Driving Growth and Innovation: An Exclusive Interview with Clover's New General Manager for Modern Trade and Strategy

In today's rapidly evolving retail landscape, staying ahead of market trends requires visionary leadership and strategic agility. At the forefront of this, is Clover’s new General Manager for Modern Trade and Strategy – Michael Koekemoer (MBA) , whose expertise promise to elevate our company’s presence in the modern trade sector.

Michael’s career in FMCG began over 25 years ago where he initially started out in Sales Operation, migrated to Commercial Key Account to now being a General Manager which has provided him with insights of what the FMCG industry is all about, from shelf front to the boardroom. He has led multiple national accounts such as Shoprite, PnP, Spar and Wholesale which has sculpted his thinking and approach to driving growth for both the organisation and customers.

We had an exclusive interview with Michael who lets us know what excites him most about his new journey with Clover, his innovation plans within Clover and the advice he has for young professionals who aspire to excel in modern trade and strategy.

Driving Innovation and Growth in a dynamic retail landscape

I am passionate about representing heritage brands and Clover is a true heritage brand with a 125-year legacy within South Africa.? The brand is entrenched within our Customers, Shoppers, and Consumers minds, and in some form or other is engaged with every day.? Being able to continue to grow this brand in conjunction with our Modern Trade partners is something that I find extremely rewarding and exciting.?

The retail landscape is evolving daily with the introduction of new store formats (in store experiences), e-commerce and omnichannel, this provides us with so much more opportunities to engage with shoppers.? The onset of Loyalty Campaigns and Store-to-Home deliveries has changed the way that we think about making our products appealing and available.? It isn’t just about the age-old mechanics of print and instore promotional activities, but we need to think more and more about occasions, shopping moments and product associations that drive shopper appeal.? Clover provides a basket of products that ranges across so many occasions that we always have an offering for everyone, and we need to capitalise on this.

Balancing tradition and innovation in Modern Trade Partnerships

The key success or failure for innovation is relevance.? Innovation needs to answer one or more of the following questions for the retailer:

1) Does the innovation add financial value to the category in the form of till ring and margin?

2) Will the innovation attract new users into the category or drive increased footfall?

3) Does the innovation differentiate the retailer in any way through providing a unique offering?

As much as innovation can create excitement in a category, it can also add to the clutter, by adding more offerings into categories that might not require it.

My focus is to provide our Modern Trade partners with propositions that are mutually beneficial and answer one or more of the above questions.? By collaborating closely with retailers, we will gain insights into their specific needs within categories and then to build innovation that appeals to these needs.? The Modern Trade retailers have been fantastic in developing store format that are specific to shoppers and their requirements (premium to everyday, monthly grocery trolley shops to daily convenience basket top ups), and by so doing providing platforms for suppliers to provide very specific offerings for these shoppers and occasions.? We can now be specific on where we place our products to have the highest impact and appeal, and to give them the best opportunity to succeed and add value to the categories.???

The accessibility to shopper data allows us to be more specific on how we approach and support innovation, this allows the innovation to feature more prominently in the right places.? By understanding the retailers’ formats and the purpose, we can provide innovation that is appealing and assists growth.? The insights derived from this data must be at the heart of how we innovate and how we share the benefits to our retailers, it gives us a window into how the shoppers behaviour and what they need and increases the prospect of success significantly.

?

Integrating Modern Trade Strategy with Clover’s Organisational vision

It is important to remember that our Modern Trade partners provide us the platform to sell and build our brands, as this is where the shoppers engage with them.? My team and I are customer facing and the conduit between our customers and the organisation, it is our responsibility to continuously provide feedback to the organisation. This feedback considers what is our retailers current and future strategies, what is their intent tactically in the short term and how can we build a sustainable strategic partnership with them.

Alignment internally can only come by building strong relationships with our internal stakeholders and effective communication.? Being close to each function and being aligned to what their key KPI’s are will ensure that we are all heading in the same direction.? Understanding the importance of functional KPI’s, Forecasting and Demand (Demand Planning), Working Capital (Finance), ROI (Revenue Management), Brand Building (Marketing) and Instore Availability (Sales Execution) means that internally, we are contributing to the overall success and can build our engagements to ensure that we achieve the broader organisational goals.? This in turn drives support from these functions for the Modern Trade team.

The most important element is that as a team, we don’t work in a vacuum but by understanding and aligning with all functions, means that we are all meaningfully contributing to the broader organisational goals.? Continuous communication between functions and building strong relationships internally that breaks down unnecessary long routes of communication to short sharp engagements makes the team nimble and gives them the ability to adapt much quicker.

Guiding the next generation in Modern Trade and Strategy

First and foremost, be excited about seeing your products in shopper’s trolleys.? The point of success is when the shopper makes the conscious decision to purchase your product above any other,?this is a validation that you have provided them with propositions that are appealing and talks to their needs.? Stay close to instore execution as this is the “moment of truth” when shoppers decide to purchase your product or not.? By physically spending time in the trade, you will get a first-hand understanding of how shoppers engage your products, what are the competitors doing and be able to bring those observations into your planning.

We live in a world where there is an abundance of data and insights around us.? Embrace the insights that is derived from this data and develop offerings and solutions that is Shopper centric.? Understand the benefits of cross functional engagements and relationships within your organisation, Marketing, Revenue Management, Customer Marketing, Finance and S&OP, as this will ensure that you deliver a well thought out and aligned plan for your customers.?

Build strong, meaningful relationships with your Modern Trade customers, understand their business, where they are going as an organisation, and how they engage their shoppers.? By understanding this, you will be able to tailor make proposals for them that are unique.? I know technology allows for virtual engagements, but there is no replacing that personal touch engagement with your customers, be available, be present and build relationships that allow for honest dialogue.? The value derived from these engagements is invaluable.

Finally, enjoy and have fun in the retail environment as we are privileged to encounter our brands on every shopping occasion.

?

?