Kurt Jetta

Kurt Jetta (born 21 July 1961) is a consumer researcher who studies data about multinational corporations through his firm, TABS Analytics, which is based in Shelton, Connecticut.[1] The corporations Jetta has analyzed include Amazon,[2] Family Dollar,[3] Dollar Tree,[3] Walmart,[4][5] Apple,[6] Kmart,[7] JcPenney,[8] and Sears.[7] In addition, Jetta has also studied the organic food industry,[9] the vitamin industry,[10] and the online grocery industry. Other investigations led by Jetta include sociological research that pertains to the purchasing habits of various ethnic groups.[11] In the area of trade promotion, Jetta has developed an alternative methodology to current industry baseline models.[12] Jetta also analyzes rewards programs.[13][14] He was a 2017 Republican candidate in Florida’s 21st Congressional District.

Kurt Jetta
Born (1961-07-21) July 21, 1961
Alma materFordham University, Duke University, North Carolina State University
OccupationConsumer Analyst
Years active1998–present

Career

Between 1996 and 1998 he held a position as Chief Executive Officer of Binky-Griptight, Inc. Binky-Griptight is a supplier of infant products. Prior to Binky-Griptight, Jetta spent seven years at Playtex Products.[15]

In 1998, Jetta founded TABS Group, where he is the Chief Executive Officer and Lead Product Developer. TABS Group provides marketing analysis for clients in the Consumer Products industry. Additionally, he serves as an independent Director for JM Global Holding, Co.[16] Work by Jetta and TABS has been quoted in The New York Times,[17] Forbes,[18] Bloomberg,[19] and other national media.

Between 2009 and 2012, Jetta sampled 1,000 individuals who were aged 18–75 in order to study "their buying habits when it comes to organic products."[20] Kurt Jetta's research, with regard to the organic food industry, suggests that the "percentage of people who buy organic products has stayed virtually the same for the past few years,"[9][21] at the 38-39% range.[22] The study found that "Fresh Fruits continues to be the highest penetration category for Organics with 27% of consumers. This is followed by Fresh Vegetables (26%), Eggs (17%), Milk (16%), Chicken (13%), Skincare (7%), Red Meat (6%), Frozen Vegetables (6%), Haircare (5%), Frozen Fruit (4%), Ice Cream (4%), and Cosmetics (3%). Skincare and Haircare are the only two categories that registered consecutive years of annual gains, while Milk and Ice Cream showed declines in consecutive years."[23] Jetta and his firm have also found that due to negative studies concerning multivitamins, the vitamin industry saw an "overall lethargy" in 2014.[10]

Jetta has stated that "The most important thing that data is used for is to determine which products consumers prefer, and to make sure what's on the shelf is what they want to buy...For example, we're doing one project for a retail chain where we found that in areas with high African-American populations, not only do they buy African-American hair care products and cosmetics specifically, but they buy grooming products in general at a very high level. With that kind of information, the retailer can make sure all those products are stocked and available for them."[11]

In early 2016, Jetta criticized the consumer packaged goods industry for stalling their own growth. His work, covered by both Wells Fargo and Food Navigator USA, showed that the consumer packaged goods industry focuses too much on less effective promotional tactics such as retailer loyalty programs and marketing to millennials at the expense of doing more traditional consumer trade promotion.[24] He has also published opinion articles on the topic.[25][26]

Also in 2016, Jetta’s research on online purchasing of baby goods by consumers received press when the study revealed that baby products are the largest online market of any of the consumer packaged goods categories studied.[27][28]

Jetta began commenting on the online grocery business in 2016. After a TABS study found that fewer consumers purchased groceries online in 2016 than in 2015, he reported that “online grocery is failing,” and that Amazon would have difficulty breaking into grocery business because consumers enjoy grocery shopping in brick and mortar stores.[29][30][31] He also commented on the pricing strategies of Whole Foods, stating that grocery shoppers wanted “deals.”[32] When Amazon announced its intent to purchase Whole Foods in June 2017, Jetta’s research and commentary was quoted in Bloomberg and The Denver Post, and he was interviewed on NPR.[33][34][35]

