Front-End Focus is based on a series of studies that involve extensive store audits, collection of sales data on multiple categories, in-store consumer observations and interviews, and analysis of retailer merchandising performance.

• Grocery Channel
• The Front-End Focus Grocery study was conducted in partnership with 8 leading retailers representing 5500 stores and over 20% of U.S. Food ACV.
• Retailers provided SKU level sales data for 565 stores during a 6 month timeframe.
• Checkout plan-o-grams were collected & all stores were audited at the lane level to identify merchandising conditions
• In-Store interviews were done with 1,326 consumers and was conducted relative to checkout attitudes & purchase behavior
• The study included checkout performance analysis of Regular, Express & Self-Checkout lanes
• The study includes data on over twenty major categories:

• The study was designed to address key questions regarding the Front-End including:
  • What is the value of the Front-End checkout? How profitable is it?
  • What categories are driving Front-End checkout sales & profits?
  • What categories should I stock on the Front-End?
  • Should I merchandise differently at the Regular, Express, and Self-Checkouts Lanes?
  • How many Beverage coolers do I need in my stores?
  • What is the value of following Best Practices?”
  • How many items should I carry at the Front-End?
  • What is the right amount of merchandising space?
  • How much space should I provide to Confectionery, Magazines & GM/HBC?
  • What does an optimum Front-End look like?

   

• Convenience Channel
• A national sample of 1100 C-stores were audited to gauge current C-store marketing and merchandising patterns.
• The Convenience Store Merchandising Study was conducted in partnership with 5 leading C-Store retail groups.
• Retailers provided SKU level sales data for 200 stores during a 6 month timeframe.
• 900 consumers were interviewed in-store to gain insight on attitudes and buying behavior in C-Stores
• Consumer movement in and out of the store was tracked based on 1,300 in-store and 2,600 exterior observations
• Sales data was collected and analyzed from 200 stores on single serve snack items including:

• Consumer buying information was also collected for the following categories: