OUR WEBLOG: EXCERPTS OF EXPORTS

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Fingers Crossed - Part II

Well, I did say fingers crossed. Further I said if all goes well technology-wise, I would provide a video of my trip to Toronto. But you have to have the technology to be able to use it. I left my Treo in the lobby of the hotel and it immediately disappeared. (Thank goodness for insurance although the replacement I received yesterday did not work. I am waiting for my replacement’s replacement and am feeling very disconnected). But while the managers of the stores we toured welcomed us, taking any sort of pictures or videos was verboten. So I guess my losing my Treo from the standpoint of taking a video was a moot point.

Anyway the trip was great. We had tours of all levels of markets and met with their representatives. There is nothing like on-site visits to determine shelf space, placement and positioning. Pricing, labeling and portion sizes are also better understood “in person”. Toronto is a very cosmopolitan city with large ethnic communities. Canadians have sophisticated tastes and are looking for different products. Now is a great time to promote specialty food items to Canada. Hypermarkets are moving into Canada and supermarkets want to maintain their market share. Thus they are looking for new products to keep existing customers and entice new ones.

This is a delicious job and great fun. Not only did I travel to one of the best cities in the world, I sampled and pigged out on mouth watering food and wine. Aah, can it get any better than this.

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