MERA Roadmap to Success to Raise Bar for Industry Marketing, Promotion and Product Cooperative a Critical Component
Indianapolis, IN: The Mobile Enhancement Retailers Association® (MERA) held a manufacturer summit on September 18 in Chicago to announce plans to introduce the MERA Roadmap to Success and offer a valuable member benefit: a marketing, promotion and product cooperative.
MERA’s newly developed Roadmap to Success will offer tangible benefits through visual merchandising and how-to demonstrations at MERA KnowledgeFest and throughout the year as the initiative is woven into MERA’s communications and educational programs. The knowledge that retailers gain will help streamline merchandising and improve the consumers’ experience when visiting a mobile electronics specialty retailer. The cooperative has emerged as a critical component of the initiative.
“MERA’s Roadmap to Success will be a driving force as the association seeks to raise the bar for retailers,” said Bob Graham, president of MERA. “Those members who take advantage of the new cooperative will have a competitive edge as they reap the financial rewards of participation and are even better positioned to follow MERA’s lead in elevating the professionalism of the industry,” he added.
MERA has formed a strategic alliance with Associated Volume Buyers (AVB), which successfully developed and has grown the BrandSource group of appliance retailers to 2,500 stores across the country. Like BrandSource, the new mobile electronics cooperative will provide more profitable buying and will offer 12- to 24-month interest-free financing to its participating members once a month at competitively low rates. Additionally, the members will have their own extended service company, wholesale finance company and warehouse. Other benefits will be offered as well, such as health insurance, supplies, HR services and an installation appointment reminder service, with more to be added in the future.
Like MERA, the cooperative will function as a non-profit organization that seeks to elevate the success of specialty retailers in the mobile enhancement industry; all of the vendor-generated programs and discounts associated with this division of MERA will go back, 100 percent, to the retailers as it supports the Roadmap to Success initiative. But unlike a traditional “buying group,” MERA’s cooperative is poised to offer an array of member perks and profitable solutions for the good of everyone in the specialty chain of distribution.
MERA membership will be a prerequisite for participating in the cooperative. However, participation will be optional and not a requirement of MERA’s retailer and manufacturer members.
While the cooperative will officially launch in 2008, MERA’s leaders presented the plan to its potential manufacturer partners during the summit, which hosted 18 executives of mobile electronics manufacturers, along with MERA’s Executive Committee and other volunteer leadership.