AZ Digitals Blog

Freedom can be defined as ‘the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without any constraints or hindrance’.

Every person exhibits a different meaning of freedom and practices it accordingly.

To raise the question, what is freedom? Seems to be a hopeless enterprise. It is as though age-old contradictions and antinomies were lying in wait to force the mind into dilemmas of logical impossibility so that, depending which horn of the dilemma you are holding on to, it becomes as impossible to conceive of freedom or its opposite as it is to realize the notion of a square circle. In its simplest form, the difficulty may be summed up as the contradiction between our consciousness and conscience, telling us that we are free and hence responsible, and our everyday experi- ence in the outer world, in which we orient ourselves according to the principle of causality.

Ideally, the freedom can be deduced into five main categories:

Freedom of Press prohibits the government from interference in the distribution and printing of information or opinions. It can be limited by copyright laws and libel.

Freedom of Expression includes freedom of speech, of the association, of the press, of assembly and petition. The freedom doesn’t extend to expression that causes panic, defames, creates fighting words, creates sedition, incites people to crime, or is obscene.

Freedom of Assembly sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively promote, express, defend and purse common interests. The right to freedom of association is recognized as a human right, a civil liberty and a political freedom.

Freedom of Religion is the freedom of any individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in practice, worship, teaching and observance. This right extends to any religious belief, but not in the practice of all the religious activities (for example, ones that involve breaking other laws).

Freedom of Speech is the right of the people to express their opinions publicly without governmental interference. The right doesn’t extend to hate speech, advertising, and a few other instances.

Every person in this world has all the due rights to practice his right of freedom unequivocally and is a blessing in disguise for people who have the received the twofold gift of freedom. We should be responsible enough to protect and respect everyone’s freedom.

For almost 50 years, Guy D’Alesio Sr. has spent countless hours talking to customers. He did that on the floor of the family-operated Glow Groceteria c-store and deli he owns in Hamilton, ON. As a result, the D’Alesios can safely say they know what their customers want: quality foodservice at a good price. And with that comes opportunities for other categories and merchandising for a huge boost in sales.

“The snack and beverage categories do really well. Hence, it all goes back to the deli,” explains Guy D’Alesio Jr. He is someone who has become more involved in the business, along with his brother, Anthony. Their cousin, Emilia Floriani, also plays a big role when it comes to store operations.

“The deli is our draw, and the offspring of that is people grabbing a beverage and snack to go along with their sandwich or meal. There’s a lot of impulse buying, especially with the snacks,” he adds.

A fresh merchandising outlook

Sreeram Rajagopalan, senior manager of sales strategy and planning with PepsiCo Foods Canada, says the snack category is worth D’Alesio’s merchandising attention.

“The snack category showed 3% growth in the c-gas channel in 2014, and grew more in 2014 than it did in 2013,” says Rajagopalan.

When merchandising snack shelves, Rajagopalan advises D’Alesio to seek out category insights and follow planograms from his suppliers, and to focus on the SKUs his customers will be looking for: for example, potato chips make up 55% of salty snack sales, and therefore deserve the lion’s share of category space

And retailers shouldn’t forget that while single-serve bags are highly impulsive, take-home sizes are also very popular in c-stores.

“Approximately 57% of snacks purchased in the c-gas channel are for immediate consumption and 43% are for future consumption,” notes Rajagopalan

Promote a complete offer

D’Alesio Jr. says combos built around deli sandwiches and other meals are a big hit at Glow Groceteria, and that updated technology has played a huge role in allowing his family to branch out into a variety of different promotions.

“We’ve kind of jumped to the Millennium now from the 60s; we had old cash registers that you manually punched in, but we finally have a scanning system,” D’Alesio Jr. explains. “So we’re able to do a lot more with promotions – two-for-one, buy the sandwich and get the pop for this price. We’re a lot more flexible now because we have the ability to do that at the point of sale.”

POS signage puts these bundling deals top of mind for Glow customers.

“I’ve noticed a lot of people are grabbing the combos that we’re advertising. Sometimes you have to paint the picture for customers. It gets them thinking that a bag of chips could be good with pop and a sub, even if it’s the exact same price if they didn’t bundle it,” says D’Alesio Jr., adding that he places the materials near his foodservice and checkout counters for maximum impact.

Give customers the chance to save

Rajagopalan recommends adding a sale price tag on the bag during any in-store promotions involving regular or bestselling SKUs, as shoppers love the concept of saving. “The best price promotions are those that drive multiple sales, like 2 for $6, so you’re rewarding consumers for growing their basket.”

