It has been nearly four years since Nationwide Marketing Group launched its Prepare for Share initiative to members. As Sears, H.H. Gregg, Mattress Firm and others started to flounder, Nationwide put together a series of data, products and services designed to help the independent Nationwide member prepare and go after the lost customers those retailers were leaving behind. 

In October 2018, Sears declared bankruptcy. Although they are currently in the process of reorganization with a seemingly new lease on life, we have seen our “prepare for” mission come full circle, reminding us all that we should always be preparing to earn new customers, regardless of where they come from. 

Prepare for Share was a good reminder to dust off some best practices, reevaluate our investments and hunker down into the details that make us great independent retailers. In short, it helped us remember to focus on building awareness, creating the best customer experience and following through with simplified execution. 

Now that it’s time to wave goodbye to Prepare for Share, we need to look back at some of the great assets and services it created – and keep them alive to help us going forward. Programs like: 

• Nationwide-sponsored digital marketing campaigns – Formerly known as Boost, now with RWS AdRocket and Site on Time White Glove 
• Best for Less promotions – National group promotion between the big holidays 
• Buy More, Save More rebate promotions – To match and compete with the Big Box 
• Prepare for Share merchandising and margin programs – Like MP10, to help promote the independent–sheltered products with margin enhancements 
• PriMetrix market analysis – To help Identify what the size of our local market is and what your share of that business currently is 

As we move into 2020, it is very clear that all of these need to continue to be services that Nationwide offers to you. They may be called something new, but the programs and services should and will continue.  

One of the most significant changes to the Prepare for Share product strategy will be its rebranding. While we could talk about “Prepare for Share” in the halls of PrimeTime and at planning meetings with vendors, it was never a consumer–friendly term. We couldn’t use it to describe to customers why this product at this dealer was the best value for them. 

So, the Nationwide team went to work to identify a customer–facing tag that would clearly articulate these basic premises. And after a series of surveys and discussion, we are excited to announce that the Prepare for Share product strategy will now be named Nationwide Local Advantage. 

As we roll out this new product identifier, we commit that these four commandments will guide our selection of the participating products: 

1. The product is unique to the local independent dealer.
2. The value is supported by a national buying group to provide the best value and price against the product offered at Big Box. 
3. The manufacturer is supporting the success of this product with promotions, warranty and service like any other products they offer. 
4. The product is not available on Amazon. 

We are excited to evolve Prepare for Share and improve on the program offers that came from it over the past several years. And the new Nationwide Local Advantage product strategy will certainly play a crucial role in helping build awareness, create a great experience and simplify execution in the future.