Unified's New Hispanic Programs Target Shopper Mar

• ¡Celebremos! turnkey store-front events
• Mercado Savings digital platform

COMMERCE, Calif., Oct. 7, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the launch of a new Hispanic marketing initiative for 2014, Unified Grocers, Inc. (Unified) is actively pursuing shopper marketing dollars on behalf of the largest "virtual" Hispanic chain in the country — the more than 400 Hispanic retail locations it serves throughout the Western United States.

These retail locations combined serve about five million shoppers a week, generating more than $5 billion in annual sales. Unified is partnering with key brands to harness that collective power with its two new programs: ¡Celebremos! and Mercado Savings.

"We're excited to provide these innovative, turnkey programs to build on our strong relationships with our Hispanic retailers," says Sue Klug , Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Unified Grocers. "We'll provide merchandising support and, for the first time ever with our Hispanic marketing programs, we'll have quantifiable data and critical metrics around the number of cases moved at retail. It's all about driving sales and providing a measurable return on investment for participating brands."

"We're presenting something very powerful and different," says Nancy López-Pedroza , Unified's Regional Marketing Manager, Retail Marketing Services. "Extensive research went into the planning phase in which 35 manufacturers and 12 retailers gave their insights into areas of opportunity. Created solely for the Latino shopper, ¡Celebremos! and Mercado Savings reflect Unified's strong commitment to the Latino community and they will be a powerful force in generating sales and establishing customer loyalty for our supplier and retail partners."

¡Celebremos!

¡Celebremos! (Let's Celebrate!) is built around a festive store-front environment. Featuring six rotating themes — music, education, tradition, health, family and food — the events can be customized to differentiate the store and connect with the local community. Unified will initially partner with 19 Hispanic retail chains in Southern California and Northern California. The program gives participating brands scale — 16 store-front events at large and mid-size retailers — and coordinated support to distribute cases to the stores and merchandise the products on-site.

Mercado Savings

Latinos lead the way in digital and social media use in the shopping experience. Unified is embracing that trend with a digital platform focused on basket building and engaging content built on brand messaging. Mercado Savings is a complementary program to the ¡Celebremos! store-front events and will reflect the same monthly themes.

About Unified Grocers, Inc.

Founded in 1922, Unified Grocers is a retailer-owned wholesale grocery distributor that supplies independent retailers throughout the western United States. Unified, which generated approximately $3.8 billion in sales during fiscal 2012, offers independent retailers all the resources they need to compete in the supermarket industry. For more information about Unified Grocers, visit: http://www.unifiedgrocers.com .

Paul Dingsdale, Director of Communications (323) 881-4150