Wal-Mart, P&G Still Tops for Marketing Strength: Survey
Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble still hold the top spots in the 2008 version of Cannondale Associates’ annual PoweRanking survey of both manufacturers and retailers. But their ratings, in a survey of 300 retail and manufacturing professionals, were lower than last year.
In the retail space, respondents were asked to rate companies for their retail marketing competence on the basis of a number of criteria, including clear company strategy, most innovative consumer marketing, and best store branding. And for the tenth year, Wal-Mart stood head and shoulders above the others.
But that ranking was off 0.2 percentage points from last year’s standing. Since that 2007 ranking was down 7.1 points from the previous year, the Cannondale report, “Full Tilt: Winning in a Shopper-Centric World,” gives Wal-Mart and the faltering economy equal credit for stopping its decline.
Among other Top Ten retailers ranked in the Cannondale survey, only Kroger showed appreciable gains, boosting its rank by almost five percentage points to move into third place, behind Wal-Mart and Target. Drugstore chain Walgreens hiked its composite ranking by 2.8 points this year and filled out the Top Ten, right behind rival health and beauty vendor CVS, which also saw a 1-point increase in its ranking.
“This suggests that Wal-Mart’s low price strategy is resonating with consumers and manufacturers,” the report says. “It also suggests that Kroger’s strong showing in targeting its shoppers and shopper segments is paying dividends. Also, drug retailers CVS and Walgreens are effectively targeting consumers and delivering on manufacturers’ programs.”
On the manufacturer side, four of the Top Ten moved up in standing this year, while seven manufacturers either dropped down or, like ConAgra, dropped out of the first rank altogether.
Traditional PoweRanking leaders Procter & Gamble, Kraft and PepsiCo all saw their scores fall off this year. P&G’s popular vote dropped 4.2 points, although it still held the Number One slot in the top Ten. Kraft’s score drop of 0.3 points wasn’t enough to move it from the second slot it held in the 2007 survey, and PepsiCo retained the show position despite a 1.7-point decline.
But General Mills saw its score increase 3.2 points in this year’s poll to grab the fourth spot among the Top Ten. Meanwhile Nestle built its ranking up by 3.6 point, and Clorox re-joined Cannondale’s first-tier manufacturers after a two-year absence with a score increase of 1.7 percentage points.
“General Mills has been given great credit for a re-focus on customer initiatives and wholly embracing the concept of working collaboratively with retailers to better develop business,’ the report concluded. “Nestle is being given credit for focusing on a health and wellness message that starts at the top.”
“Retailers that excelled in the PoweRanking in 2008 have completed their own customer segmentation and begun to develop alternative store formats and merchandising platforms to address newly identified needs,” Cannondale managing director ken Harris said in a statement.
For the first time, this year’s survey also evaluated both manufacturers and retailers on their abilities to manage costs. Those ratings did not figure into the overall composite ranking for each company.
