Just Food - 14.10.10
The potential - and perils - of PepsiCo's health kick Dairy, fruit and veg. On the face of it, these products seem a world away from the carbonated soft drinks and crisps that have long been core to PepsiCo's business. However, the US food and beverage giant is set to make a serious move to grow its presence in the healthier areas of the market.
Last week, the group unveiled plans to set up a business unit focusing squarely
on nutrition and targeting sectors that are relatively untouched territory for PepsiCo.
Demand for high-sugar fizzy drinks and salty snacks is waning in the West and consumers in emerging markets, particularly in the key middle-class demographic, are also showing signs
of wanting healthier variants. For instance, research from just-food shows that India and China will be drivers of the global market for healthier snacks during this decade.
By positioning PepsiCo to focus more on health and wellness, Nooyi has a better chance of securing the long-term prosperity of the company. That said, the "nutrition" element of PepsiCo's stable is already a substantial business in its own right. The company claims its nutrition operations, home to brands like Quaker and Tropicana, already generate US$10m
in annual sales. PepsiCo's ambition is to triple those revenues in ten years.
Quaker and Tropicana are likely to be key planks in PepsiCo's plan. When PepsiCo announced the creation of the "global nutrition unit" last week, the company's ambitions in dairy, fruit and veg caught the eye. However, the group also included "grains" in its plans and, in Quaker,
they have a global brand upon which to build.
In the UK, Quaker is driving PepsiCo's growth as we speak. Speaking
to the BBC last week, Richard Evans, the head of PepsiCo's operations
in the UK and Ireland, said the brand was among the fastest parts of
its business. "If you look at that business the fastest growing parts of it are
actually juice and grain and Quaker Oats," Evans said.
PepsiCo's announcement last week was just the latest
in a series the company has made in the last 12 months,
from the establishment of an R&D facility in the US to
"fundamentally improve" the nutritional profi le of its
products to the creation of new targets to lower the amount
of salt, saturated fat and added sugar worldwide.
The company's UK arm made its own announcement this
spring that fi t the group's overall strategy. "In March, we
published a health report that said the kind of business we
wanted to be by 2020, which is one primarily based around
fruit, veg and grain," Evans said. "The reason we're doing
that is because consumers want healthier choices."
Of course, any moves to develop a business is a risk -
even in what could be deemed to be a company's area of
expertise. Last month, PepsiCo UK and Ireland said it
had pulled Pepsi Raw, a product that had been billed as
a "natural" alternative to Pepsi cola. The
company blamed a poor performance in the
UK supermarket channel.
There is an inherent risk to innovation and,
as PepsiCo looks to build its nutrition business,
some products will inevitably fail. But,
as Evans told the BBC, perseverance is vital.
"It's about trying. There are loads of products
that lots of companies have brought
to market and haven't worked. The trick is
[to ask] what did you learn from that? We
learned that it wasn't differentiated enough
versus what we sell every day, so consumers
told us in unequivocal terms that that wasn't
quite what they were looking for. It's about
going back and trying again."
vendredi 15 octobre 2010
Procter & Gamble to keep focus on innovation
Reuters News October 12th
Procter & Gamble Co Chief Executive Bob McDonald defended the company's heavy spending on product innovation and marketing as a way to boost market share for each of its brands.
The world's largest household products maker, known for such popular brands as Pampers diapers, Tide laundry detergent and Duracell batteries, has been spending heavily on developing and promoting new products to attract value-seeking shoppers.
In August, P&G posted a fourth quarter profit below analysts' estimates as higher spending on marketing more than offset sales growth. First quarter earnings will be released
on Oct. 27. "We're not yet growing profitable share on every one of our businesses," McDonald told shareholders at the company's annual meeting in P&G's hometown of Cincinnati,
Ohio, on Tuesday. "This remains a top priority," he said. "We have robust innovation
and marketing plans in place to accelerate share growth across the entire portfolio." McDonald highlighted the company's new Gillette Fusion ProGlide shaving system, which he said is already the number one razor in the United States, and Pampers Dry Max diapers.
Earlier this year, the company faced a public relations battle over its new Pampers after parents complained that the diapers caused severe rashes. U.S. and Canadian agencies investigating the claims said last month they found no specific link between Pampers and the rash cases.
Many packaged goods makers turned to promotions to lure U.S. consumers during
the recession's nadir. But as the economy shows halting signs of recovery, they are
focusing on new products with fresh features to attract purchases.
"Innovation that truly improves people's lives is more important than ever because
many of the economies in which we operate are still recovering from recession," McDonald said.
