ECRM conference drawing near. (ECRM).

As this spring's Efficient Consumer Response Management (ECRM) conference for private label foods and beverages approaches, opportunities abound. The one-on-one vendor-retailer conference -- called Efficient Promotion Planning Sessions (EPPS) -- is designed to showcase category suppliers to

At press time, manufacturers committed to the conference included ACH Food Cos., American Italian Pasta Co., Bachman Co., Bremner Inc., Carriage House Cos. Inc., ConAgra Store Brands, Dakota Growers Pasta Co., Harris Tea Co., Inter-American Foods Inc., Interbake Foods, Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee, Palmer Candy Co., Ralston Goods, Sara Lee Bakery Group and many others.

Major retailers range from A&P to Ahold USA, Big Lots Inc., Longs Drug Stores, Rite Aid, Stop & Shop, Target Stores, Topco Associates LLC, Waigreen Co., Winn Dixie and many more. For retailers, the event offers a review of many category suppliers at one time and place, helping to improve their assortments and promotional plans. Manufacturers get a chance to meet with the entire group of retailers in one location.

Now's The Time

Since the first EPPS conference was held in 1994, ECRM has grown the concept to include not only a conference, but also a Web site, magazine and MarketGate, the group's proprietary supply chain software. And the organization sees a ripe opportunity for the private label food and beverage business right now.

"With the economy, everybody is looking for a way to lengthen their spending dollar, and store brands are a solution to that for many consumers," says Pat Davis, ECRM's vice president of category development. "They've been able to do that because store brands over the years have improved in quality quite a bit. They're not the store brands of old, when they were looked at as inferior. In many cases now -- most cases now -- products are equal to or better than national brands, and consumers are finding real value."

With the conference designed to feature scheduled planning sessions where retailers go to manufacturers' suites to review new items, marketing initiatives and strategic direction, there are a number of categories that opportunistic retailers should explore.

According to Information Resources Inc., Chicago, many private label food and beverage categories have reported significant dollar changes from increased sales. Nutritional snacks/trail mixes, for example, come in on top with more than $2 million in sales and an 83 percent increase vs. a year ago. Processed shredded cheese reported an increase of 79.9 percent, joined at the top of the ranks by other dried fruit up 65.5 percent, other Mexican sauce/marinade up 60.3 percent, and frozen pasta/noodles up 59 percent.