Corporation analyses

In July 2014, after Dollar Tree announced its acquisition bid of Family Dollar, USA Today shared Kurt Jetta's prediction that the merger would affect the entire economic sector shared by companies such as Walmart.[3] Jetta's TABS Group formed a "senior-level team dedicated to supporting internal and customer-related initiatives with Walmart" and researched the methodology that enables this corporation to operate "on a chain and local level."[36] Tying in with his consumer research related to the organic food industry, Jetta et al. found that Walmart suffered in some areas after it "jumped on the organic bandwagon a little too soon".[37]

He also reviewed Walmart’s change in practice of charging almost all their vendors a stocking fee. Formally the corporation charged these fees sporadically. While a common practice among other retailers, Jetta notes that the change for Walmart, " suggests that they are seeking areas to offset their increased investment in wages, as well as offset their lack of organic revenue growth."[38]

Additionally, he weighed in on the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by retailer chain A&P. He said that the retailer “…has been a dead man walking for 20 years, and the gig is finally up.” Jetta predicts that while one of A&P’s largest creditors might take over some of the stores, many will close and better-managed competitors will purchase the rest.[39]

When Ahold NV and Delhaise Group merged to become one of the largest supper market chains in the United States, Jetta noted his approval of the $560 million in savings the companies will incur after just 3 years, was “vital in a flat market.”[40]

Jetta also shared his insights about Apple Stores' EasyPay innovation in Macworld, after a court case was pending about Eric Shine who "was accused of trying to walk out of the Apple Store on New York’s Fifth Avenue without paying for a pair of headphones" although Shine claims that "he did try to pay, using the mobile Apple Store app’s EasyPay option on his phone, but that the purchase didn’t go through."[41] Jetta stated that 'when stores add customer-driven point of sale (POS) options like EasyPay, “in general, what happens is that there’s a fairly significant surge in sales” at first, due to the novelty of the new system. That’s then followed by some “shakeout of people that don’t like it for a lot of reasons—user difficulty, user error, and the like.”'[6]

Kurt Jetta's research pertaining to Kmart and Sears found that both of their rewards programs gave discounts of one percent, which Jetta stated, has the effect of hurting their whole customer base.[7] Jetta has also criticized JcPenney for what he perceives to be a lack of understanding of trade promotion methodology.[42]

When grocery chain A&P filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015, Jetta criticized the chain, calling the bankruptcy “a surprise to absolutely no one.”[43] In 2015, Jetta estimated the US supplements industry at $11.8 billion, challenging Nutrition Business Journal’s estimate of over $35 billion as “vastly overstated.”[44] His statements prompted a rebuttal from Nutrition Business Journal’s Editor-in-Chief and started an ongoing debate.[45]

Education

Jetta received his B.S. in Statistics in 1983 from North Carolina State University, where he served as Interfraternity Council President.[46][47] In 1986, he earned his M.B.A. from The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.[48]

Nineteen years later, Jetta pursued his Ph.D. In Economics from Fordham University, where he graduated in 2008. His doctoral thesis was titled: A Theory of Retailer Price Promotion Using Economic Foundations: It’s All Incremental, with his central thesis being that the incremental sales generated on a promoted product is entirely incremental to the brand, category and promoting retailer.[49][50] He published findings from his dissertation in the Journal of Centrum Cathedra and Journal of Research in Marketing.[51][52][53]

Political career

Jetta served several years on the Stamford Board of Representatives from 1987-1993. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1988. In October 2017, Jetta declared himself as a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representative in Florida’s 21st Congressional District. One of his issues is increased federal focus on the opioid abuse.[54]

Personal life

Jetta has been married since 1989 to Nancy Jetta from Stamford, CT. He has three adult children.[50][55]