"Our own experience shows that companies that continue to invest in innovation during economic downturns enjoy more growth in the years that follow."
The company's increased investment in new product development will likely pay off despite a recent lackluster performance, said Lauren DeSanto, a stock analyst with Morningstar Inc.
"P&G's stock has been kind of languishing for a while but I think a lot of people including myself think it's undervalued and certainly they've been doing a little bit better job
getting the top line moving and defending market share," DeSanto said.
P&G's shares closed down 0.2 percent at $62.02 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares are up just over 2 percent this year, compared with a 4.7 percent rise in the Standard
& Poor's 500 Index and a nearly 12 percent jump in smaller rival Clorox .
Procter & Gamble Co Chief Executive Bob McDonald defended the company's heavy spending on product innovation and marketing as a way to boost market share for each of its brands.
The world's largest household products maker, known for such popular brands as Pampers diapers, Tide laundry detergent and Duracell batteries, has been spending heavily on developing and promoting new products to attract value-seeking shoppers.
In August, P&G posted a fourth quarter profit below analysts' estimates as higher spending on marketing more than offset sales growth. First quarter earnings will be released
on Oct. 27. "We're not yet growing profitable share on every one of our businesses," McDonald told shareholders at the company's annual meeting in P&G's hometown of Cincinnati,
Ohio, on Tuesday. "This remains a top priority," he said. "We have robust innovation
and marketing plans in place to accelerate share growth across the entire portfolio." McDonald highlighted the company's new Gillette Fusion ProGlide shaving system, which he said is already the number one razor in the United States, and Pampers Dry Max diapers.
Earlier this year, the company faced a public relations battle over its new Pampers after parents complained that the diapers caused severe rashes. U.S. and Canadian agencies investigating the claims said last month they found no specific link between Pampers and the rash cases.
Many packaged goods makers turned to promotions to lure U.S. consumers during
the recession's nadir. But as the economy shows halting signs of recovery, they are
focusing on new products with fresh features to attract purchases.
"Innovation that truly improves people's lives is more important than ever because
many of the economies in which we operate are still recovering from recession," McDonald said.
"Our own experience shows that companies that continue to invest in innovation during economic downturns enjoy more growth in the years that follow."
The company's increased investment in new product development will likely pay off despite a recent lackluster performance, said Lauren DeSanto, a stock analyst with Morningstar Inc.
"P&G's stock has been kind of languishing for a while but I think a lot of people including myself think it's undervalued and certainly they've been doing a little bit better job
getting the top line moving and defending market share," DeSanto said.
P&G's shares closed down 0.2 percent at $62.02 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares are up just over 2 percent this year, compared with a 4.7 percent rise in the Standard
& Poor's 500 Index and a nearly 12 percent jump in smaller rival Clorox .
Brands get up close and personal
Financial times
By Louise Lucas
Published: October 13 2010 20:49
A Chinese woman squats on a low plastic stool, reaches for the shampoo and begins massaging it into her head, fingers working deep into her scalp in a kind of ritual. She is not the only Chinese woman to use conditioner like this – as testified by hundreds of hours of videotape, all filmed in Chinese bathrooms.
Perverse? Pornography? Neither: this is the Holy Grail of fast-moving consumer goods companies seeking to make products that consumers want. To that end, FMCG groups are earnestly studying human behaviour through focus groups, surveys and, more frequently in recent years, ways that are distinctly up close and personal.
The business of consumer research is intensifying on virtually every level. FMCG companies, which typically spend 2-3 per cent of sales on research and development, are going further afield geographically and conducting ever deeper research. New media are being harnessed, be it through social networks or blogs.
“Traditional research concentrated on the ‘what’. Now we are trying to establish the ‘why’,” says Simon Stewart, marketing director at Britvic, the beverages company. “We are not asking what they think about products and ideas but focusing on what makes them tick.”
The spread of digital social networks is one reason for the more sophisticated approach. But changing market dynamics are also behind the new focus. Competition and a weak economy make it ever more important to win customers, particularly in emerging markets. Indeed, so lucrative is the business of understanding what makes the Asian consumer tick that Singapore, never a place to miss a business opportunity, plans next year to set up a government-funded Institute for Asia Consumer Insights.
The same dynamics inform L’Oréal’s experimentation in bathroom photography. In similar experiments conducted in other markets, the French cosmetics group discovered that Korean women apply more potions and cosmetics to their faces than anyone else – a total of more than 25 creams and cosmetics at any one time, compared with 20-25 in Japan and more than double the amount used by American or European women. Japanese women may apply more than 50 coatings of mascara at one time, making European women – five to 10 coatings – look mere amateurs.
