GREENACRES, Wash. -- Tidyman's is getting to the meat of merchandising with the rollout of a customized "Beef Made Easy" program, the latest update in its fresh departments.
Like the successful re-merchandising of its seafood cases less than a year ago [See "Netting Profits," SN, March 26, 2001], this new effort -- launched with the help of the Washington State Beef Commission -- aims to give the customer more convenience. Basically, the Beef Made Easy program, developed by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Denver, and now used by a large number of stores across the country, organizes cuts of beef in the case by the method that's used to cook them.
Steaks for grilling, for example, have their own section -- as do cuts of beef for pot-roasting -- and the products are color-coded accordingly. Cooking directions are included on the label. In the case of Tidyman's, the color-coded labels and signs carry the retailer's own thumbprint.
"When the consumer looks at the case, he sees 'Northwest Fresh Tidyman's' right there, so it looks like our own, not a generic program. We paid to have the labels and signs customized," said Glenn Hedlund, director of perishables, for the independent that operates 12 stores under the Tidyman's banner and nine others.
Meanwhile, the Washington State Beef Commission is airing a flight of Beef Made Easy radio commercials with a Tidyman's tag line. Tidyman's initiated its own advertising with a quarter-page ad in its Dec. 5 circular and since then has been spotlighting a different cut of beef with its appropriate color code weekly.
Hedlund expects the Beef Made Easy program to boost meat sales, profit and image for Tidyman's -- just as NCBA's research has shown it has done in other parts of the country.
"When I looked into it this summer, I talked to a lot of people. The retailers in the Midwest who started on the program two years ago are still on it," Hedlund said.
Indeed, the NCBA has found in its research that seven out of eight retailers in a test experienced a gain in sales after implementing the Beef Made Easy program, said Rob Noel, director of promotions for the Washington State Beef Commission.
The test group as a whole had an increase of 3.5% in baseline beef sales, with one retailer seeing an increase of 9%, while a control group saw a collective drop of 5.9%.
"[The test group with the positive results] also was selling more chuck and round cuts, and that's where the profits are," Noel said.
Hedlund explained how he got the NCBA program rolling at Tidyman's and how he will keep it going.
"I sold the program to our steering committee at a meeting in August, and then I met with all our store directors," Hedlund said.
"Next, I had the managers reset the cases in accordance with the Beef Made Easy planogram. That was mid October. So when they got their kits [with signs and T stands and labels] all they had to do was put up the rail strips and signage and tag the products."
In addition to making it easier for customers to shop the meat case, Hedlund expects the new program to boost the department's quality image. Re-organized merchandising in the independent's seafood cases did just that, he said.
"We had another research report done months after we implemented [the re-merchandised seafood case] and it showed that consumers equate Tidyman's with quality seafood. That's exactly what we wanted."
