The meaning of SPARC - Viewpoint - Supplier Performance Awards by Retail Category - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, Sept 23, 2002 by Tim Craig

As predictable as Swiss clockwork, there's not a year that goes by where an attendee at DSN Retailing Today's annual SPARC awards ceremony doesn't approach me and ask, "By the way, what does SPARC stand for anyway?"

The answer, of course, rolls off my tongue as if I were a well-trained Boy Scout reciting The Pledge of Allegiance: "Supplier Performance Awards by Retail Category," I say, having lived and breathed all-things SPARC, including this issue, during the weeks leading up to the August events.

But when you stop to think about what SPARC has come to represent, it's clear that reciting a textbook definition in no way does it justice. SPARC, after all, has come to represent so much more than a Supplier Awards program. From the time the Specialty Retailer of the Year award was added in the mid'-90s through the growth of the 3M Merchandising Innovation award and, most recent, the inclusion of a Food Retailer of the Year award, the program has grown to include a significant retail recognition component.

In fact, if you didn't know any better, you might think SPARC stands for Supporting Partnership Across the Retail Community. And in some sense, you'd be right. By adding a strong retail component to an already-strong vendor awards program, the SPARC event, which is in its 25th year, has never stood as a greater example of industry cooperation than it does today.

Just how strong is that retailer component, you ask? Well, at the very least it's worthy of its own acronym. And given this year s stellar lineup of retailer award winners, a more appropriate answer to what S.P.A.R.C. means, especially for the retailer community, might go something like this.

The S is for Superlative, as in the envious accomplishments of Costco, this year's Food Retailer of the Year winner. While still cranking out an annual per-club sales average in excess of $100 million, Costco has ramped up its food offerings to include an assortment of fresh meat and bread that's unparalleled at mass, a first-rate wine offering that's garnered a flood of critical acclaim and a road-show program that has introduced a bevy of unique product once believed beyond the scope of mass.

The P is for Performance, as in the consistent growth from a company like Family Dollar, this year's Retailer of the Year winner. Over the last five years, Family Dollar has added nearly 2,000 units and more than $2.1 billion in sales to become the 25th largest company on DSN Retailing Today's Annual Top 150 list.

The A is for Awe-inspiring, as in the innovative spirit coming out of SuperTarget, this year's 3M Merchandising Innovation Award winner. From its Archer Farms fresh produce section to its proprietary line of Philippe Starck organic food, Target has raised the bar in supercenter offerings. As it prepares to open hundreds of new supercenters in the coming years, SuperTarget's stable of brands now includes some of the most recognizable names in retailing, such as Starbucks, Krispy Kreme and Einstein Bagels.

The R is for Resourceful, as in Best Buy, this year's Specialty Retailer of the Year winner, which recently announced a merchandising deal with none other than Apple Computer, a name few mass retailers have been willing to touch. In the wake of Apple's hugely successful iPod MP3 player, the company announced the rollout of a Windows-based version--to the delight of Best Buy, which to its credit seized on the opportunity and has chosen to offer the full line of Apple MP3s, Mac OS and all.

The C is for Companies, as in the list of current and past SPARC winners, retailers and vendors alike, which reads like a Who's Who of mass retailing excellence.

DSN Retailing Today's annual SPARC awards ceremony is, and always will be, a recognition of Supplier Performance. But to limit it to that is to overlook the all-important partnership dynamic that is as important to the industry today as it ever has been. So the next time someone asks me what SPARC stands for, I'll still give them the textbook definition, but I'll be sure to explain that it could just as easily mean "Superlative Performance from Awe-Inspiring, Resourceful Companies."