Campbell Soup Proactively Manages Sales When Weather Strikes

As soon as a prediction of a cold Arctic air mass and snow hits the news, the buying begins. Consumers stock up on non-perishable foods in preparation for restricted travel and potential power outages. Manufacturers and retailers rush to stock the shelves of every supermarket in anticipation of the spike in demand.

In terms of overall winter precipitation - snow, ice and cold rain, the 2007/2008 winter season has clearly been active, breaking records for snow across the United States from deep snow packs on the western Rocky Mountains, to frequent snow and ice in the Midwest, to record breaking snow in eastern cities. Temperatures varied greatly day to day and week to week as well.

Consumer goods companies that are prepared for these frequent changes in weather ultimately end up winning with the consumer.

Stocking Up
Campbell Soup Company, a well-known global manufacturer of high quality soup, beverage, confectionery and prepared food products, is 139 years old, boasts more than $7 billion in annual sales and features a portfolio of market-leading brands. These include Swanson broths, Pepperidge Farm cookies, breads and frozen products, Pace Mexican sauces and Prego pasta sauces.

Most of Campbell's product lines are non-perishable. As such, the consumer demand for these products is greatly impacted by severe winter storms. The colder and damper the weather gets, the higher the consumption. The challenge is to ensure household cupboards can be sufficiently stocked meeting the consumption demand before a storm reaches its peak.

Of course, the ability to get advanced notice of a major storm would be, a significant advantage. It would allow Campbell to use various advertising means to remind consumers to purchase soup before their desire to consume soup peaks. 
Campbell always has enough safety stock in its system to handle huge spikes in demand caused by winter storms. Based on historical data, it understands the SKUs that will be heavily consumed because of these storms. As soon as they know the storm's timing and location, they can pull the "advertising trigger."

The Value of Advance Notice
Using Planalytics' Business Weather Intelligence service, Campbell has the knowledge to prepare for whatever Mother Nature has in store. Planalytics studies the correlation of expected weather patterns and consumer demand, determining periods of opportunity for Campbell. Planalytics then advises Campbell months in advance of intense weather periods, with updates during the peak of the season.

Campbell then applies the lessons learned from those analyses to provide greater insight to advertisement timing and market selection to optimize when and where soup demand will be the highest.

Jared Susco, associate brand manager, Red and White Condensed Eating Soups, Campbell Soup Company,  states, "When our team saw the Planalytics planner information, they commented that it adds real science to our market selection and timing process." Susco continues, "The real benefit to Campbell has been the increased efficiency of our ad spend: We have more confidence that the right ad will be placed at the right time and place." 

With multiple years of positive results from using business weather intelligence tools, Campbell plans to continue to expand the way it leverages insights from weather-related demand as well as consumption drivers. For example, the company plans to expand how it incorporates the impact of weather on promotional planning calendars, brand investments and other planning activities in the future.