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Why Ralph's supermarket puts all its eggs in radio's basket
Greensboro, X. C, store lost sales when two rivals opened nearby. But all-radio approach reversed the trend
Radio cut budget in half
Ralph Seism (shown at right)
was spending $25,000, mainly
on newspapers, before two
competitors opened in his area.
After his sales plunged, he
revamped his budget, shifting
to radio entirely. He now spends
$10,000 on WBIG and sales are up
^^al|>h's Food Palace in Greensboro, N. C, was going great guns until two top-level chain stores opened up nearby. One chain outlet was on the same block; the other, half a mile away.
Ralph expected a sales slump, all right. But, considering his $25,000 annual budget (mainly newspaper, some radio), he didn't expect the competition to hit quite as hard as it did. Within a few weeks, business was slipping badly.
That was in the spring of 1952. After a few months of watching his sales drop, owner Ralph Seism launched a quarter-hour d.j. show, six times weekly over WBIG, and stepped up his announcement campaign on the same sta
case history
tion. He junked all other advertising.
The first show was aired 24 November. One week later, the independent's business had jumped 8% over the previous week.
This past January, when Ralph Seism signed a year's contract with WBIG, sales were up 9% over the same month in 1952. February's volume shows an 11.29? r>se over the corresponding period last year.
Ralph's annual tab for his new radio drive: $10,000, or less than half of his former ad allotment.
Although Ralph recognized the need to overhaul his ad campaign, he was more than a little skeptical when WBIG officials first approached him with a plan for the d.j. show. After all, as h* puts it. "I'd never had any real experience with radio advertising on a large scale." The supermarket show began purely as an experiment. Bui
20 APRIL 1953
once Ralph got his feet wet, he decided the swimming was fine.
Today, he sums up his months on the air in this statement:
"I have regained and exceeded my position as far as sales volume is concerned, in comparison with the business I was doing before the two new supermarkets opened in my area. I can continue to offer the lowest prices due to my huge volume, and I am saving 50%) on what I was previously spending for advertising. Even with the two new big competitors, I predict that I will have a banner year."
Ralph Seism's cash register results are no accident. They're the end products of a carefully planned, carefulK executed air campaign beamed at the housewife. The radio lessons he learned and the type of programing he uses can be applied by all retailers. (Please lurn to page 120)
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