5yr old's view of logos

Are we spending enough/too much on consumer education?

How can finance be used by NAMs, day-to-day?

Why bother?

If the public are becoming more financially astute, due in part to the banks’ slow motion devaluation of savers’ funds via the differential between CPI inflation at 4.2% and 3.2% rates on deposits (the result is a net outflow of 1% value…), coupled with the banks’ added ‘bonus’ of bailouts at the expense of the taxpayer, then perhaps NAMs might profit from applying the same financial insights in their day-jobs?


Real opportunities or not?

In fact, the real issue here is the extent to which there are genuine trade opportunities available in unprecedented times, and if so, what are the tools required in order to optimise those opportunities, faster than the opposition.

What do I need?

Being able to calculate and demonstrate the supplier’s direct impact on a customer’s financial performance, faster than other suppliers, consolidates that edge…

Using numbers from the customer’s latest annual reports engages the share-owning buyer, to the exclusion of any competitor awaiting a return to normal…

So what?

In today’s unprecedented times the only certainties are money, and the need for survival in supply and retail.  Ignorance of your own company accounts and an understanding of how they relate to the customer’s financial performance needlessly adds personal risk to the other unprecedented uncertainties affecting a NAM’s survival in the marketplace.  However, even a modicum of financial understanding can vastly improve the odds in your favour…

For a step-by-step approach finding opportunities in a customer’s latest annual report, see our latest checklist in Kamcity library 

Pound shops: increasingly must-supply?

If you accept that we are now in a flatline decade, we all need pound shops.

As retail landlords, local government, the savvy consumer and suppliers are force-fed reality, so the downmarket, increasingly common big five players become more appealing as solutions to all stakeholders’ problems…

With over 3,000 outlets across the UK, the inevitable trade concentration is taking place, resulting in 6 major chains as the good guys get better. …the way NAMs like it, in fact.

As the chains have grown, suppliers have been willing to strike dedicated deals with them and this has seen pound stores stock more focused lines on a more regular basis, even in private label.

To help ‘those in-house’ to see the light, see our detailed treatment giving thumbnails of the major players, key category opportunities, latest available shopper-research and our glimpse of the future.

On your next ‘day-out’, why not check out some outlets as a supplier, discover at least £20 worth of essential purchases as you morph into a pound-shopper, and come out determined to find a way of adapting your range to optimise this emerged route to consumer, like your competitors?   Fabian Panthaki, NamNews

Online commerce: the dark alternative…

The Internet has a secret black market facilitated by a global network of computer users who believe the internet should operate beyond the supervision of law enforcement agencies.

It allows users and those who sell drugs, guns and fake passports to remain anonymous. Users often do not know the real identity of those they are dealing with, and it is very difficult - although not impossible - for authorities to track them

Users purchase via Bitcoins - an electronic currency which is used legitimately by online gamers, and the availability of multiple dealers allows product-comparison. Customers can also review the dealer's product.

Getting access to the dark web depends on users downloading freely available software, based on peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, which effectively scrambles the location of users and dark web websites.

One positive application might be the use of similar technology to preserve the anonymity of mainstream online shoppers who may resent their shopping behaviour being data-based, however well-intentioned the retailer… 

Hear the full story by downloading the BBC 5 live Investigates podcast 

Memorable Advertising Copy…?

Forty years ago, driving through Kensington, I stopped for a moment at traffic-lights outside a cinema,

and noticed the ‘blurb’ for an Ingmar Bergman movie:

“The hour between Night and Dawn is

the hour when most children are born.

It is the hour when most people die,

when sleep is deepest, when nightmares are most real.

It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted

by their deepest fear, when ghosts

and demons are most powerful.

That is the Hour of the Wolf…”

I have been able to quote it almost verbatim ever since,

Especially in the early hours…

‘Apples of Love’: Nisa to change how consumers buy potatoes

A new potato innovation will copy milk in using colour coding as a KISS approach to simplifying potato purchasing for both retailers and shoppers.

