EAST COAST SHOW TO FOCUS ON SUPERMARKETS

DAN ALAIMO

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Supermarkets and their video programs will take center stage during the East Coast Video Show to be held here next week.

A supermarket-oriented seminar during the Oct. 1 to 3 show will focus on motivating store-level personnel about video. There will also be a roundtable opportunity for supermarket video executives to discuss industry issues with studio executives.

The seminar, "Implementing Supermarket Video Promotions at the Store Level," will take place Wednesday, Oct. 2, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., at the Atlantic City Convention Center. It is being organized by Supermarket News.

The roundtable discussion, "Are Supermarket Video Needs and Problems Different From Video Stores?" will be held from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. the same day.

"For anybody that is in the video business, this show has the broad range of product," said Diane Stone, show director for Expocon Management Associates, Fairfield, Conn.

One of the biggest challenges facing supermarket video programs is selling store directors and other store-level personnel on video, said industry observers. This is especially important when it comes to cross-promotions with products in other areas of the store.

Speakers on the panel will include Bill Bryant, vice president of sales, grocery and drug for video distributor Ingram Entertainment, La Vergne, Tenn.; Des Walsh, vice president and general manager for shared-transaction-fee supplier SuperComm, Dallas, and Brian Ward, director of operations at The Movie Exchange, Oaks, Pa., a racker supplying more than 200 supermarkets with rental programs and more than 1,000 supermarkets with sell-through products.

The panel will be co-moderated by Tina Veiders, editor of SN's Home & Health section, and Dan Alaimo, SN's video reporter.

Among the topics expected to be discussed during the seminar:

Keeping store directors, nonfood managers and video department personnel excited about video.

Getting the cooperation to make sell-through promotions successful in the main part of the store.

Involving other store departments to participate in the promotion of video rentals.

This year, the East Coast show moves its location from a casino to the Atlantic City Convention Center. As a result, total space for the show is almost doubling to 180,000 square feet, and large and small exhibitors are increasing their booth space, said Stone. The number of exhibitors is up by more than 20%, she said.