Walmart, CVS, Sprouts Leaders to Speak on Surging Demand of Nonfood Categories
Speakers from CVS, Petco, Sprouts Farmers Market, Walgreens and Walmart are joining panels at the Store Brands Industry Forum virtual event on Jan. 19.
The focus of the event is on innovations and trends in select nonfood categories, all of which are seeing a surge in demand from the pandemic.
Retailer speakers joining select panels include:
- Keith Blackmer, senior category strategy manager, our brands, Sprouts Farmers Market;
- Andrea Collaro, senior director of pharmacy operations and procurement to merchandising, Walgreens;
- Heather Corkery, senior director store brands, CVS;
- Nick Konat, chief marketing officer, Petco; and
- Dana Ponczek, senior product development manager II, Walmart.
More speakers are expected to join the panels. The virtual event, just like previous Store Brands Industry Forums, features four focused fireside panels with leaders of industry and moderated by Dan Ochwat, executive editor of Store Brands.
The panels include:
- Pet Products — Pet adoption jumped over the pandemic, bringing more shoppers to the table. How are retailers getting own brands out front? The category is also seeing innovation such as Petco’s industry first boutique.
- Pandemic Products — The forum will have a session sharing insights around pandemic products, such as paper products, hand sanitizer, masks and heavy duty cleaning products.
- Personal Care and Wellness — Consumers are more attuned to how they’re taking care of their bodies, in light of the pandemic, and there are innovative products to do it.
- House and Home — Again, consumers have been spending more time at home, finding a reason to spruce up the place, entertain at home and cook at home.
Kicking off the day of education, FMI - The Food Industry Association and FitForCommerce will present a keynote presentation on how retailers can better drive private brands over e-commerce. Doug Baker, VP, industry relations at FMI, and Kathy Kimple, chief retail officer at FitforCommerce, will share insights from FMI’s recent Power of Private Brands study that looked at how retailers leverage own brands online and where they need to get stronger, especially at the rate that e-commerce is accelerating.
Kimple recently sat down and spoke with Store Brands about the keynote. She brings a wealth of experience in digital and retail, overseeing digital merchandising and ops at such retailers as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Linens N Things and The Children’s Place. As part of the FMI study on e-commerce, FitForCommerce mystery shopped the online retail locations of stores to see how their private brands measured.
The virtual event is free for retailers to attend and suppliers can attend for $99. In between sessions, there are short networking breaks via the virtual platform. Once registered, a webcast of the sessions will be available on-demand for free.
CLICK here to register for the virtual event.