New ways to generate feedback
Fast-moving consumer goods companies are devoting more resources to digital media. The increasing spread of social media gives them the perfect tool to understand consumers. Starbucks has nearly 15m fans on Facebook, more than Barack Obama or South Park; Coca-Cola has 13.5m fans and Oreo cookies 11m.
In addition to sheer numbers of consumers, the social networks can provide quick feedback. Britvic, for instance, points out that teenage boys are both big Tango drinkers and heavy internet users, providing a constant source of information and feedback.
These companies are also replacing old-style surveys and focus groups with field work. Experts from a range of disciplines – historians, anthropologists, semioticians – are increasingly called on to study consumers at close hand in order to analyse trends and build databases.
“It all starts with observation,” says Patricia Pineau, who oversees L’Oréal’s consumer insights team, talking about the company’s “evaluation centres”, which involve “labs” decked out as bathrooms as well as cameras in people’s homes.
“Observing is necessary to decode exactly what [women] are trying to get and what they are attracted to. Sometimes it is the gesture that will reveal something that they really want to gain,” says Ms Pineau.
And what gestures. Japanese women spend a full minute massaging in lotions, patting their faces and eyelids. In Brazil, women change their nail polish every day to match their dress – and are wanton with the brush, painting their fingers along with their nails and relying on a cotton bud to mop up afterwards.
Back in the labs, scientists respond in turn. Thus Lancôme’s Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate has a stickier consistency in Japan than in Europe or the US, the better to pat in. Lip gloss is lighter in Japan, the better to allow the constant reapplication beloved of Japanese women.
Sometimes, however, gestures are not enough. Hence Nestlé’s strategy of embedding researchers in family homes, taking tea with a multigenerational Indian family or sitting cross-legged on the floor pounding pulses with a group of scarved women and their jeans-wearing daughters in Syria.
Chandan Mukherji is a veteran of embedding. The New Delhi-based head of consumer insights at Nestlé India has in recent years watched the lifestyle of the middle classes in towns and cities seep out to the villages and countryside. Seated at the family table, he saw housewives were turning to instant noodles but that they still supplemented them with extra vegetables and garnishes. Nestlé responded by supplementing its own instant noodles with vegetables.
“It really is an eye-opener for most of the teams, because they get a real life understanding,” says Mr Mukherji.
Also, after witnessing at first hand India’s small kitchens and vulnerability to rodent infestations, the Swiss group reduced pack sizes.
Drinks companies take a similarly up close and broad remit – looking not just at what people like to drink but where and how. Take SABMiller, the brewer. In the important market of Latin America, the urge to go out to where its drinks were actually drunk – and especially to mix that favourite cocktail of beer and football – was strong but the availability of venues less so.
Rob Priday, managing director of SABMiller’s Peruvian operations, says: “There’s a dearth of pubs in the country. In the terrorist years, people did not go out and now it is over, there are not enough pubs for on-premises drinking.”
Research showed that consumers want ed more choice of places to drink and the results can be seen on the streets of Colombia and Peru. The company worked with local businesses and entrepreneurs to open café-style joints attached to soccer fields, where fathers can down a glass while their children play – or even have a kick-about themselves before sinking a glass or two. There are also bars where customers can play simulated golf or a few rounds of cards.
When Nestlé in Peru was debating which new flavour to introduce for its popular Besos de Moza – a marshmallow and cookie confection – it asked sweet-toothed consumers themselves to choose between the lucuma, a local fruit, or strawberry. “The feedback was amazing,” recalls Carlos Velasco, who heads the Peruvian operation. They chose lucuma, and Nestlé went on to sell 56m lucuma-flavoured units in 2009.
Asking consumers directly is valuable but FMCG companies also call on a range of experts: historians for historical context (say, the caste system in India), psychologists, anthropologists and ethnologists and even semioticians.
Greg Rowland, a semiotician based in London, advises FMCG companies on the messages they need to send to woo customers through their packaging and placing on supermarket shelves.
Supermarkets, Mr Rowland says, are a battleground between puritan and hedonistic pleasures – plain fruit and veg stalls as customers first walk in, with the indulgent pleasures of alcohol and chocolate waiting to assail them further down the aisles.