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References
  1. Verdon, Joan (20 July 2014). "Retailers sharpening their pencils for back-to-school test - Business - NorthJersey.com". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved 22 August 2014. Consumer-products manufacturers and retailers have found that when you run seasonal promotions early, "it will sell earlier and you get that incremental hit as well," said Kurt Jetta, chief executive and founder of TABS Group, a sales and marketing analytics firm based in Connecticut.
  2. Council, Editors, Forbes Technology. "The E-Commerce Paradox: Brick-And-Mortar Killer...Or Is It?". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-18.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  3. Malcolm, Hadley (29 July 2014). "Dollar store merger means more competition". USA Today. Retrieved 22 August 2014. Now Family Dollar stands to benefit from Dollar Tree's management expertise while maintaining and bolstering its brand, and other discounters like Dollar General and even Walmart could see sales falter. "If Dollar Tree can bring their magic over to Family Dollar, it's going to have a pretty significant impact on this overall sector," says Kurt Jetta, CEO of TABS Group, a consumer analytics firm.
  4. "Walmart To Start Sharing Sales Data". Fox News. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  5. Covert, James (4 February 2012). "Walmart to start sharing its sales data". New York Post. Retrieved 22 August 2014. Walmart’s stubborn insistence on keeping its data secret, even as other chains shared theirs through groups like NPD, has had an increasingly isolating effect on the company, says Kurt Jetta, CEO of TABS Group, a consumer research firm.
  6. Friedman, Lex (7 March 2012). "When using Apple Store's EasyPay isn't so easy". Macworld. Retrieved 22 August 2014. Kurt Jetta, the CEO and founder of consumer analytics company TABS Group, told Macworld that when stores add customer-driven point of sale (POS) options like EasyPay, “in general, what happens is that there’s a fairly significant surge in sales” at first, due to the novelty of the new system. That’s then followed by some “shakeout of people that don’t like it for a lot of reasons—user difficulty, user error, and the like.” In the end, Jetta says, sales numbers balance out. Echoing Ciabarra, Jetta pointed out that such systems reduce cost to the retailer, and stores usually see “a significant customer satisfaction uptick” from customers who place value on self-checkout, particularly in terms of customer loyalty. Like Ciabarra, Jetta says he is “suspicious” of Shine’s story. “The assumption,” Jetta said, is that if a customer tries to leave the store with unpurchased items, “is operator error or oversight … Apple wouldn’t want to make it the norm that they’re harassing and jacking up all the people going to the stores. That doesn’t help anybody.”
  7. Covert, James (22 May 2014). "Lampert's Sears remedies are a masquerade". New York Post. Retrieved 22 August 2014. But “Shop Your Way” — whose rewards points program typically gives discounts amounting to 1 percent — represents backward, outdated thinking, says Kurt Jetta, CEO of TABS Group, a retail consultant focused on pricing and merchandise issues. “Sears and Kmart are so hurting for shoppers that anything they do to hurt one customer is bad, but they’re doing it en masse,” Jetta said.
  8. Covert, James (27 March 2013). "JCPenney CEO flip-flops again on prices". New York Post. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  9. Linn, Allison (12 January 2011). "Organic sales shifting to regular grocery stores". CNBC. Today. Retrieved 22 August 2014. The percentage of people who buy organic products has stayed virtually the same for the past few years, according to a new survey out Wednesday from TABS Group. Kurt Jetta, president of TABS Group, said in an e-mail that his research also hasn’t shown evidence that people who buy organic are buying significantly more products.
  10. Neff, Jack (18 August 2014). "Study Leaves Vitamin Industry Needing Pick-Me-Up". Advertising Age. Retrieved 22 August 2014. Kurt Jetta, CEO of the Tabs Group, an analytics firm that recently completed its seventh annual study of the vitamin business, sees an "overall lethargy" in the business this year that he attributes to the negative effects from the studies. Mr. Jetta still projects overall growth of 3% to 4% for 2014 in a business he pegs at $11.4 billion in all channels, although he is leaning more toward low end of that range, well below high-single or even double-digit growth rates in years past. The effect is most noticeable on the segment targeted by the study -- multivitamins -- he said. That's in line with prior studies in the past decade that put the kibosh on beta-carotene and vitamin E, yet seems to be having a broader effect than the decline of those businesses had. "Typically the negativity is isolated only on the one product," Mr. Jetta said. "But this one seems to be a bit broader and brought an overall malaise to the category."
