Grocery store ad flyers that arrive in the newspaper every week are loaded with special items promoted at attractive prices. The front page of the ad generally represents red-hot specials with even much lower retails. Optional attractions such as coupons or buy-one-get-one-free promotions are attractions that help to entice consumer interest even more.

Grocery ads are a vital part of marketing programs and are meant to capture an audience and lure them into the stores. Once inside, people may look not only for those advertised specials, but also they may purchase other items at regular prices.

According to eMarketer, advertisers will spend close to $171 billion in 2013. The global ad spending, according to Magna Global, should reach $486 billion this year with a projection of $515 billion for 2014. This is an indication that marketing efforts could get more aggressive by grocery stores.

Marketing is where it all starts. Advertising has to set the stage by drawing the people to the product. Unique strategies by the marketing team must raise the product awareness to the public. This is both to establish an image and communicate to consumers.

After marketing attracts the people and draws them inside the stores, merchandising has to take over at the retail level. The sales floor is where all the real action takes place. Marketing sets the stage, but merchandising puts on the show. This is accomplished by properly presenting the product with attractive displays, signage, in-store sampling, valued pricing and good customer service.

When the produce trucks arrive at the stores, the product has to be unloaded, processed and displayed for the customers. It is at this point that the challenges begin to take place. The merchandising team must now take the ball and run for a touchdown, but certain obstacles can often cause a fumble.

Marketing programs often include such overpowering impact that it becomes a burden on the store workforce. Let’s face it; expense cuts have taken a huge chunk out of labor at the store level. It almost becomes next to impossible to handle the workload demands created by some of the more alluring ad promotions. This occurs whenever the marketing programs become much more effective than the employees can handle.

Customers make 70 percent of their purchasing decisions inside of the store, according to the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute. This is an indication that in-store promoting is just as influential as marketing.

After all, shoppers must be enticed by full and exciting displays filled with abundant product. However, the labor force must be available in order to accomplish that 70 percent. If it isn’t, then the sales can drop immensely.

The actual merchandising experts are the employees who work day in and day out directly in the trenches of the stores. They physically move the product from the back room area into the store, place it on the displays and come in direct contact with the shoppers. They know exactly what sells, how to sell it and what keeps customers happy. They also know the promotional programs that work well and those that are the weakest. Therefore, shouldn’t the marketing department be asking the store employees for some real-time advice?

In talking to store employees out in the produce trenches, most tell me in confidence that they cannot keep up with many of the special marketing programs due to being shorthanded in labor. Many even go as far as admitting that they don’t order what they actually can sell, they order only what they can possibly handle based mostly on the minimum labor they are allowed.

The role of marketing vice president is one that is filled with creative ideas in developing promotions to bring people into the stores. That’s the crux of their job. The easy part is writing the programs, but often the most difficult part is getting marketing, merchandising and store operators on the same page.

At one time or another, some of us sat in an advertising meeting. Too many times, the ad layout is created to please the company president, marketing vice president and even the staff rather than the consumers. When this occurs, it can become quite daring in achieving the sales. Satisfy the customers, not just the boss.

The marketing department can invent all the promotional programs possible, but it takes sufficient labor in the stores to keep the displays stocked and customers making the purchases. If the product has difficulty getting from the back room onto the displays, then poor results can be expected from any promotion.

Marketing influences merchandising. Merchandising influences the consumer. The consumer influences sales. Sales influences profit. That’s how it works.

Incidentally, marketing experts are very creative in developing promotional programs, but they should never be allowed to set up a produce display at the store level.

Ron Pelger is the president and CEO of RonProCon, a consulting firm for the produce industry, and the chairperson of FreshXperts LLC, a consortium of produce professionals. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056 or by email at [email protected], or check his details on freshxperts.com for more information.