Company Blog

The Most Important W

by Adam Zack — January 27, 2015

Most of us who went to school remember the 5 W’s. Who, What, When, Where, and Why. In this age of equality for all words, letters, colors and numbers, is there really one that is most important? Is there one word that proves that there is a master word among the millions of words available? I assert that when it comes to our field of marketing and branding the maverick grocers of North America, the question that matters most and that each should be asking first and foremost is WHY? Let’s start with a true-life example that occurred last week. A well respected and prominent owner of 15 grocery stores recently asked a share group I am in for input on creating a full color magazine style holiday guide for his company. What were costs and ways to fund it? Who was best to create it? When was the best time to distribute it? Where should he get it printed? I related this inquiry to the consciously attuned guru leader at DW Green and, after assuming the lotus position, chanting Ommmmmmmmmm and lighting the incense, received a response: “My son, the question first to be asked and answered is what is the purpose of this holiday glossy full color marketing piece?” The Why. Why should they publish this magazine? Is it the best use of their funds to achieve their purpose?In marketing decisions we too often concentrate on the first 4 W’s and fail to fully flesh out our purpose for what we are doing. What is the end result we are trying to achieve a...

by Adam Zack — January 20, 2015

In addition to being an admitted retailaholic, I am also an oenophile. No, that is not something depraved or salacious (or maybe it is?). An oenophile is a wine enthusiast. I really love the whole process of searching, choosing, pairing, savoring and consuming. But this week’s column is not about wine. We’ll save that for a time when my writing senses can be piqued with a glass of wine as I write, and early morning is not such a time. Well, at least not this morning. But I digress. I get a lot of wine related emails touting new finds and hot deals. Those emails ultimately have a link to the wine seller’s website to find out more details. Like most of you, I am on the go a lot and view many emails on my iphone, which ultimately leads to Responsive Frustration. I tap on the link for the website so I can take advantage of that hot wine special, and the website comes up all tiny on my phone. I try to zoom and navigate to try to purchase the wine, but ultimately lose my patience before I can even find the “add to cart” and “checkout” and just abandon the whole thing. It happens about 80% of the time. So why don’t more retailers create their websites with Responsive Design so that they can be properly viewed on a smart phone or a tablet? What makes more sense than having your customers be able to actually (and conveniently) view specials and recipes from your website while they are IN your store? Try this as an experiment: From your phone ...

by Adam Zack — January 14, 2015

Dear Retailaholic,I’ve been in a long-term relationship, and I’m starting to get worried that things may be heading down the wrong road. We started out many years ago as a result of convenience. I was in a hurry to get to a party and I turned the corner and there he was. He was clean and well groomed. He was amply stocked with all of my favorite things. He was friendly, not pushy, and genuinely happy to see me. I bought a bottle of wine from his eclectic, fairly priced selection for my party, and well, I was smitten. I found myself going out of my way to stop by to see him. Twice a week lunches turned into dinners, which soon turned into weekly shopping. Next thing I knew he was wooing me with promotional offers, free cake on my birthday, and weekly specials that were just too hot to resist. Before I knew it, I moved across town just to be near him. His employees knew me by name. I felt special. I felt appreciated. I felt loved. I wouldn’t even look at another grocery store. But then things started to change. It was around the time the recession was happening. The familiar faces I was so used to seeing started to disappear. The mouth-watering deli selections started to look a little tired. The hot specials became luke-warm at best. I started to feel unloved and most importantly, unappreciated. I admit it, my eyes started to stray, even though he still had my heart. If only he would show me he still cared! Make me feel like I was the customer who meant the worl...

by Adam Zack — January 6, 2015

Who is this new guy writing the Retailer Insight column for DW Green Company? Does he know the difference between a cantaloupe and a Tuscan melon? Does he know the difference between EDLP and EBIT? Just what “retailer insights” can a dude working for DW Green have that I don’t already know?Hello, my name is Adam Zack and I’m a retailaholic. I’ve been in the grocery business pretty much my whole life. My degree is in business administration (University of San Diego 1986) and I ran a successful chain of 8 stores from 1988-2011. The last four years I have managed the most successful single store in San Diego. My passions are food, wine and the ocean.So why the hell did you leave that to work for DW Green? Are you crazy? Well, it was time to take the next step from running a family business. It was time to get on the other side of the table and try and help blend the creativity that thrives at DW Green with the chaotic everyday operations that retailers face daily. I know what it’s like to operate on a 1-2% net margin. I also know what it’s like to be behind the 8 ball when times get tough and competition is putting on its steel toed boots and taking aim at your backside. I know that nearly every independent grocery retailer has unique strengths and benefits that they should be expressing to their customers. Creative differentiation is the path to success, and I have not seen anyone who can beat DW Green’s inspired passion to help independents kic...

by Adam Zack — December 18, 2014

So the holidays are here…a time to celebrate love and good cheer with family and friends. It’s the time to be thankful. A time to express our gratitude with gifts, cards, great wine and a memorable meal or two or three! Nothing shows how much you care like the cheapest turkey you can find! Or the Prime Rib roast that is a little tough and gristly, but good Lord only cost $3.99 per pound! The tradition of finding the cheapest meal ingredients possible, and bragging about it to those beloved cherished guests has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. Sure, everyone loves getting a “deal”. Everyone loves finding that great bargain that saves money. But aren’t we talking about a special occasion? A gathering that happens once, maybe twice a year? Isn’t that a good reason to seek out the highest quality? The best turkey? The most tender cut of quality beef?For most supermarkets the quandary comes with appealing to those masses seeking the bargain of the century. If we don’t have the cheapest turkey in town, maybe we will lose customers to the competition. It’s definitely a valid concern because when they come in to buy the cheapest main course, they also buy the rest of the items for their meal. So let’s think of some options for next year, after all, we want their Christmas dinner to be memorable for how absolutely delicious it was. We want them to say “It was better than a fine restaurant!” Next year, let’s promot...

