Correction: Amanda Coleman teaches an advertising class at Elkins High School. The name of the class was incorrect in an article in Thursday’s edition. Also, the Adopt-A-Class program is part of the Education Renewal Zone Partnership Office within the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. A caption for a photograph accompanying the article listed the wrong division. The cutline said the Adopt-A-Classroom program is part of the University of Arkansas Global Campus.
FAYETTEVILLE - Dana Skinkis, 14, hadn’t given much thought to the reason she shampoos with Tresemme, but after seeing a vendor representative talkabout product placement, she understood that the shampoo brand’s spot on the shelf influenced her.
At the Wal-Mart where Dana shops, Tresemme is placed on the “end cap” of shelves at the end of the aisle.
“I don’t have to walk down the aisle,” the Elkins High School ninth-grader said. “It’s easier to grab it on the end than to search for something cheaper that does the same thing.”
Dana was among students in Amanda Coleman’s marketing class Wednesday who learned about the purposes behind product placement on store shelves at Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart Supercenter on Mall Avenuein Fayetteville was their classroom, and their teachers were three women who work for NUK, a baby-products manufacturer.
Learning from NUK representatives grew from a partnership between the Elkins School District and the Education Renewal Zone Partnership Office at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. The office last year launched an Adopt-AClass program to increase the collaboration of higher education with kindergarten-through-12th-grade schools, said Elizabeth Smith, director of the office.
Last year, 11 university faculty members adopted 11 teachers, Smith said. This year, the program has expanded to 37 universityfaculty members who have adopted 37 teachers.
Tara Dryer, coordinator of the University of Arkansas Global Campus at Rogers, adopted Coleman’s classes and meets with students once a month.
Dryer thought her relationship with the business community could benefit Elkins High School students, she said. The campus in Rogers provides training to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Wal-Mart vendors.
Dryer’s visits have given students ideas about pursuing different careers, Coleman said. She plans for her students to use what they have learned about product placement in a project to design a store aisle.
“It brings more of a real-world experience to them,” she said. “It’s different from hearing it from people who are working in industry.”
Students have studied the four “P’s” of marketing: product, price, placement and promotion. Coleman has taught them with slide shows and examples of advertisements, Dana said.
“It’s different knowing there’s actually people who do that,” she said.
Representatives explained how products are placed on store shelves to influence buying habits. Dana was among about a dozen students who trekked to the hair-care aisle with Gina Hardin, a replenishment and forecasting analyst for NUK. Hardin asked students about the variety of hair products on the aisle.
“It’s a little overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re looking for,” Dana responded.
Hardin said she predicts how much of NUK’s products Wal-Mart will buy months in advance ofthem appearing on shelves. She works from a home office and said her job is like working one large word problem.
Hardin told students that hair-care products were organized by price with one end of the aisle having cheaper brands and the other end more expensive brands. Vendors must sell a higher volume of lower-priced items to make a profit because they have a lower profit margin than the higher-priced brands.
She said cheaper, lesser-known brands are toward the bottom of shelves. The lower store levels also are optimal placement for products marketed to children.
Men’s hair products tend to be at a higher level because men are generally taller.
“The goal of this whole game is to maximize your profit,” she said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/05/2013