Catfood campaign
June 2018
Petworld in Hørsholm
Retail Trainee
Methods to compete against big brand names
For my exam from the retail trade school programme, when I was a trainee at Petworld Hørsholm, I chose the topic of the brand Arion Original. I wanted to optimise the sales because I knew Arion's value. From a commercial perspective, the products had a high gross margin and were part of the stamping collecting scheme; however, many customers did not focus on this dog and cat food brand. Therefore, we had piled up too much of two of the variants in the shop, and most customers bought the brands they were familiar with, such as Royal Canin and Hill's Pet Nutrition, respectively.
To attract more customers with cats as pets into the store and sell out of the cat food bags, I planned a campaign using various methods and theories I learned during my studies.
To achieve my goal, I used good sales arguments, got to know the target group and trained the staff well. The result was a success and I and my colleagues made a lot of sales. This generated more memberships and Petworld made a good profit.
Desk research
Segmentation
When starting this exam case, I had been a sales trainee at the store for over a year and knew the target audience. Since the store was located in North Zealand, it would not be surprising for a Dane or anyone else living in Denmark for a while if I told you that the segmentation regarding the Minerva model can be described as "blue." They are materialistic, modern, successful, highly educated, and care about quality in terms of ecological and gluten-free pet food.
Distribution
When planning a sales campaign, it is wise to research the supplier. The delivery terms of the Arion pet food supplier are that they deliver with PostNord and only place orders at ground level, in this way. It is a distance trade where I could expect the products to be delivered within three days if I order from them before 10:30 AM. They fulfil all logistics goals, such as providing the right products in good condition and at the right price. These are just some examples of the 7 R's of logistics, which is a good overview of requirements for suppliers. They have an interest rate of 2% if the store manager exceeds the monthly payment deadline.
Product Description
​​​​​Arion has been on the market for almost 40 years, and its Cat food series consists of nine variations. Each variant is gluten-free and contains green tea, which is good for the teeth. It also contains green mussel shells, which are suitable for the joints. If the cat likes the food and the customer continues to buy Arion, they get the seventh bag for free if they are a member. This is a great way to retain our target group and a good selling point to get the products sold. However, little attention has been paid to the products, and therefore, the sales rate is low.
Sales techniques and employee engagement
EFU model
In addition to mentioning that Arion is gluten-free and has a stamp scheme, there is also a good sales argument model called the EFU model. Here, you mention a characteristic that can be argued about the product's advantages and benefits. They need to be connected, and it's a way to give customers a proper explanation of why a product can work the way it does.​ I designed an overview of each sales argument for the nine individual variants. I invited all my colleagues for a morning meeting where I offered coffee and cake and my sales techniques.
Executing on plan and exposure
Campaign plan
The campaign ran from 28 May 2018 to 10 June 2018. This was right around the time citizens got their monthly paychecks. On 1 June, a sales consultant from the supplier arrived to advise customers. He would provide some credibility as we live in a society where we often refer to experts in a field. For the campaign to be successful, I focused on selling points and exposure by hanging up flyers in neighbouring stores and publishing posts on Facebook. There was also a competition where customers could win a free 7.5kg bag by completing a questionnaire.​
Questionnaire
To better understand what the consumers who own cats value in terms of price, quality and disease prevention, I wanted to create a questionnaire. It was designed to be concrete and not contain too many questions; otherwise, some customers might opt out. Many consumers have busy lives but can win a free Arion bag. It's a way to make them more interested in answering the questions. I would mainly ask multiple-choice questions. The top part of the questionnaire consisted of contact information, which is just first name and phone number, as some customers don't like to give too much about themselves to strangers. Then, there were demographic questions about gender and age group.
Positioning of products
Here is an overview of Petworld Hørsholm, where I have marked all the Arion cat food locations by dividing them into A, B and C locations. A1, which is to the right opposite the checkout counter. This makes it easier for my employees and I to mention Arion while the customer is about to purchase by simply pointing to the display. I have chosen to keep the display simple, as too much decoration can make it difficult for the customer to take a bag off the shelf. I would, therefore, also call it a shelf display, as the products are easy to grab and see. Due to their size and low price, the 300g bags can quickly become a one-off purchase. I chose to put them in a small basket. I called this location A2, as customers can reach the road from several sides, and it's easy to spot.
Store layout
A1
A2
Result
The goal was achieved by selling more Arion bags. I sold 2,749.6 DKK more, including VAT than expected. However, there were some variants I sold fewer of, such as the 7.5kg "Kitten", and I didn't sell any within the variant "Sensible". But that's because when a customer has a kitten, they often already have some food from the breeder that the kitten is used to, and if a cat has digestive problems, the customer feels safer if it gets some food from the vet. When it comes to shopping, we ordered a little too much, but that's because the Petworld director would visit the store soon after, and then there's a big VAT-free weekend. So we had to order extra. But then it's good that the supplier gave us a 15% discount on the purchase. Another goal I had was to teach my employees some good sales arguments, and I managed to do that too, but not quite to the core as I would have liked due to lack of time.​
Reflection
If I had to start over again, I would have liked to have done some things at a better time, such as making more posts on Facebook and launching the second competition earlier. There was just a little more excitement and enthusiasm about the campaign from the target group, and I could have created that by creating a customer experience. This could be done by wearing a cat costume and handing out flyers to create a sense of humour in connection with the professional test. Or organise a competition for children to find a cat toy in the store. The winning child gets a free Arion bag.
Quote
"After completing her trainee apprenticeship, she continued as a full-time skilled worker during August 2028, after which she was set to start further education. Helena stopped at her own
request ."
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- Bettina P. - Petworld District Manager for the Zealand region.