But in the course of churning out new products, we came perilously close to putting ourselves out of business because we hadn’t taken into account a … - Paul Newman

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But in the course of churning out new products, we came perilously close to putting ourselves out of business because we hadn’t taken into account a new phenomenon in the food business, a diabolical supermarket invention — slotting. If ever there was a dirty word in the food business, slotting is it. Competition for shelf space had always been intense, and products were selected at the whim of the supermarket buyer. Some traditional emoluments were involved in getting a new product on the shelf, like giving one free bottle for every ten purchased or offering an introductory promotion — we would lower the price and pass the savings on to the consumer, who instead of buying one