D’Alesio Jr. says his suppliers help by providing POS materials and prepacks, and are also willing to work with him to determine the right pricing for his promoted SKUs.

“We’ll offer a special and we’ll share the cost of it,” he says. “If we’re reducing a product from $1.50 to $1, they’ll give us a 25 cent rebate, and we try to create more volume by selling that product for $1 instead of $1.50, or bundling it into a combo.”

“The store is clean, it’s merchandised properly, and we give people quality products at a fair price, treating them well and giving them good service,” says D’Alesio Jr. “That’s pretty much been my dad’s success formula over the last 49 years.

More than anything, know your customer and give them what they want.”

What are their top tips for merchandising success?

 1. Use your assets to set your store apart. Build combos around your biggest strength – a high-quality foodservice program.

2. Collaborate with suppliers. Work with your sales reps to find the right planograms, promotions, and innovation for your customer base.

3. Communicate your deals. Place POS signage near the cash counter and in other high-traffic zones like the foodservice counter and beverage coolers.

4. Show them the value. Use price promotions to incent your customers to build their basket size, and call out the savings wherever possible.

5. Make a personal connection. Offer your customers unparalleled customer service and find out exactly what they look for when they shop your store.

Courtesy: Ensemble IQ

Alberta has elected to pick on Ontario as it is the biggest liquor market in Canada. May also be called out for trade barriers, this is for other provinces as well.

EDMONTON – The Alberta government is opening a new front in its beer war with other provinces. They are doing this by targeting Ontario for what it says are its unfair trade barriers. These barriers they claim are for Alberta-made suds and other alcoholic products.

The initiative emerged as Alberta announced a full retreat on its own craft beer subsidies. Some findings of a judge that were found as unconstitutional last spring.

“Alberta has the most open liquor policy in the country, offering Albertans a choice of over 3,700 Canadian products. … Alberta merchants stock and sell 745 alcoholic beverages from Ontario,” said Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous. He said that at an Edmonton brewery on Monday. “Ontario is the largest market in the country. This is three times larger than our own. Irrespective of that we can only find about 20 Alberta liquor products listed for sale in Ontario.”

Being made against Ontario, there is a complaint that has been lodged under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement. The reason, it has the biggest liquor market in Canada. However, it could be expanded to include other provinces with similar barriers, Bilous said. He also added that he’s hoping for an amicable solution.

Under the CFTA, Ontario will have 120 days to respond to the complaint made in a letter sent Monday morning. The complaint may then proceed to a CFTA panel for a ruling on corrective actions. Furthermore, allowed retaliatory measures, with a provision for either side to appeal that ruling. This is explained by Jean-Marc Prevost, Bilous’ press secretary

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario said in a statement Monday. They said that it is aware of the Alberta action. Also added that “breweries from anywhere in Canada are equally able to access our listing process.”

In his letter to Ontario Trade Minister Todd Smith. Bilous complains that Ontario gives local brewers access to stores over Alberta brewers. It also gives Ontario beverages preferential shelf or refrigerated locations. Hence, requires Alberta brewers to provide commercially confidential information to their larger competitors. Required to be listed as this information holds some key facts. Further, it gives Ontario small brewers a significant discount on listing costs.

Surprised by Alberta’s move, here is what Smith said;

“Just last week, I sat across from representatives from the government of Alberta. Not even once did they mention this to me,” he said in a statement.

“Regarding the interprovincial trade barriers for reducing, this is a commitment from the Government of Ontario. This is as we made clear in our fall economic statement when we said we wouldn’t stand in the way of pipeline projects moving forward.”

Neil Herbst, the owner of Alley Kat Brewery of Edmonton, said he has faced numerous non-tariff barriers when trying to ship his products to Ontario, giving as an example a $400 laboratory fee assessed on a shipment of $1,600 worth of beer

Also Monday, Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci said he will cancel by Dec. 15 a program of grants for small Alberta craft brewers in order to bring provincial beer regulations in compliance with Canadian trade law.

The province will return to a system similar that was in place before 2015. $1.25 per litre i.e. a tax collected for the province, also known as markups. The producers of 50,000 hectolitres per year of all the beer sold in Alberta, the costings are applicable to all of them.  Smaller brewers, regardless of the province of origin, will be able to apply for markups of between 10 and 60 cents per litre.

Alberta dropped its graduated markup system to go to a flat markup on all beer in 2015. It at first exempted brewers in Saskatchewan, B.C. and Alberta, then changed its rules so it applied to all Canadian brewers but introduced a subsidy program solely for Alberta’ small brewers.

