SIGHT & SOUND AIMS AT BIGGER SUPERMARKET VOLUME

DAN ALAIMO

ST. LOUIS -- Sight & Sound Distributors here is aggressively working to expand its sales of video rental and sell-through products to supermarkets.

To do it, the company is using a restructured sales force and new technology systems, including a computerized planogramming program that is unique among video distributors, said Ron McMillin, vice president of sales for the distributor's Western region, based in Salt Lake City. McMillin heads the company's sales effort to supermarkets. To address the supermarket trade, Sight & Sound realigned its sales force, establishing dedicated supermarket specialists in each of its branches and sales offices. "Most of these are senior sales reps who have already been working with grocery and other key accounts. They are now devoting the majority of their time and energy to helping us develop that business," said McMillin. Four regions have been established, each with territory vice presidents: Randy Meek in the East, covering the Louisville, Ky., Cleveland and New Jersey branches; Randy Dark in the Midwest, covering St. Louis, Minneapolis and Kansas City, Mo.; Gladin Scott in the South, covering Little Rock, Ark., and New Orleans, and McMillin in the West, out of the Salt Lake City branch. The distributor's technical support systems include a computerized spreadsheet buying program called "Budget Link," a complete online catalog called "Catalink" and the computerized sell-through planogram program, McMillin said. While variations on the first two systems are available from other suppliers, Sight & Sound is the first video distributor to offer computerized planogramming to supermarkets, said industry observers. This has generated a lot of interest among retailers, including those who are not now Sight & Sound customers, said McMillin. As reported, Dierbergs Markets, Chesterfield, Mo., which uses another distributor for other video products, began a test of a planogrammed year-round sell-through section from Sight & Sound at the end of January. The planogrammed section includes evergreen titles, children's videos and movies that have been price-reduced for the first time, he said.

"The titles are generating a lot of excitement and interest, and creating a lot of opportunities," he said. "We have a system in place where we can look at the sales of our customers and evaluate those titles. We buy what the customer wants -- what is going to move for them," he said. The selection is updated every 45 to 60 days, he said. "We can show the per-square-foot profit each of our customers is making off these fixtures, so they can see very quickly that they are getting a nice return on their investment," said McMillin.

This provides retailers the kind of data that had not been previously available to them, he said.

As a result, many chains are starting to give more space in the main store to sell-through video, said McMillin. Supermarkets now represent over 50% of the distributor's business, he said.

"Our independent and chain video retail customers are still extremely important to us. However, our supermarket business is growing at an incredible rate because of supermarkets' enhanced commitment to bigger departments and new product categories," said McMillin. "We anticipate that the grocery trade will be the majority of our business in the future," he added. Among the chains that Sight & Sound sells to are Kroger, Dillons, Nash Finch, Furr's and Harvest Foods. The distributor also is supplying several chains through their rental department rack jobbers. These include Albertson's, Raley's and Foodland in Hawaii, said McMillin. These retailers include some who are new to video, along with those who are changing suppliers, he said. Through its new multimedia division, Sight & Sound offerings include video rental and sell-through, as well as CD-ROM, audio books and computer accessories. Among the retailers testing multimedia programs from Sight & Sound are Albertson's, King Soopers, Macey's, Ream's and Harmon's, he said.