Coke studies shoppers.

Coca Cola has announced a new program to share its shopper research with the trade in an effort to "enhance the shopping experience and increase same-store sales and profit performance." So, what else is new? Putting the two objectives in the same sentence obscures their real motive, which is showing retailers how they can sell more Coke, even though many customers are trying hard to cut their Coke consumption down or out.

It really is possible to make more money as a byproduct of enhancing the shopping experience. Wegmans and a few others have demonstrated ways of doing itt. But Coke's announcement took me back to the first supermarket Consumer Advisory Board meeting 1 ever convened. It was held in the office of one of the supermarket owners. Several of the shoppers expressed strong feelings about the amount of junk food with high kid appeal sold at the checkout lines. They wanted mom-friendly, candy-free checkouts that wouldn't trigger demands and tantrums from kids who were already tired from shopping.

The big shot immediately understood what the consumers were talking about, and instinctively made them an honest offer they couldn't refuse. "If you can show me anything that I can sell in that space that will generate as much profit as candy and gum, I'll have candy and gum moved out."

The tell-it-like-it-is statement from an owner made the consumers feel like they were getting the straight scoop, even if they weren't getting what they wanted. Several of them formed a committee to see if they could come up with something. They didn't find a holy grail, but after more meetings and a lot of talk, they did get one candy-free aisle in each store.

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