IDDBA 2012: What Are You Famous For?

The only way retailers can compete with the Walmarts, Walgreens, Whole Foods Markets, Wawas and WinCos out there — who have mastered fresh offerings, convenience and price — is through differentiation, according to Harold Lloyd’s Sunday presentation “How Strong Is Your Magnetic Field? The Craveability Factor.”

Lloyd encouraged supermarkets to think like restaurants by finding a signature product, signature sub department or signature service and being sure to crow about it. 

Lloyd noted that when he asked employees in various supermarkets what they were famous for, he was met with crickets, stammering or confusion.

“You wouldn’t believe what supermarkets do compared with the restaurant industry,” he said.

“Why don’t we have an item that we can brag about and say off the top of our head?”

Whether it be a handrolled M&M cookie, signature brownies, one-pound steaks, Lloyd recommended retailers take those signature magnet items and shout from the rooftops about them.

Some ways he proposed doing this: appointing a signature brand manager, using packaging and labels, flagging it in ads “Home of the X,” and starting "selling" in the parking lot.