Change in Project Impact Strategy Is Paying Off for These Household Favorites
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Walmart's much-talked-about Project Impact isn't dead, but the merchandising strategy that knocked thousands of items off the retailer's shelves and cleared the aisles of promotional merchandise over recent years is finished.That, combined with moves to give regional and store managers more power over what their stores carry and how merchandise gets displayed, stands to have a major impact on a host of marketers over the next year. The brands and players at right are among the immediately identifiable winners, though many of the category resets that will add back thousands of items to Walmart's shelves won't take place until early next year.
While much discussion around Bentonville and nationwide among Walmart suppliers has written off Project Impact as a goner, the reality is less dramatic, more like an amputation. The program to reinvigorate growth at Walmart always focused on 10 words. Seven remain operative. Three -- referring to the "Win, Play, Show" merchandising and assortment strategy -- have been tossed out of the lexicon, according to several people familiar with the matter.
The first four of the remaining ones: "Save Money. Live Better" refer to the slogan adopted in 2007 from Interpublic Group of Cos.' Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., along with the redesign of the chain logo.
The next three words: "Fast, Friendly, Clean" remain in the Impact dictionary as well. Those refer to efforts to improve the store environment and shopping experience and fall into the area new Walmart U.S. CEO William Simon formerly ran and which appears to have gained considerably more power in the new order. What's gone are "Win, Play, Show," in which Walmart reduced assortments widely and often let price leadership over competitors narrow or disappear entirely in the "Play" and "Show" categories. Reversal of that, along with return of merchandise to aisles, or so-called "Action Alley," is having the biggest, well, impact on brands. Among the beneficiaries so far, according to people familiar with the matter:
HEFTY ONEZIP:
PAMPERS:
WISK:
ELMER'S GLUE:
CHEX MIX:
A reset of the snack section recently has brought the item-count for this General Mills brand from an Impact-reduced three up to eight.http://adage.com/article?article_id=145845