What message are you receiving from this letter from Natura to it’s retailers?

Here is the letter Natura Pet Products sent to its retailers this week:

“Dear Natura Retailer,

I am pleased to announce the acquisition of Natura Pet Products by Procter & Gamble was finalized June 1. We are now able to communicate with you directly about the acquisition and what it means.

We’ve faced many of the same challenges over the past 30 days and I would like to thank you for your patience and for forwarding your questions and concerns.

You have made it clear that for Natura to continue to count on your support, we must supply you with clear, timely, and transparent communication. Therefore, I would like to share the following commitments and plans with the promise to release additional details as soon as they are available.

First, I am pleased to announce that I have accepted the role of President and Chief Operating Officer for Natura Pet Products, and that my current leadership team remains in place. I believe the future is bright for Natura, and I look forward to continuing the success of Natura and its great products.

Second, the quality of our products will continue to be world class.

Natura’s nutritional philosophy will not change. The foundation of our success is rooted in our products and their performance. We will not compromise our standards.

Our approach to formulation and product design will remain the same, and we will continue to position our formulas on the cutting edge. We will continue to evolve and improve our market leading products. As part of this:

All Natura dry products will continue to be produced in our own plants.

Our ingredient selection philosophy will remain unchanged.

Next, our commitment to the Independent Pet Store continues to be our top priority.

Effective immediately, we have increased the value of our co-op funding policy through December 2010. These funds have been released to our Regional Managers to grow all of our markets. Please share your business building ideas with your Natura sales representative so that together, we may grow the Natura business.

We will be increasing our advertising to drive customers to your store and create additional awareness of Natura Products. More details will follow in upcoming days and weeks.

Many of you have expressed concerns about possible expansion of the Natura brands into other channels of the market. While we can assure you we have no specific plans at this point, if and when we decide to do so the following key principles will guide our actions:

We remain committed to the distribution of Natura brands only within the Pet Specialty channel. This is the place where our all-natural pet food seeking pet parent shops, and where we can invest with you to provide cutting edge products and nutritional consultation.

Natura dry formulas will continue to be manufactured in the Fremont plant with the same quality and nutritional standards.

We will seek to maintain the competitiveness of the independent pet store channel.

We will provide the independent pet store channel with advance notice of any broadening of our distribution.

Finally a word of re-assurance regarding our Natura distributor network. We will be honoring all of the existing distributor agreements that carry through this calendar year and we will recognize distributor performance and commitment to Natura’s success by offering to extend agreements even further. We believe this letter meets your expectation for clear and timely communication. We encourage you to use this letter to measure us in the future, and judge us by our actions, not our words.

We accept the responsibility to earn and maintain the support of our independent retailers. Our promise is to provide you with world-class products along with the necessary sales and marketing programs to deliver growth and success for your store.

Thank you for your belief in Natura Pet Products. I look forward to growing our business together.

Sincerely,

Don Scott
President and Chief Operating Officer
Natura Pet Products”

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/message-from-natura-to-pet-store-retailers.html

I see a lot of changes coming down the line, some immediately and some in 2011. But I am interested in how others are interpreting this letter, as so much is left open. What do you think Natura is promising or failing to promise in this letter?

business marketing : matching the terms?

a.consumer goods
b.marketing Ps
c.domestic market
d.marketing strategy
e.industrial goods
f. pull strategy
g. market segmentation
h.push strategy
i.marketing
j.value equation

i all the activities involvwed in the sale and distribution of goods and services from the original manufacturer to the end user.

iii goods normally purchased in retail stores

v) a method dividing up the market into a series of target markets

viii) a marketing startegy that sells products to retailers but not to end users

ix) a marketing strategy that is what many consider marketing to be all about

x) a process that permits a comparison of the benefits of a product with the costs involved in obtaining the product