by webmaster — April 7, 2014

When you think about a texting program, what does it mean to you? The traditional approach to texting is to send out an email blast to your customers, and send out the same message via text (compressed to fit the character limitations, of course). This approach can work, to an extent, but remember texting and email provide very different channels of communication. Using the abbreviated structure of texts to do work better served by longer-form formats like email is akin to drinking a Big Gulp through a coffee straw.The place where texts excel over email is in the speed and immediacy of their delivery. Email is a form of communication that is much more passive than texts; a sent email must wait in an inbox for the customer to go and open it, but a text is delivered almost immediately and appears instantly on screen. What this means for a retailer is that it gives a superior method to deliver certain types of messages, which in turn creates the opportunity for some out-of-the-box thinking about ways to use texting programs to communicate with your customers to build loyalty. Here are some examples of alternate ways to implement texting programs. ...
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An iPad-Ready Web Site

by Ryan Joy — September 13, 2012

Is your site optimized, not just for mobile phones, but for a tablet?In yesterday’s Apple event, CEO Tim Cook said Apple sold more iPads last year than any PC manufacturer sold of their entire line. He also noted that 250,000 apps have been customized for iPads and declared that we live in a post-PC age. • Optimizing for a tablet means designing for fingers rather than mouse clicks. Buttons need to be bigger, and fancy navigation like drop downs need to work perfectly on every platform or be eliminated.• User experience testing has to go beyond the standard cocktail of browsers to include smart phones and iPads. UX testing can cover a multitude of sins in usability; even if you don’t know better, if you test it, they will tell you what’s broken.• No Flash. • As a rule, don’t send tablet users to your mobile site. I bought my iPad to see big, beautiful graphics, not a screen full of basic buttons designed for a 3.5 inch screen.Even if you have a successful web site, I’d recommend testing it with a tablet. It’s a market that will only continue to grow....
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How Your Brand Can Use Pinterest

by Ryan Joy — March 1, 2012

Whole Foods Branded Pinterest Page

What is Pinterest?

An online “pinboard” that lets you collect photos of ideas you like. Right now, the demographics seem slanted towards women, and popular uses include decorating ideas, meal ideas, party ideas, fashion ideas, and wish lists of products…pretty much anything users want to collect.
Why does it matter?
According to Business Insider, Pinterest has grown 40x in the last six months, and has the same growth rate as Facebook had in 2006. It is fun and easy (addictive, really) to browse, because of the quality of the content and simplicity of use. Hundreds of savvy brands have folded Pinterest into their online marketing strategy.
How can you use it?
Pinterest creates fun interactions with any brand that can use beautiful imagery to connect with customers—so, how can your brand present brand-relevant ideas through pictures? Whether the product is food, movies, clo...
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13 Reflections from 13 Years at DW Green Company

by Ryan Joy — December 22, 2011

Last Wednesday was my 13th anniversary with DW Green Company—I started working here as a Graphic Designer on December 14, 1998. Since everyone is already reflecting on the passing of time as we near the year’s end, here are some lessons from my time here.1. Companies—and people—can change. Real change doesn’t happen often; in fact we sometimes hit a brick wall trying to help a client reinvent. I’ve seen it though, in our company and others: intentional transformation. And it really is something to behold.2. Brand is the most muddled word in all of business. It would be nice to coin a new word to describe that sub-rational stew of meanings and associations, but at this point I’m thinking it will never happen.3. Great organizational cultures keep great employees. (They also drive some employees to leave, and that’s not a bad thing either.)4. Culture is about the little things, and it comes from paying attention to what is true but unsaid in the organization.5. Companies that stay focused and disciplined in booming times will maintain their momentum through lean times.6. Business relationships are the foundation of sustainability. Advertising is a fickle industry that sees a lot of change for the sake of change. In the time I’ve been with this company, some clients have come and gone, but the majority have stayed for years, and it has been the relationships—company to company and person to person—that have made the biggest impact in our sustainability ove...
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Cyber Monday

by Ryan Joy — November 25, 2011

Last year we helped the outstanding team at Trig’s launch their Facebook page and plan their social media promotions. One of their most successful social media promos was offering online-only coupons (Facebook and Trig’s.com) on “Cyber Monday“.Here’s what the social media manager at Trig’s had to say about the promotion last year (shared with permission):
“Hey, I just wanted to send a quick note to say thanks for the ideas about Cyber Monday. It was SUPER fun and got everyone really engaged in our social media activities. We received phone calls, emails, Facebook inquiries, and more about it. We ran into a few challenges along the way, but overall it was pretty great! The download numbers for most of the coupons managed to do in two hours what many of our coupons do all week.”
At the time they ran the promotion last year, the Trig’s Facebook page was still very new. As the Trig’s current Facebook status says, this year they will be offering “Twenty-one ridiculously hot coupons,” available Monday only, and the Trig’s team has been building for a successful promotion all year.
“It’s amazing what having a year of experience in social media has done for our troops on the ground in terms of understanding and being committed to social media! Last year, we had a lot of success with a sma...
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