We instinctively want to stay on the sober side, says Mr Rowland, so packaging of indulgent items is classily low-key. Hence the naive smiley face on Innocent’s drink cartons or the use of white space on packaging for top-notch biscuits. Or take the heraldic devices on bottles of lager, designed to establish the brewer’s authority in the minds of drinkers. This is serious stuff, the emblems say, none of your “hooch”.
For all the time, money and expert investigation FMCG companies throw into understanding consumers, mistakes are made. During research into Japanese skincare, a L’Oréal team was surprised to see a woman supplementing her beauty routine with a tiny razor.
She slid it around her nose, below her eyebrows and on the nape of her neck. The reason: she was removing almost imperceptible hairs to get a better effect when powder was applied. As a non-daily ritual, and one that required the woman to bring her own razors (which were not on offer in L’Oréal’s labs), it had until then completely bypassed the ranks of researchers.
Delivery can miss a step too: SABMiller, identifying a desire for a sweeter drink for women in Peru, produced the cider-like Red – which turned out to be extremely popular with the men.
But for consumers, the question is surely whether they are just victims of clever advertising.
As Mr Rowland says: “You may think you are buying and eating this tin of biscuits. But really, the tin of biscuits is buying and eating you.”
By Louise Lucas
Published: October 13 2010 20:49
A Chinese woman squats on a low plastic stool, reaches for the shampoo and begins massaging it into her head, fingers working deep into her scalp in a kind of ritual. She is not the only Chinese woman to use conditioner like this – as testified by hundreds of hours of videotape, all filmed in Chinese bathrooms.
Perverse? Pornography? Neither: this is the Holy Grail of fast-moving consumer goods companies seeking to make products that consumers want. To that end, FMCG groups are earnestly studying human behaviour through focus groups, surveys and, more frequently in recent years, ways that are distinctly up close and personal.
The business of consumer research is intensifying on virtually every level. FMCG companies, which typically spend 2-3 per cent of sales on research and development, are going further afield geographically and conducting ever deeper research. New media are being harnessed, be it through social networks or blogs.
“Traditional research concentrated on the ‘what’. Now we are trying to establish the ‘why’,” says Simon Stewart, marketing director at Britvic, the beverages company. “We are not asking what they think about products and ideas but focusing on what makes them tick.”
The spread of digital social networks is one reason for the more sophisticated approach. But changing market dynamics are also behind the new focus. Competition and a weak economy make it ever more important to win customers, particularly in emerging markets. Indeed, so lucrative is the business of understanding what makes the Asian consumer tick that Singapore, never a place to miss a business opportunity, plans next year to set up a government-funded Institute for Asia Consumer Insights.
The same dynamics inform L’Oréal’s experimentation in bathroom photography. In similar experiments conducted in other markets, the French cosmetics group discovered that Korean women apply more potions and cosmetics to their faces than anyone else – a total of more than 25 creams and cosmetics at any one time, compared with 20-25 in Japan and more than double the amount used by American or European women. Japanese women may apply more than 50 coatings of mascara at one time, making European women – five to 10 coatings – look mere amateurs.
New ways to generate feedback
Fast-moving consumer goods companies are devoting more resources to digital media. The increasing spread of social media gives them the perfect tool to understand consumers. Starbucks has nearly 15m fans on Facebook, more than Barack Obama or South Park; Coca-Cola has 13.5m fans and Oreo cookies 11m.
In addition to sheer numbers of consumers, the social networks can provide quick feedback. Britvic, for instance, points out that teenage boys are both big Tango drinkers and heavy internet users, providing a constant source of information and feedback.
These companies are also replacing old-style surveys and focus groups with field work. Experts from a range of disciplines – historians, anthropologists, semioticians – are increasingly called on to study consumers at close hand in order to analyse trends and build databases.
“It all starts with observation,” says Patricia Pineau, who oversees L’Oréal’s consumer insights team, talking about the company’s “evaluation centres”, which involve “labs” decked out as bathrooms as well as cameras in people’s homes.
“Observing is necessary to decode exactly what [women] are trying to get and what they are attracted to. Sometimes it is the gesture that will reveal something that they really want to gain,” says Ms Pineau.
And what gestures. Japanese women spend a full minute massaging in lotions, patting their faces and eyelids. In Brazil, women change their nail polish every day to match their dress – and are wanton with the brush, painting their fingers along with their nails and relying on a cotton bud to mop up afterwards.
Back in the labs, scientists respond in turn. Thus Lancôme’s Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate has a stickier consistency in Japan than in Europe or the US, the better to pat in. Lip gloss is lighter in Japan, the better to allow the constant reapplication beloved of Japanese women.