The product is called ‘The Same Every Time’ and will be launched only through participating Nisa member stores.

According to NISA “The concept comprises three ranges; firm potatoes in a green packet, fluffy potatoes in a pink packet; and creamy potatoes in an orange packet. Being first to market with this exciting new concept that is only available from participating Nisa member stores retailing for £1, the range is not only convenient but also great value for money.” 

For NAMs that become enamoured with this initiative, we have uncovered over 60 uses for potatoes, ranging from nourishment to aphrodisia, along with a book of 101 potato recipes…

Have a colour-coded weekend, from the NamNews Team!

Why Robert Wiseman Dairies was attractive to Müller

An investor’s view of Müller’s acquisition of RWD, and how a NAM can help

Stockopedia writes about investing from a ‘value’ perspective i.e. finding companies that are priced attractively, like RWD.

They explain a number of attraction-criteria including category leadership, prosperous/profitable, manageable gearing, long history, no threats to permanent earning power, and a sustainable business model, simply a short term problem of a milk price-war. For details on valuation of RWD see Stockopedia,

How A NAM can help 

In this type of situation NAMs can help their own companies by seeing their jobs in terms of how they affect ROCE performance (i.e Return On Capital Employed, the profit a company makes on the money tied up in a business)  An acceptable level of ROCE, say 15%+, can result in more credit from suppliers of packaging, ingredients etc, cheaper borrowing from banks, more clout with retailers, but especially autonomy and freedom from takeover…

Improving your ROCE 

ROCE is driven by Net Margin and Capital Rotation, so a NAM can help improve Net Margin by being able to negotiate better selling prices, lower discounts/promo allowances, lower selling and distribution costs, and driving volume. Capital rotation i.e Sales/stock can be improved by driving volume, getting customers to pay faster, and more accurate sales-forecasting (if you ‘over-forecast’ i.e. sell less than forecast, then the ‘spare’ stock is being carried around the system not earning, resulting in a dilution of margin).

Obviously NAMs do all of these things (?), but the key is to know why you do it, and their direct impact on company profitability, i.e. ROCE, resulting in long term sustainability of the business model, and a higher share price, thus making the company too expensive to take over…

Trendfear: Ever feel you're being left behind?

If definitions* of Pinterest, Summly, Flipboard, Zeebox, Groupon, Waze and Foursquare don’t leap eagerly to mind, the resulting nagging anxiety that you are missing out might be called "trendfear" in a recent article on the BBC 

A feeling sometimes well-founded in that in many categories, NAMs might find themselves feeling a bit exposed if they reveal they have no idea of the technological state-of-play. There is a point when, arguably, you should know about something. And the earlier you know, the better.

It's unnerving because we are no longer all equal in the information stakes, says digital strategist Nic Newman. "In the era of mass media everyone found everything out at the same time.

"The difference now is that with all these different information channels some people know things almost as soon as they happen. But people outside those networks are not hearing it."

The key for NAMs, apart from the pleasure of responding to reflex curiosity, is to apply the cost vs. value relationship in prioritising the new developments. In other words, given the time required to cover the learning curve, what is it about the trend that will make our (i.e. mine and the buyer) jobs simpler, faster, easier and less expensive to conduct, and how much difference will it make to the bottom line of each company in terms of value?

Feeling better already?

If not, read the definitions below

*Stress-reduction definitions:

Pinterest: an image-based website where users create virtual pinboards based on specific interests, such as baking

Summly: iPhone app which summarises and simplifies the content of web pages and search results

Flipboard: designed for use on the iPad, it allows users to pick the websites they want to create a personalised magazine

Zeebox: an app that links up the user's TV viewing and social networking

Groupon: a discount website that can now target people shopping in a certain mall with specific offers

Waze: an app that interrogates drivers' sat navs to share traffic information and cut delays

Foursquare: a location-based social networking website for mobile devices 

NB. Trend spotting: see end of article for a great summary of key trends early mentions and then becoming commonplace…