  11. Zetlin, Minda (16 May 2012). "The Latest Privacy Invasion: Retailer Tracking". Fox News. Retrieved 22 August 2014. The most important thing that data is used for is to determine which products consumers prefer, and to make sure what's on the shelf is what they want to buy," explains Kurt Jetta, CEO of TABS Group, a consumer analytics company in Shelton, Conn. "For example, we're doing one project for a retail chain where we found that in areas with high African-American populations, not only do they buy African-American hair care products and cosmetics specifically, but they buy grooming products in general at a very high level. With that kind of information, the retailer can make sure all those products are stocked and available for them.
  12. Kolandaiswamy, Antony Arokia Durai Raj; Kanagasabapathi Balasubramanian (22 December 2011). "Method and system for estimating base sales volume of a product". The method includes receiving sales data of the product from one or more sales data sources. Further, the method includes identifying a plurality of independent variables from the received sales data and substituting them in a regression model to calculate a total sales volume of the product. Furthermore, the method includes modifying one or more independent variables of the plurality of independent variables in the regression model to obtain the base sales volume of the product. The base sales volume of the product is the same as the calculated total sales volume when the base sales volume obtained after modifying the one or more independent variables is either negative or greater than the total sales volume. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  13. Buss, Dale (25 July 2014). "CEOs Weigh in on How to Fix a Troubled Company". Chief Executive. Retrieved 27 August 2014. Kurt Jetta, CEO of the TABS consumer metrics company, believes that Sears’ emphasis on its “Shop Your Way” loyalty program—which accounted for 74 percent of sales during the fiscal first quarter, up from 68 percent a year earlier—is only “doubling down on a fatally flawed program.”
  14. Covert, James (22 May 2014). "Lampert's Sears remedies are a masquerade". New York Post. Retrieved 27 August 2014. But “Shop Your Way” — whose rewards points program typically gives discounts amounting to 1 percent — represents backward, outdated thinking, says Kurt Jetta, CEO of TABS Group, a retail consultant focused on pricing and merchandise issues.
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  16. JM Global Holding Co Reuters. Retrieved Sept. 28, 2015
  17. Abrams, Rachel (2015-07-20). "A&P Files for Bankruptcy and Aims to Sell 120 Stores". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  18. Pearson, Bryan. "How To Improve Online Grocery: Learning From Kroger, Walmart". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  19. "Amazon Sells More Beans, Turkey Online Thanks to Whole Foods". Bloomberg Quint. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  20. Fischer, Eileen (7 March 2012). "Organics overhyped, but on the rise, study says". Times Union. Retrieved 22 August 2014. During the last four years, Jetta has been conducting national surveys of 1,000 consumers, ages 18 to 75, using a different group each year, to find out their buying habits when it comes to organic products.
  21. Stock, Sue (17 March 2011). "Organic, natural products sell strongly despite recession". Seattle Times. Retrieved 22 August 2014. Kurt Jetta is president of the TABS Group, a Connecticut consumer research firm. His recent research shows that the percentage of shoppers who bought natural or organic items has remained steady, in the 38 to 39 percent range for the past three years.
  22. Jetta, Kurt (12 January 2012). "Organic Product Consumer Base Holds Steady; Volume Shifting to Mass Market Retailers". PRNewswire. Retrieved 22 August 2014. For the third straight year, the percentage of US consumers purchasing Organic products has held steady in the 38-39% range, reports Shelton, CT-based marketing research and consulting company, TABS Group, Inc.
  23. Jetta, Kurt (12 January 2012). "Organic Product Consumer Base Holds Steady; Volume Shifting to Mass Market Retailers". PRNewswire. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  24. Kress, Melissa. “Misguided Paradigms Plague Today’s Trade Promotions.” Convenience Store News. April 14, 2016
  25. Jetta, Kurt. “Ten ways CPG makers are shooting themselves in the foot.” Chain Drug Review. April 22, 2016
  26. Watson, Elaine. “Promotional blues: Why is trade spending becoming less and less effective?” Food Navigator. Nov. 16, 2015