Sometimes, however, gestures are not enough. Hence Nestlé’s strategy of embedding researchers in family homes, taking tea with a multigenerational Indian family or sitting cross-legged on the floor pounding pulses with a group of scarved women and their jeans-wearing daughters in Syria.
Chandan Mukherji is a veteran of embedding. The New Delhi-based head of consumer insights at Nestlé India has in recent years watched the lifestyle of the middle classes in towns and cities seep out to the villages and countryside. Seated at the family table, he saw housewives were turning to instant noodles but that they still supplemented them with extra vegetables and garnishes. Nestlé responded by supplementing its own instant noodles with vegetables.
“It really is an eye-opener for most of the teams, because they get a real life understanding,” says Mr Mukherji.
Also, after witnessing at first hand India’s small kitchens and vulnerability to rodent infestations, the Swiss group reduced pack sizes.
Drinks companies take a similarly up close and broad remit – looking not just at what people like to drink but where and how. Take SABMiller, the brewer. In the important market of Latin America, the urge to go out to where its drinks were actually drunk – and especially to mix that favourite cocktail of beer and football – was strong but the availability of venues less so.
Rob Priday, managing director of SABMiller’s Peruvian operations, says: “There’s a dearth of pubs in the country. In the terrorist years, people did not go out and now it is over, there are not enough pubs for on-premises drinking.”
Research showed that consumers want ed more choice of places to drink and the results can be seen on the streets of Colombia and Peru. The company worked with local businesses and entrepreneurs to open café-style joints attached to soccer fields, where fathers can down a glass while their children play – or even have a kick-about themselves before sinking a glass or two. There are also bars where customers can play simulated golf or a few rounds of cards.
When Nestlé in Peru was debating which new flavour to introduce for its popular Besos de Moza – a marshmallow and cookie confection – it asked sweet-toothed consumers themselves to choose between the lucuma, a local fruit, or strawberry. “The feedback was amazing,” recalls Carlos Velasco, who heads the Peruvian operation. They chose lucuma, and Nestlé went on to sell 56m lucuma-flavoured units in 2009.
Asking consumers directly is valuable but FMCG companies also call on a range of experts: historians for historical context (say, the caste system in India), psychologists, anthropologists and ethnologists and even semioticians.
Greg Rowland, a semiotician based in London, advises FMCG companies on the messages they need to send to woo customers through their packaging and placing on supermarket shelves.
Supermarkets, Mr Rowland says, are a battleground between puritan and hedonistic pleasures – plain fruit and veg stalls as customers first walk in, with the indulgent pleasures of alcohol and chocolate waiting to assail them further down the aisles.
We instinctively want to stay on the sober side, says Mr Rowland, so packaging of indulgent items is classily low-key. Hence the naive smiley face on Innocent’s drink cartons or the use of white space on packaging for top-notch biscuits. Or take the heraldic devices on bottles of lager, designed to establish the brewer’s authority in the minds of drinkers. This is serious stuff, the emblems say, none of your “hooch”.
For all the time, money and expert investigation FMCG companies throw into understanding consumers, mistakes are made. During research into Japanese skincare, a L’Oréal team was surprised to see a woman supplementing her beauty routine with a tiny razor.
She slid it around her nose, below her eyebrows and on the nape of her neck. The reason: she was removing almost imperceptible hairs to get a better effect when powder was applied. As a non-daily ritual, and one that required the woman to bring her own razors (which were not on offer in L’Oréal’s labs), it had until then completely bypassed the ranks of researchers.
Delivery can miss a step too: SABMiller, identifying a desire for a sweeter drink for women in Peru, produced the cider-like Red – which turned out to be extremely popular with the men.
But for consumers, the question is surely whether they are just victims of clever advertising.
As Mr Rowland says: “You may think you are buying and eating this tin of biscuits. But really, the tin of biscuits is buying and eating you.”
lundi 11 octobre 2010
Mr. Propre se transforme en laveur de voitures
08/10/10 22:35
le Figaro
Procter & Gamble, leader mondial des biens de consommation, a créé deux réseaux de franchises aux États-Unis. Il compte les tester en Europe et en Asie, afin de profiter de la puissance de ses marques phares.
Un centre de lavage automobile Mr. Propre, un pressing Ariel, un salon de coiffure Pantène, une garderie Pampers, ou encore un barbier Gillette… Ces nouvelles boutiques pourraient bientôt s’installer près de chez vous. «La création de réseaux de franchises à l’enseigne de nos marques est une priorité, assure au Figaro Ross Holthouse, porte-parole de Procter & Gamble, leader mondial des biens de grande consommation. L’Europe de l’Ouest, notamment la France, et l’Asie présentent des opportunités.» Une première tentative pourrait avoir lieu «d’ici douze à vingt-quatre mois» sur un marché test.
