TARRYTOWN , N.Y., Feb. 14, 2003 - "Speed-to-Shelf" is the essence of retail merchandising.  Rapid product cut-in means more sales days, more sales dollars and wide availability for eager customers.

 A dominant dental care company wanted real speed-to-shelf for its major new tooth whitener.  It was a hot new launch, designated for peg-board display at Kmart check-out lanes.  

Under a traditional retail merchandising system, each of Kmart's 1,830 stores would be visited once per month.  This way, it would take from one to up to four weeks to cut-in this important new product and set pegs with shelf tags to prepare for future restocking.

So the manufacturer turned to SPAR Group, America 's leading retail merchandising company, for its advanced form of speed-to-shelf.  SPAR used its sophisticated Internet and communications technologies, and extensive merchandising staff, to blitz 99% of all Kmarts in a single day.

SPAR has invested millions of dollars to place its entire merchandising system on the Internet.  It can electronically assign merchandising specialists to stores, send them store-specific plan-o-grams and schedule product shipments.  Upon arrival, SPAR's merchandising specialists could quickly locate the new inventory, bring it to the check-out lanes, find peg-board displays devoted to general merchandise, mount product on the designated pegs and affix shelf tags.  Then, they could report project completion instantly using the Internet or IVR.  In real time, SPAR, the product manufacturer and Kmart executives could watch their entire national chain being cut-in.  1,830 red dots would turn green as each store was merchandised.

The Internet system allowed merchandising specialists to flag any issues like missing inventory, unusual peg-board displays or manager concerns immediately.  This way, SPAR, Kmart and the manufacturer could communicate at once, resolve issues at once and keep the program on schedule, avoiding what is often weeks of delay created by systems less-driven by technology.   As a result, SPAR's blitz covered 99% of all stores within 24 hours.