Striving for Continual Improvement
EMI recently took several Meijer and Elite team members on a tour of three trend-setting retailers in Ann Arbor, Michigan: Whole Foods, Zingerman’s Delicatessen and Plum Markets. Each of these operators has a focus on selling traditionally higher cost-per-item categories and is recognized for its ability to build and retain customers through sampling, product knowledge, salesmanship and merchandising.
Our goal with these visits was to identify transferable concepts, processes and merchandising practices as they relate to how we communicate with consumers, our culture, our uniforms, and our supporting materials and signage. Meijer and EMI team members made the following observations about the three retailers’ best practices in these areas:
- Communication—Having a personal conversation with the customer combined with deeper product knowledge will be key for moving cases and building rapport.
- Culture—A strong focus on training, downstream empowerment and building ownership through goals and incentives will improve employee performance and decrease turnover.
- Uniforms—EMI uniforms are very formal compared to these retailers. We may need to relax our look to best reach the Meijer customer.
- Ambiance—Attention to the location, product selection and visual appeal needs to be a priority.
- Support materials—Customers are seeking information as they explore their food choices. Looking at programs that can be utilized at the cart needs to be a focus.
It’s our goal to implement as many of these concepts that apply at Meijer in the near future.
Stay tuned for updates.
 G. Thomas (Jerry) Slater Vice President |