It lost a CFTA panel ruling initiated by Artisan Ales, a Calgary-based beer importer, which argued the grant program unfairly tilted the market against its product.

Last June, a Court of Queen’s Bench judge ordered the province to pay a total of $2.1 million in restitution to Great Western Brewing of Saskatoon and Steam Whistle Brewing of Toronto, finding that the subsidies created a trade barrier against their products.

At the time, Ceci said the province would consider appealing that ruling His department says Alberta now has 137 liquor manufacturers, including 99 brewers. The number of brewers has risen to a significant three times. Introduced in 2016, the subsidy program is a major reason for such an increase.

The province says it will introduce more supports for Alberta liquor manufacturers in the next few weeks

The snack category is evolving, and although it still features the mainstays. Including, chips, cookies, and crackers. Hence, innovation is popping up in the c-sector. Also,  including more ethnic flavours and health-conscious options.

So how can convenience stores adapt to these changing habits and cater to their snack-seeking customers? Ray White of Movie Source Convenience and Video has done just that at his Agassiz, BC store. Here’s his step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Adapt to change

A couple of years ago, Movie Source Convenience and Video was a video store. The store happened to have a few snacks and beverages for sale. But when White looked at the long-term viability of video rentals, he knew he had to up his convenience game. “We slowly changed the store over to convenience. We took our revenues up 500-600% in just over a year because of the switchover.”

The movie selection created a unique opportunity for White, who knew that his customers would appreciate a one-stop shopping experience. “We found that when people were coming in for movies before. If we didn’t have the snacks they wanted, they just wouldn’t buy anything. Hence, they went to another store,” says White. “But by bringing in all of the chips and beverages and still offering the movies. Finally, we found that benefitted us the most.”

Now, customers can purchase two bags of chips for $5 or $6. Hence, depending on the brand, or they can bundle a bottle of pop. Also including, a bag of chips, and a movie to get a complete package for a movie night at home.

Step 2: Invest in-efficiency

Investing in more efficient beverage coolers was a no-brainer for White. Hence, he is who believed in improving the overall shopping experience for his customers. “Last year, we had nine coolers in here. Hence, last July, we installed a 10-door cooler vault to get rid of all those individual coolers. This saves us $600 on our power bill every month. By putting that in, our beverage sales went from $1,300 per month to almost $9,000 per month.”

White used this opportunity to promote co-purchases between the snack and beverage categories with smart merchandising decisions.

Step 3: Get in the zone

“The movie section helps with snack sales and vice versa,” says White. “We run a deal where customers can purchase chips, pop, and a movie for $11.99, so that really helps. Everybody in town knows we always have our chips on deal, and they’re positioned in the store so they’re in the areas with the highest traffic. You can make great margins in the snacks category.”

White suggests moving secondary displays around to see where they’re most successful. He admits the best spot is always right at the till, but that interrupting the path to the beverage cooler can be effective, too. “Sometimes we’ll move a chip display towards the walk-in cooler so people will see it there, too. Why not have a secondary display in addition to the regular rack of chips? This way, if someone is going to grab a carton of milk, they’re also going to pass a display of beverages, a nut rack, a meat snacks display, and possibly a chip promotion, too.”

Step 4: Try something new

White is a big believer in innovation, and will always make space for a new product. “If a supplier has a new product, we will try it and see if we can gain some traction with it. If we don’t see any traction within three months, we take it out, but then we’ll try it again in a few months. The demographics are constantly changing. We had Riceworks in here before and they never moved, but we put them back on the shelves last summer and they moved very well,” he says.

Step 5: Partner up

“I think the meat snacks category is growing. I give the best rack positioning to the reps I see most often. If I’ve got a rep who’s in on a weekly basis and is taking care of his or her product, it’s going to be in a more prominent spot. Lack of service is a big problem these days.” The same goes for other categories, says White, which is why he tries to make the most of relationships with sales reps, calling good communication a win-win for both businesses.

Step 6: Stock up

As with any category, avoiding an out-of-stock scenario is essential. “If we don’t have a product, customers are going to remember that and they won’t come back if they’re looking for it again. I always train my staff to never say, ‘We don’t carry that product.’ Instead, they say, ‘We’re out of that product right now, but there will be more coming in with the next delivery.’ Then they write that down and I know to talk to the rep and request to have that product brought in.”

By working closely with his supplier reps, trying out innovation, and always offering a deal, White has set his store apart from the competition and is known in his community as the one-stop snack and entertainment shop.

Courtesy: Nikki Lockington