Depuis trois ans, Procter & Gamble s’essaie à cette activité aux États-Unis. Le groupe américain, présent dans les lessives, produits ménagers, shampoings, couches et produits de beauté, a choisi le nettoyage pour ses deux premiers réseaux : le lavage auto avec Mr. Clean Car Wash, et le pressing avec Tide Dry Cleaners. Il a créé une filiale dédiée, Agile Pursuits Franchising, confiée à un vétéran du secteur, et recruté une vingtaine de personnes. «Tester et commercialiser de nouveaux modèles économiques, cela fait partie de la R & D du groupe» , selon Ross Holthouse.
Cette nouvelle activité a un double intérêt. D’une part, elle constitue une source de revenus, avec les royalties versées par les exploitants des boutiques. Le groupe ne communique ni ses objectifs ni le pourcentage prélevé sur le chiffre d’affaires de ses franchisés. D’autre part, ces magasins augmentent la visibilité des marques, en développant leur présence en dehors des rayons des hypermarchés et des pages de publicité. P&G reconnaît vouloir ainsi doper le chiffre d’affaires de ses produits phare.
Maîtrise de l’image
Après deux ans de test à Cincinnati (Ohio), où son siège est installé, le groupe compte seize stations de lavage aux couleurs de Mr. Clean, le nom américain de Mr. Propre. Six autres ouvriront leurs portes cette année.
Avec trois points de vente dans le Missouri, les pressings aux couleurs de Tide (l’équivalent d’Ariel) commencent tout juste à se développer. Tous proposent un service dans la journée, un système de «drive-in» ainsi que la possibilité de déposer ou de récupérer les vêtements dans des casiers 24 heures sur 24. Le groupe a signé avec une dizaine de franchisés supplémentaires. L’un d’entre eux compte créer de 150 pressings d’ici à quatre ans sur la Côte Ouest. Dans un marché de 8 milliards de dollars aux États-Unis, Procter & Gamble parie sur l’ouverture de plusieurs centaines de pressings d’ici à deux ans. P & G, qui recherche activement des franchisés dans les grandes villes du pays, vise «une croissance à deux chiffres d’ici un à deux ans.»
En France, Nescafé et Lustucru avaient tenté une diversification similaire il y a quelques années, avec les cafés Nes et les bars à pâtes Lustucru. Dans les deux cas, le succès n’a pas été au rendez-vous, le recrutement et la gestion de franchisés s’étant avéré plus compliqués que prévus pour des groupes agroalimentaires, plus habitués à négocier avec les géants de la distribution. Par ailleurs, si le recours à la franchise est moins risqué que l’ouverture de points de vente en propre, cette stratégie présente un risque pour la maîtrise de l’image des marques.
Letessier, Ivan
le Figaro
Procter & Gamble, leader mondial des biens de consommation, a créé deux réseaux de franchises aux États-Unis. Il compte les tester en Europe et en Asie, afin de profiter de la puissance de ses marques phares.
Un centre de lavage automobile Mr. Propre, un pressing Ariel, un salon de coiffure Pantène, une garderie Pampers, ou encore un barbier Gillette… Ces nouvelles boutiques pourraient bientôt s’installer près de chez vous. «La création de réseaux de franchises à l’enseigne de nos marques est une priorité, assure au Figaro Ross Holthouse, porte-parole de Procter & Gamble, leader mondial des biens de grande consommation. L’Europe de l’Ouest, notamment la France, et l’Asie présentent des opportunités.» Une première tentative pourrait avoir lieu «d’ici douze à vingt-quatre mois» sur un marché test.
Depuis trois ans, Procter & Gamble s’essaie à cette activité aux États-Unis. Le groupe américain, présent dans les lessives, produits ménagers, shampoings, couches et produits de beauté, a choisi le nettoyage pour ses deux premiers réseaux : le lavage auto avec Mr. Clean Car Wash, et le pressing avec Tide Dry Cleaners. Il a créé une filiale dédiée, Agile Pursuits Franchising, confiée à un vétéran du secteur, et recruté une vingtaine de personnes. «Tester et commercialiser de nouveaux modèles économiques, cela fait partie de la R & D du groupe» , selon Ross Holthouse.