  27. “Target, Walmart, Amazon dominate the online baby goods market.” Business Insider. April 22, 2016
  28. Verdon, Joan. “New generation moms like to buy for baby online, study finds.” North Jersey.com April 7, 2016
  29. Pearson, Bryan. “How to Improve Online Grocery: Learning from Kroger, Walmart.” Forbes. Oct. 28, 2016
  30. Maynard, Micheline. “Is the Grocery Business About to Run Off the Road?” Forbes. Sept. 27, 2016
  31. Soper, Spencer and Olivia Zaleski. “Inside Amazon’s Battle to Break Into the $800 Billion Grocery Market.” Bloomberg. March 20, 2017
  32. English, Carleton. “Whole Foods in need of a major shakeup.” New York Post. April 12, 2017
  33. Boyle, Matthew. “Jeff Bezo’s grocery shopping shakes up an $800 billion industry.” The Denver Post. June 16, 2017
  34. Soper, Spencer, Emily Biuso, and Nick Turner. “Amazon Targets Your Fridge with 13.7 Billion Whole Foods Deal.” Bloomberg. June 16, 2017
  35. "How Will Things Change For Shoppers After Amazon Buys Whole Foods?". NPR.org. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  36. "TABS Group Forms Dedicated Wal-Mart Analytics Team to Enhance Insights at Largest U.S. Retailer". MarketWatch. 13 October 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  37. Fischer, Eileen (7 March 2012). "Organics overhyped, but on the rise, study says". Times Union. Retrieved 22 August 2014. Kurt Jetta, founder and chief executive officer of TABS Group Inc. in Shelton, Conn., a company that provides analytics, software and strategic consulting to companies involved in consumer products, began studying consumer attitudes on organic products years ago when retailers came to him asking whether or not they should carry organic products. Their concern came from the fact that some stores jumped on the organic bandwagon a little too soon, Jetta explained, pumping up their inventory with organic products, setting up special displays and then regretting their decisions. "Wal-Mart got into (organics) in a big way and got hurt in a few areas," he said.
  38. Layne, Natthan. “Wal-Mart to Impose Charges on Suppliers as its Costs Mount.” Reuters. June 23, 2015
  39. Covert, James. “Historic Grocery Chain A&P Files for Chapter 11.” New York Post. June 20, 2015
  40. Walker, Ian., & Gasparro, A. “Ahold, Delhaize Agree to Merger -- 3rd Update.” Dow Jones Business News. June 24, 2015
  41. Friedman, Lex (7 March 2012). "When using Apple Store's EasyPay isn't so easy". Macworld. Retrieved 22 August 2014. Apple’s EasyPay service promises Apple Store shoppers a fast way to conduct business at the company’s retail outlets, letting them buy items without even talking to a store employee. It’s fast and convenient—but one New Jersey teenager claims he got more than he bargained for, after he was accused of trying to walk out of the Apple Store on New York’s Fifth Avenue without paying for a pair of headphones. Eighteen-year-old Eric Shine insists that he did try to pay, using the mobile Apple Store app’s EasyPay option on his phone, but that the purchase didn’t go through. A New York court will hear his case in October.
  42. Covert, James (31 May 2012). "JCPenney revives clearance events CEO previously likened to drugs". New York Post. Retrieved 27 August 2014. “They’re delusional,” Jetta said of Penney. “They’re not all that much different from other retailers that have had this problem before. They just have a much higher level of hubris about it.”
  43. Moore, Thad. “A&P was ‘the Wal-Mart of its day.’ Now it’s filing for bankruptcy.” The Washington Post. July 20, 2015
  44. Daniells, Stephen. “Is the $35 billion figure for the dietary supplements industry over-inflated?” Nutra Ingredients. Sept. 21, 2015
  45. Bradley, John. “NBJ: The US supplement industry is $37 billion, not $12 billion.” Nutra Ingredients
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  47. "North Carolina State University's Student Newspaper Vol LXV Number 17".
  48. "Fairfield County Business Journal 031615". Issuu. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  49. Jetta, Kurt. A Theory of A Theory of Retailer Price Promotion Using Economic Foundations: It's All Incremental. Bronx, New York: Fordham University. 2008
  50. Jetta, Kurt. "A THEORY OF RETAILER PRICE PROMOTION USING ECONOMIC FOUNDATIONS: IT'S ALL INCREMENTAL" (PDF).
  51. Jetta, Kurt (2011). "A Model to Improve the Estimation of Baseline Retail Sales" (PDF). Journal of CENTRUM Cathedra. 4.
  52. Jetta, Kurt (August 2016). "Economic Foundations of Price Promotion: It's All Incremental" (PDF). Journal of Research in Marketing. 6 (2).
  53. Analytics, TABS. "Baseline Sales Calculations - TABS AccuBase®". www.tabsanalytics.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  54. "Republican Jetta slams Democrat Frankel on opioid response | Post On Politics". Retrieved 2018-01-18.
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