SN ASKS: GIVING A VOICE TO CONSUMERS

Amy Sung

LANDOVER, Md. -- After 33 years at Giant Food, Odonna Mathews is passing the Giant Food consumer adviser torch to Andrea Astrachan. Mathews followed the legendary Esther Peterson, who is said to be the first director of consumer affairs in the industry. Peterson created the consumer adviser position at Giant in 1970 after serving as special assistant to President Johnson in 1964. Beginning as a summer intern in Giant's consumer affairs department while still a student at the University of Maryland, Mathews became director of consumer affairs in 1977 when Peterson left Giant to work for the Carter administration. In 1984, Mathews was promoted to vice president. Here, she reflects on the past and future of consumer affairs in the supermarket industry.

SN: What is the role of an in-house consumer adviser within a supermarket company?

MATHEWS: To represent the consumer's point of view on various issues and to provide consistent and timely messages to the consumer. You also work pro-actively to look at what issues are affecting the consumer so you can bring them to management's attention early on to make a change in policy or have them be aware we need more training. It's a continual communication job.

Esther Peterson's philosophy in starting the program here was that the consumer deserves a seat at the table, and the role of the consumer adviser is to represent consumer concerns, to tell management what they are, and to be involved in the decision-making process.

SN: How has that role changed over the years?

MATHEWS: I think the job has certainly become even more challenging and important with increased competition. I don't think the role is that different necessarily, but I think that with people's distrust of business, there's more of an opportunity for businesses either to involve the consumer adviser or for the consumer adviser to initiate involvement in decision-making. The connection to the business is essential, and at Giant Foods, we are part of marketing. We work very closely to look at consumer issues in conjunction with our marketing efforts and work with operations, so more and more, we're a link in providing value to the company as all companies become financially driven. Our fundamental role certainly is the same, but maybe we're being challenged more because of the financial pressures. It's up to us to generate value by listening to and communicating with our customers and delivering customer solutions.

SN: What challenges did your predecessor, Esther Peterson, face in winning recognition from management?

MATHEWS: She came here as a leader in the national consumer movement and was very much a consumer advocate. Back then, the consumer movement was critical of the supermarket industry for being insensitive to customers. So it was very precedent-setting and really took a lot of commitment on Giant's part to say, "Let's try this new role. Let's hire Esther Peterson to be our consumer adviser. What are we going to do differently?" What Esther always said was, "You have to listen to what customers say. Give me an opportunity to work with the decision-makers, and let's come up with some innovative programs." Giant was the first to do unit pricing, nutrition labeling and open dating. Esther faced the challenge of establishing a program when it didn't exist anywhere in any supermarket. It was difficult because management didn't necessarily accept her. She had to prove her worth. Now, here we are 35 years later, and there are many chains that have consumer advisers. I think we have proved the value of finding a way for supermarkets to pro-actively be part of the decision-making for our customers and for customers to contact the company.

One of the things Esther said was that a consumer program doesn't depend upon a personality. If a consumer program is really a consumer program, then it's institutionalized into the company.

SN: What have been your greatest challenges over the last 28 years?

MATHEWS: One big challenge was the issue of item pricing. Back in the late '70s and early '80s, when the Universal Product Code was introduced, the question was whether is was necessary for the industry to pay labor to put the price on each can. We spent a lot of time educating our customers about the way computer-assisted checkouts work, the system and accuracy. The end result was that no item-pricing legislation was enacted in our market areas because we had done such a good job of educating consumers.

One of the hardest issues I had to deal with was the "no candy" checkout. We were getting letters from people saying, "Why do you have all that candy at the checkout?" It was a matter of getting the right executive at the right time to say, "Let's just try it." The advantage for the store is that you're making choice available, and consumers want a choice.

SN: Where do you see the position of consumer affairs director moving over the next few years?

MATHEWS: I think successful consumer affairs directors will be those who align very closely with the business strategies of their companies. I see the position becoming even more important, especially for those companies that recognize the strong link among business success, community service and high quality products. We have found that doing the right thing for our customers is an excellent investment in the business, and that fact remains as important today as it was when the program was first developed. We can help our companies meet customer expectations through the communications we have with them. We can increase consumer trust in the business by being involved.

We can also get involved in things like increasing sales or cross selling, where we handle a lot of the 800-numbers as part of our function and take some orders in addition to customer-service-type calls. We provide our company with the opportunity to learn what's working well with our customers, how we can improve products and offerings, and how we can differentiate ourselves from the competition.

SN: What advice have you given to Andrea Astrachan?

MATHEWS: I think Andrea is very strong as an advocate. She listens, and she's a very good communicator. I think my best advice is to do what's right, even if it's an opinion that may be in the minority. You'll know what customers want by talking to them. Play to your strengths in terms of advocacy. As Esther always said, "Pick the right time."

Spend enough time at the stores so you have the opportunity to observe, and talk to customers because they'll tell you what you need to know. The rest is a matter of reaching management.