Cette nouvelle activité a un double intérêt. D’une part, elle constitue une source de revenus, avec les royalties versées par les exploitants des boutiques. Le groupe ne communique ni ses objectifs ni le pourcentage prélevé sur le chiffre d’affaires de ses franchisés. D’autre part, ces magasins augmentent la visibilité des marques, en développant leur présence en dehors des rayons des hypermarchés et des pages de publicité. P&G reconnaît vouloir ainsi doper le chiffre d’affaires de ses produits phare.
Maîtrise de l’image
Après deux ans de test à Cincinnati (Ohio), où son siège est installé, le groupe compte seize stations de lavage aux couleurs de Mr. Clean, le nom américain de Mr. Propre. Six autres ouvriront leurs portes cette année.
Avec trois points de vente dans le Missouri, les pressings aux couleurs de Tide (l’équivalent d’Ariel) commencent tout juste à se développer. Tous proposent un service dans la journée, un système de «drive-in» ainsi que la possibilité de déposer ou de récupérer les vêtements dans des casiers 24 heures sur 24. Le groupe a signé avec une dizaine de franchisés supplémentaires. L’un d’entre eux compte créer de 150 pressings d’ici à quatre ans sur la Côte Ouest. Dans un marché de 8 milliards de dollars aux États-Unis, Procter & Gamble parie sur l’ouverture de plusieurs centaines de pressings d’ici à deux ans. P & G, qui recherche activement des franchisés dans les grandes villes du pays, vise «une croissance à deux chiffres d’ici un à deux ans.»
En France, Nescafé et Lustucru avaient tenté une diversification similaire il y a quelques années, avec les cafés Nes et les bars à pâtes Lustucru. Dans les deux cas, le succès n’a pas été au rendez-vous, le recrutement et la gestion de franchisés s’étant avéré plus compliqués que prévus pour des groupes agroalimentaires, plus habitués à négocier avec les géants de la distribution. Par ailleurs, si le recours à la franchise est moins risqué que l’ouverture de points de vente en propre, cette stratégie présente un risque pour la maîtrise de l’image des marques.
Letessier, Ivan
vendredi 1 octobre 2010
McDonald’s teste un fast-food sans hamburger
30/09/10 09:11
INFO LE FIGARO - La chaîne américaine ouvre fin octobre à la Défense un «prototype» de restaurant. Ce McCafé proposera une large gamme de cafés et un bar à salades, mais aucun hamburger. D’autres seront ouverts en cas de succès.
Un McDo garanti sans Big Mac ni Royal Cheese? C’est pour bientôt. Selon nos informations, la chaîne américaine de restauration rapide inaugure fin octobre un point de vente inédit, avec une offre nouvelle: un McCafé, avec un bar à salades. Ce petit restaurant, d’à peine 100mètres carrés, ouvrira sur le parvis de la Défense, le quartier d’affaires de l’Ouest parisien, juste en face d’un McDo «classique».
Amateurs de Big Mac, ce petit McDo new-look n’est pas pour vous: aucun hamburger n’y sera vendu. En revanche, un service de salades à la demande, composées devant vous en direct, avec un choix de 28 ingrédients (fines herbes, fruits, fromages…), sera proposé à un prix d’environ 7 euros, ainsi que toute la gamme des cafés, thés et pâtisseries de McCafé. «Ce restaurant complète notre offre sur le parvis de la Défense, où nous pensons qu’il y a un vrai potentiel pour les salades, explique au Figaro Isabelle Kuster, vice-présidente des opérations France et Europe du Sud chez McDonald’s. Pour nous, c’est un prototype, un laboratoire. Nous nous donnons quelques mois pour voir la viabilité du concept.»
Depuis un an, McDo testait discrètement ce concept de bar à salades à l’intérieur d’un restaurant à Clayes-sous-Bois. «Notre test de Clayes-sous-Bois est un succès, affirme Isabelle Kuster. En remplaçant notre offre habituelle de salades préparées à l’avance par un bar à salades faites à la demande, nous avons multiplié par trois nos ventes de salades.» Pas question, selon elle, d’ouvrir pour le moment des bars à salades McDo en solo. Mais en plus de Clayes-sous-Bois et de la Défense, trois bars à salades dans des McDo «classiques» verront le jour avant la fin de l’année, dont un dans le centre commercial d’Okabé, près de Paris. Si ce test fonctionne, il a vocation à être élargi l’an prochain, la formule remplaçant l’offre existante de salades préparées dans une vingtaine de McDo. «Les bars à salades feront 3 mètres de long, précise isabelle Kuster. Nous les installerons sur nos comptoirs, au bout de lignes de caisses.» En faisant cela, McDo cherche à vendre plus de salades, un produit bon pour son image, vendu plus cher qu’un hamburger, mais encore peu prisé par sa clientèle. Un McDo vend cinq fois moins de salades que de Big Mac.
