in-stock at all times, merchandising and building displays, executing smooth, rapid
promotions, building relationships with store personnel ®these things are the key to
satisfying consumers and building sales. They are also the key to building profits
for our retail customers, whether they are supermarkets, convenience stores, or
mass merchandisers.
As a result of our evolution, we no longer refer to our system as ³direct-store-delivery²
(DSD), we call it ³direct-store-service² (DSS). Itòs supported by technology, processes,
and teams of people far beyond what any of our competitors can offer. A few years
back, our trucks operated as ³rolling warehouses² ®they set out each morning with as
full an assortment of products as they could, and called on each store on a specified
route. Ideally, they would have the product that store needed, and hopefully we would
be able to replenish the shelves before anything was out-of-stock. This is the system
still used by all of our ice cream competitors in direct distribution.
We have effectively changed the game. Today our sales people call on each store
several times each week, without a truck, and enter an order on hand-held computers.
That order is picked and loaded, often several states distant, and brought to the
store by delivery trucks that are rerouted every day for optimal efficiency. Our sales
people and merchandisers spend their time servicing the store ®and building our
brands. Increasingly, in conjunction with our major supermarket customers, we are taking
over the entire management of our inventory in each store. We are directly linked to
the scanners at each checkout counter, and we know exactly how many packages of
each brand and flavor have sold ®and how many to restock ®in every store, every day.
We donòt do all this just because we want to run a world-class distribution system.
We do it because of the overwhelming, incontrovertible advantage of direct-store-service
in categories like ice cream and so many others: direct-store-service builds brands.
B R A N D B U I L D I N G
Direct-store-service builds existing brands ®by enabling the execution of promotions
and limited-time offerings throughout the year in ways that are impossible for competitors
who use the supermarket warehouse system. It builds brands ®especially in an
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