Imperial Sugar Delivers to Wal-Mart

Jeana Hines, Imperial Sugar Company

Demonstrating facts, data and a determined marketing approach appealed to decision-makers at Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, and has resulted in Imperial Sugar delivering more products to Wal-Mart stores on a regional level.

Jeana Hines, Imperial Sugar’s director of sales in the consumer division, takes a practical and successful approach. “We don’t go in, and say: ‘We want you to like us,’” she explains. “We use facts and show how Imperial will deliver profit to tell the story.”

And, it’s solid data that helped to convince Wal-Mart to choose the sugar company’s products for its annual “refresh” of merchandise. Facts such as Nielsen data showing clear consumer preference for Imperial Sugar products – along with year-over-year sales of the company’s lines within Wal-Mart stores.

Jeana points out: “Wal-Mart recognizes that it’s important to offer consumers the prevailing brand of choice for specific marketplaces.”

She adds: “Here in what we call, ‘Imperial country’ (in America’s Southwest), this win is significant because upon the August 2009 update, the predominant brand presence on shelf will be Imperial Sugar and Wal-Mart’s Great Value brand.”

Holly HInes, Imperial Sugar Company

Imperial Sugar has just a few items in Wal-Mart stores at this stage, and shares shelf space with competitor, C&H, as well as the Great Value brand. By winning more of Wal-Mart’s business, Imperial Sugar soon will have eight branded items on store shelves, according to Holly Hines, Imperial Sugar’s account manager for Wal-Mart.

Holly says this is a big coup for the company based in Sugar Land, Texas. In the Southwest (Texas and lower Oklahoma), Imperial Sugar products will be in about 300 Wal-Mart stores. Additionally, Imperial’s Dixie Crystals line, sold in the Southeast (Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas), will be carried in more than 470 of the mass retailer’s stores.

Having won more business with Wal-Mart, the sugar company intends to keep it, reinforcing its value through regular “scorecard” updates to show how products are doing in its stores and more quantitative data.

Twenty years of sales experience has taught Jeana that facts sell business – from distribution to merchandising to pricing and promotion. “It all comes down to showing customers the facts and what they can do for them. That’s the best approach to success.”