The partnership between Houston’s and Cash & Carry is a fascinating one. Unlike grocery stores, Cash & Carry did not have vendors come in and stock their own product until they partnered with Houston’s. Our merchandising program has evolved over the years and continues to be the reason we have such a great relationship with Cash & Carry. In December 2017, Houston’s Inside Sales Team had the opportunity to cross-train with Adam Gooch, Merchandising Manager for Oregon, Idaho, and Utah.
Shawn and Adam work together to stock the shelves and store back-stock at Cash & Carry.
The day started in the early morning, before traffic began, with snow still scattered across the ground. The parking lot was full of customers, loading their vehicles with piles of products. I stepped out of my car and took a long, cold breath bracing myself for the new adventure. This was no normal day in the office for me.
Walking up to the store I could see the trolleys lined up against one side of the building, and empty boxes stacked up on the other. I entered to a busy store but was still greeted by the closest cashier. I searched for Adam and found him sipping on coffee looking over a pallet full of boxes. Adam greeted me with a bright smile and we started the tour. He walked me around the back to a long and wide aisle, where the store kept the back stock of products. On the other side were the recycling and compactor as well as more back stock. Adam continued with the tour and we walked through the aisles that Houston’s stocked.
As we finished the tour we came back to the pallet of boxes. This pallet, as he explained, was referred to as a stack. Adam then briefly explained how our merchandisers work to develop relationships with each of the stores. In this instance Shawn, the merchandiser for this store, has built such a great relationship with the staff that they are willing to place the stacks within the store so he does not have to go back and forth to retrieve product. We proceeded to unpack the stack. Adam made a quick strategy so no time is wasted. Many of the merchandisers know their stores inside and out, which helps them make quick sorting decisions. The trolley was loaded perfectly, almost like Tetris, and we began taking product down aisles. While working on stocking a shelf we were also facing out other products that Houston’s stocks, making the product look presentable and accessible.
Challenger Glass is professionally merchandised by Houston’s at Cash & Carry.
The biggest aisle that we worked was the flavored syrup aisle. This is where I learned that our merchandisers do so much more than stock shelves. They must track the sales of the flavors and order accordingly, but this can be a real challenge. One day you can sell out of a Torani flavor and you will order up, but then it will not sell for a month. Not only can this cause the store to have extra inventory, but also it takes up space for products that are moving consistently. While we were stocking the bottles we had many customers come up and ask about different flavors. While I worked with him, Shawn was approached by a customer that who asked about product availability. It was a great experience to see that he had built such great rapport with these customers. As a trio, we were able to finish the flavored syrup aisle in half the time that would normally take. At this point I was somewhat exhausted, because the Torani and Monin cases are heavy.
Once everything was stocked, we came back to where we met and Adam explained another important step. The packing list, the form that came with the stacks, is looked over to ensure that everything came in and there were no discrepancies. The packing list includes each item ordered as well as the quantity. If something were missing then the merchandiser would have to investigate why it did not ship or where the product was. As Adam read the packing list to me, I checked off items. Luckily we were not any missing items.
The main thing I took away from this experience is that our Merchandisers wear many hats on a daily basis. They go into Cash & Carry representing Houston’s, but while on the floor they are also represent the store they are at. In one day, they fill the role of receiving, customer service, purchasing, sales and inventory control. Next time you are at Cash & Carry and happen to run into a merchandiser, let them know they are doing a fine job.
By Evan Castaneda, Inside Sales Rep
