ORLANDO, Fla. (FNS) -- To effectively evaluate promotions in the meat department, retailers must use the same tools they use in category management elsewhere: accurate scanning data, retail-price information, unit cost and promotional flags on a by-item, weekly basis.
"Retailers with accurate scan data can use promotional analysis to improve their business results," said Ken Wagar, partner of PMG in Sheboygan, Wisc., a speaker at the annual Meat Marketing Conference here.
To date, promotion decisions for the meat department have been fairly unscientific and are usually made in response to competitors' actions.
"They should be based on the item, category and store performance, not markdown dollars available," Wagar said.
In addition, volume sold has historically been the meat department's measure of the success or failure of promotions, another practice that Wagar said is out-of-date. Instead, retailers should test the item-sales dollar lift, item-pound or unit-sales lift and gross-profit dollar performance.
For example, one Midwest chain was running weekly promotions on a private-label meat product, but sales were flat, Wagar said. When the chain added a premium brand of the product, raised the private-label price, and promoted less often, sales rose, while unit volume stayed flat.
