Costco No Longer Does Business with Coca-Cola

According to this article in retailwire, the largest warehouse club store in the US, Costco, has decided to stop doing business altogether with Coca-Cola. Costco has mentioned that Coca-Cola has not given the warehouse competitive pricing and so Costco is not able to pass along the discounts over to their members.

Brands associated with Coca-Cola like Coke Classic, Cherry Coke, Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite and Squirt, Dasani Water and Vitamin Water along with several energy drinks will also cease to be sold at Costco warehouses.

Coca Cola's push to connect with customers

A CPG Matters, Coca Cola shares how they're keeping connecting with the customers and staying in the front of their minds through this economic recession.

Four key solutions they're focusing on are:
-Occasion based approach
-Shopper segment and merchandising
-Bundled solutions
-Packaging solutions

How are you keeping with your customers through this economic time? Are you providing a great alternative to what they currently could have been shopping for in previous times? Read the full article here.

Shopper Insights in Action 2009 Speaker: Diane C. Wallace

Diane C. Wallace
Vice President, Shopper Marketing
The Coca-Cola Company

Diane leads the Shopper Marketing organization and the Shopper Marketing center of excellence for Coca-Cola North America. Diane assumed the role of Vice President in 2007 based on the leadership role she played in the transition of the organization from Retail Marketing to Shopper Centric Retail Marketing. Diane joined Coca-Cola in 2003 as Director, Retail Customer Marketing. She was promoted to Group Director, Shopper Marketing, in 2006.

During her six years at Coca-Cola, Diane has been instrumental in leading: the increased engagement with retailers in the areas of shopper insights, the increased shopper insights and shopper marketing capabilities within Coca-Cola North America; and the development and execution of idea driven, brand centric, shopper relevant merchandising approach at retail. Her team is responsible for the development of the retail channel strategies, marketing plans and in store merchandising looks of success, as well as the ownership o f the shopper insights and marketing relationships with retailers.
Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Diane spent four years with The Eastman Kodak Company. She was recruited to Kodak in 1999 as the Group Director, Customer Marketing and Category Management. After two years, she was promoted to Vice President, Sales Strategy, Planning and Execution. During her tenure at Kodak, Diane instrumental in leading: the creation and transition to customer centric brand planning; increased headquarter and field based customer marketing and category management capability; and, increased customer execution results of national brand initiatives.

Diane began her professional career at The Quaker Oats Company. During her ten plus year career at Quaker, Diane held numerous headquarter and field based brand marketing, sales and sales planning positions.

Diane holds a B.S. degree in Marketing from The University of Tennessee. She resides in Atlanta with her husband and two young children. She is active in a variety of community and non-profit interests.

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Shopper Insights in Action 2009 Chair Heads Up Coca-Cola Sponsored Commission on Shopper Marketing

According to Promomagazine.com, Coca-Cola North America is sponsoring the creation of a commission dedicated to shopper marketing. Diane Wallace, Vice President, Shopper Marketing, said, “Our strategy is to provide leadership to our retail customers in the area of shopper insight-driven shopper merchandising and marketing solutions in store,” Diane Wallace, vice president of shopper marketing, Coca-Cola North America, said. “Our objective is to drive more beverage sell through to shoppers, and to do this by connecting with shoppers in store through relevant shopper insight-driven ideas and solutions that include our brands.”

Diane Wallace is speaking at our upcoming Shopper Insights in Action 2009 conference this July in Chicago. For more information about the conference and about Diane, please visit our Shopper Insights in Action 2009 event page.