitute.com, or call
Xenia Gavrilovic at (773) 695-2611.
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