RETAILERS TIE MEAT, WINE EVENTS TO GET HEADY SALES

LIZA B. ZIMMERMAN

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Raley's Supermarkets and Bel Air Markets chain here and the Modesto-based Richland and O'Brien's Markets have increased sales in their meat and wine departments through new cross-merchandising campaigns.

A variety of promotions, matching Mallard's Cooking Made Easy pastas with Gallo's Turning Leaf wines and Superior Farms lamb with Domaine St. George wines, held throughout the fall and winter of 1996-1997 brought retailers positive results.

During Raley's 13-week promotion from October to December of 1996, Joseph Sisneros, Raley's vice president of perishables, said that Mallard's' sales had "increased by 50% during ad weeks and we have retained 10% of the results." Peter Rocha, the Western states sales manager of the Modesto-based Mallard's, confirmed that "there have been good residual sales. We are probably selling a case to a case and a half more per store since the promotion."

At Richland and O'Brien's Markets Turning Leaf wine and Mallard's pasta were also cross promoted with Fresh Express Garden Salad and French bread. Nick Pallios, an owner of Richland's, said he sold four to five times more Mallard's during the week of the promotion. And Chuck O'Brien, the owner of O'Briens, said that "We sold 80 cases of [Mallard's] Cooking Made Easy and sales of Fresh Express were phenomenal. We sold 50 cases." He estimated his Mallard's and Fresh Express sales increased by 600% that week, while French bread saw about a 400% to 500% increase. Since the promotion, O'Brien said his sales have doubled on both Mallard's and Fresh Express.

The Davis, Calif.-based Superior Farms and Domaine St. George promotion at Raley's, which also tied in Uncle Ben's rice, increased lamb sales by more than 75% according to Raley's Sisneros. And "We have [since] retained about 10% of those results," he concluded. All the promotions were held in the meat department, which was a logical choice with the Superior Farms lamb. In the case of the Mallard's-Turning Leaf promotion, the retailers decided to cross merchandise with the meat department because "it's a heavily traveled area," said Bob Jennings, Raley's beverage buyer and merchandising manager, who noted that 80% of people visit the meat department while only 7% go down the wine aisle. Richland's Pallios explained that he chose the meat department "because we were after a traditional person who is fixing chicken or a steak."

Mallard's pasta, which originally sold the meat component of its sauce in a separate pouch, is no newcomer to the meat case. Rocha explained that his reasons for merchandising in the meat case were threefold. "The meat case doesn't take as big a markup on items as the grocery and service deli. No. 2, people stop and shop the meat case and the meat department is good at rotating the product."

Mallard's and Superior Farms were not the only ones to reap the cross-promotional profits. "We intended to triple our wine sales," said Jennings, and ended up doing "five times as many sales on the whole line [of Turning Leaf Wines] throughout the promotion and we are still showing a 20% increase."

Turning Leaf's chardonnay, the varietal that appeared in Raley's ad campaign, prior to the promotion showed an average sales in Raley's stores of about "400 bottles a week between August and September," said Rocha. During the fifth week of the promotion a storewide average of 4,096 bottles of chardonnay was sold, according to Rocha.

Bob Denny, Gallo's sales promotion manager, declined to comment.

During a one-week January promotion at Richland Markets, Pallios said that he probably doubled his wine sales. O'Brien's Supermarkets not only more than doubled wine sales during a one-week February promotion, but "Turning Leaf sales are up 35% since the promotion," said O'Brien.

Don Crose, Domaine St. George's national chain manager, said that during a two-week October promotion cross-merchandising Superior Farms lamb with Domaine St. George cabernet sauvignon, held at Raley's, "We increased wine sales by 50% to 60%."

He explained that the promotion had "given our label a lot of recognition, and sales [since then] are probably up 10% to 15%." This was Domaine St. George's second cross promotion with Raley's, according to Crose, who said that last year they did rotisserie chicken with chardonnay.

A variety of point-of-sale material was used for the promotions at the different stores.

"We had wine descriptions at the point of sale and brochures on display next to the meat case," said Raley's Jennings.

"Turning Leaf built an awning over the meat case that said 'Mallard's and Turning Leaf,' and the retailers put the wine in the case or on an endcap," said Mallard's Rocha. Richland's Pallios noted that although he didn't have brochures, "We had some recipe cards available from Mallard's."

And O'Brien's had "displays in produce and meat, with the wines stacked to the side of the meat case," explained O'Brien.

During the promotion for Domaine St. George at Raley's, the wines were put in "floor stacks or wine racks placed around lamb or in meat areas," said Domaine St. George's Crose. "We had signs on the wine racks: a case card with a leg of lamb and a bottle of wine [and] we offered recipes on recipe pads around the meat section," he explained. Raley's Jennings added that Domaine St. George also "had a three-case display in the meat department."

Teddie Crippen, Superior Farm's marketing director, explained that during the lamb promotion, the "endcaps had coupons and tied all the products together. We also had contest entry forms to win dinner on the Napa Valley Wine Train."

A substantial ad campaign in the local papers backed up most of the promotions. At Raley's, Jennings said, there was "an ad in the paper featuring Mallard's and Turning Leaf wine," and newspaper and radio ads for the Domaine St. George promotion. Mallard's Rocha said that three ads were run in the local papers during the 13-week Raley's promotion.

Demos played an important part in the Turning Leaf promotions at all three retailers. Raley's Jennings said that several Mallard's demos were done in different stores. Mallard's Rocha said the demos, which allowed shoppers to taste everything but the wine, were held during all three ad weeks at Raley's.

At Richland, Mallard's was prepared and "handed out to sample," said Pallios.

And at O'Brien's, "The demos helped with some excitement. Sampling the product was highly effective. It was a really complete cross-merchandising effort," noted O'Brien.

Coupons and discounts were also an important aspect of all the promotions. Superior Farm's Crippen said, "We had cross couponing on items. On one sheet, like a shelf-talker, [it was] for a total of $1.65 savings." And the wine "had bottle nickers for a dollar off the lamb," she continued.

During the Turning Leaf promotion at Raley's there were "brochures in the wine section with a 50-cent coupon for Mallard's," said Mallard's Rocha. Raley's also offered an additional discount on Mallard's, which "usually sells for $5.99. It was $4.99 during all three of the ad weeks," said Rocha.

At O'Brien's, "We ran coupons in the circular and the local paper for a $1 off Mallard's," said O'Brien. At Richland, during demos, 50-cent coupons were handed out and an ad in the local paper also ran with a 50-cent coupon.

Everyone, from the retailers to the suppliers and wineries, reported enthusiastic results and expressed their intentions to cross market with wine in the near future.