Parallèlement, chassant d’un pas déterminé sur les terres de Starbucks, McDo développe les espaces McCafé dans ses restaurants. Le 100evient d’ouvrir à Paris. Il y en aura 120 à la fin de l’année. À terme, l’objectif est de «250 à 300 McCafé en France», dont quelques cafés McCafé en solo.
Attirer une clientèle nouvelle
Là encore, c’est une nouveauté. Après un test concluant réalisé à Créteil à côté d’un restaurant classique, McDo cherche des emplacements très passants, dans de gros centres commerciaux, pour installer des points de vente 100% McCafé. Les McCafé ont l’avantage d’attirer une clientèle nouvelle chez McDo. À ce stade, ils représentent environ 5% du chiffre d’affaires des restaurants dans lesquels ils sont installés. «McDo veut se développer sur le marché du café en sortant du concept traditionnel de fast-food», confie un bon connaisseur. Selon lui, l’objectif à terme de McDo est d’une centaine d’ouvertures de McCafé en solo d’ici à trois ans dont une vingtaine à Paris. Si le test est concluantbien sûr.
lundi 27 septembre 2010
Procter & Gamble ouvre son programme d'innovation connect & develop à la France
Le 24 septembre 2010 par Camille Harel
Procter & Gamble a réuni à Paris les chercheurs français et les entreprises innovantes dans le cadre de son programme d'innovation connect & develop. Ce programme vise à nouer des partenariats entre la multinationale et des entreprises ou des universités. Ouvert en 2002 dans différents pays du monde, connect & develop s'interesse désormais à la France. "Nous comptons 26 centres de recherche dans le monde et le programme a donc commencé dans ces zones là. On l'étend désormais petit à petit à d'autres pays, dont la France", explique Loïc Tassel, Président de Procter & Gamble France. Objectif du programme : créer une relation win-win où les deux parties sont gagnantes. A peine 10 ans après le lancement du projet, les résultats sont encourageants : sur l'ensemble des innovations lancées par Procter & Gamble au niveau mondial, 50 % de ces dernières ont au moins un élément issu d'un partenarait mené avec une structure extérieure. L'ouverture de ce programme a provoqué un changement de culture au sein de la multinationale, qui jusqu'en 2002 n'innovait qu'avec les forces internes. "Sur de nombreux points, nous ne sommes pas les meilleurs. C'est donc intéréssant d'aller voir ce qu'il se passe à l'extérieur. S'ouvrir sur le monde est un réelle opportunité", indique Loïc Tassel. En s'ouvrant ainsi à la France, Procter compte nouer des partenaraits avec le CNRS et l'Institut Pasteur pour ne citer qu'eux. "Nous sommes convaincus de la qualité de la recherche en France qui va ouvrir de grandes opportunités en termes d'innovations", ajoute-il.
Nestlé lance une filiale et un institut dédiés à la santé
ZURICH, Suisse — Le groupe alimentaire suisse Nestlé a lancé une nouvelle filiale et un institut dédiés à la santé et destinés à lutter contre des maladies comme l'obésité, le diabète et Alzheimer, a-t-il annoncé lundi.
La première unité, Nestlé Health science, entrera en service au 1er janvier 2011 et intègrera les activités existantes dans la nutrition et la santé, qui ont dégagé un chiffre d'affaires de 1,6 milliard de francs suisses l'année dernières, a précisé le géant helvétique dans un communiqué.
La seconde entité, l'Institut des sciences de la santé de Nestlé, sera intégré au réseau mondial de recherche et de développement du groupe, a-t-il souligné.
Nestlé prévoit d'investir "des centaines de millions de francs suisses sur la prochaine décennie" dans cette infrastructure, qui sera dédiée à la recherche dans le secteur biomédical et sera intégrée à l'Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne.
Le géant de l'alimentaire "dispose du savoir-faire, de la science, des ressources et de l'organisation nécessaire pour jouer un rôle essentiel dans la recherche de solution alternatives" aux défis liés à la santé, a estimé le président Peter Brabeck, cité dans le communiqué.
La recherche dans ce secteur est "en train de se développer de manière efficace et abordable et permettra de prévenir et de traiter des maladies chroniques et difficiles du 21e siècle", a-t-il ajouté.
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