March 12, 2019, Allison Zisko
Market Connect Group, which offers in-store services to retailers, has bulked up its employee roster through the acquisition of Merchandise Management Company.
BLOOMFIELD, N.J.—Market Connect Group, a company that provides in-store services such as visual merchandising for retailers and often on behalf of brands, has acquired Merchandise Management Company, a player in the same field.
MCG sends teams of regional employees to stores to replenish items at point of sale, maintain visual displays, perform on-site product demonstrations, represent brands on the selling floor and provide market intelligence and consumer feedback to retailers. It works with all sorts of retailers, such as Kohl’s, Bed Bath & Beyond and Macy’s, housewares vendors such as Nespresso, and several other manufacturers.
The acquisition of Merchandise Management Company by MCG creates a larger network of hands-on talent with more service tools, MCG said in a statement. MCG is owned by Randa, a fashion accessories company that is a major supplier of ties and belts under numerous brand names; Randa is one of MCG’s biggest clients, according to David Katz, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer at Randa. Home is one of MCG’s biggest classifications, according to Katz, who said, “We’ve spent a million hours in home departments.”
Wisconsin-based Merchandise Management Company started as a rep group and is now mostly focused on home departments, Katz said. It has more than 40 years of experience in the visual merchandising arena and nearly 1,000 associates spanning the 48 continental United States.
The acquisition expands MMG’s client base and gives it access to additional field representatives, MCG President Bill Brenner told HFN. It is often hard to find people willing to work part-time in retail nowadays, he added.
“With this acquisition, we now have a team of 4,000 talented associates offering an even bigger and broader scope to in-store service,” Brenner said in a statement. “Brands and retailers will be able to take advantage of both companies’ expertise to make the ‘final 50 feet’ of a product’s journey the most productive.”