Marlene

Martha Stewart Coming to Grocery Shelves Soon

DECEMBER 07, 2006 -- According to Reuters, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia plans to launch a line of food products, along with a revamped Web site and other branding deals, CEO Susan Lyne said.

Lyne, speaking at the Reuters Media Summit in New York last month, said the company could introduce a line of food products in 18 months or less. She said the concept is something they talk about "all the time" in terms of new retail deals.

"The only other category that we've talked about that would entail a different retail chain is probably food," Lyne said.

She said the company has many options, including foods as gift items, whole dinners and partially prepared foods.

"I say partially prepared because people still like to feel like they made it, and we want to encourage that," she said. "But we can make it easier for people, more convenient for them and upgrade the quality of the ingredients."

Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart built the media conglomerate bearing her name on recipes and decorating tips for more gracious living, delivered in the flagship Martha Stewart Living magazine as well as on radio and television shows.

Her company already has brand deals in place with retailers for a broad range of goods, including paints, furniture, housewares and home design.

Come April, Advertising Age reports that the multimedia lifestyle brand will also unveil a line of scrapbook products that will open the door to a $30 billion crafts business that currently lacks a national dominant brand.

The company has rapidly inked deals to get the Martha Stewart name everywhere, from a KB Home community to retailers such as Lowe's and Macy's. The flurry of activity is aimed at shoring up merchandise revenue before the company's lucrative Kmart deal expires. Lyne said the company would revert to royalties from guaranteed income and could see a dip in that segment come 2008.

Lyne also detailed a change in the company's Web strategy from one reliant on e-commerce revenue from the catalog business to one now squarely focused on ad-supported content. The revamped Web site will unveil next year, and one element will be an improved search function. When users request a recipe, they'll see results not only for the request but also table-top suggestions, side dishes, desserts and even third-party links, selected by Stewart.

The company is also planning a fresh video series featuring "great chefs" from around the world demonstrating their technique. That series will sit alongside classics from the archive that also will be made available.

The company, which has two major online partnerships with Yahoo and Google, is planning to make its content widely available with the hope the deals will draw traffic back to the MSLO main site. Lyne said links to Macys.com would bring a large number of visitors to the site.

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"Life isn't like a box of chocolates... it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might just burn your butt tomorrow."

swcooking

I haven't seen Martha Stewart on my grocery shelf yet... maybe I shop at the wrong store. I have seen Martha Stewart towels and designer home furnishings. I like watching her show because she has a kitchen! Her kitchen has every gadget in the world, and if I had half of the gadgets I would have to move out of the house because all of the space would be taken by the gadgets.

I will have to look harder and see if I can find Martha Stewart in my store.

SimplyA

Thats interesting, Ill keep a lookout for martha stewart in the stores i visit.

Gizmo

Quite interesting that Martha is making her way back into mainstream again. I guess some time behind bar gave her lots of time to cook up new dishes and ideas

BTW I loved the quote about life being like a bottle of jalepenos

Eater

It's absolutely amazing how this woman has taken the world by storm in so many areas of life in spite of her imprisonment, she has not allowed that to deter her from pursuing her dreams.