{"id":135627,"date":"2023-12-31T11:40:29","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T17:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=135627"},"modified":"2023-12-31T11:40:31","modified_gmt":"2023-12-31T17:40:31","slug":"university-of-mississippi-business-students-learn-label-manufacturing-in-the-windy-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/university-of-mississippi-business-students-learn-label-manufacturing-in-the-windy-city\/","title":{"rendered":"University of Mississippi Business Students Learn Label Manufacturing in the Windy City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>Retail association&#8217;s gathering proved a positive learning experience for many<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Four <strong>University of Mississippi<\/strong> business students are among 24 college students chosen to participate in the <strong>Private Label Manufacturers Association<\/strong>&#8216;s annual <strong>University Outreach <\/strong>program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group met Nov. 11-14 in <strong>Chicago <\/strong>in conjunction with PLMA&#8217;s annual trade show. The program provided students with an immersive experience in the grocery retailing and store-brand industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;By seeing the industry through both the perspective of buyer and seller, the students gained valuable insights into the many career opportunities that exist within the private label industry,&#8221; said <strong>Clay Dockery<\/strong>, Ole Miss marketing alumnus and PLMA ex officio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Ole Miss<\/strong> students participating in the program were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Jessica Beavers<\/strong>, a junior general business and accelerated law program major from Rocklin, California<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Lauren Bender<\/strong>, a senior risk management and insurance and real estate major from Franklin, Tennessee<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Kyle Major<\/strong>, a sophomore finance major from Allendale, New Jersey<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Edward Shaw<\/strong>, a senior entrepreneurship major from Burnet, Texas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Our business students received a prized opportunity to connect with and learn from professionals and experts in the retail, manufacturing and consumer product industries,&#8221; said <strong>Meg Barnes<\/strong>, PLMA faculty adviser and instructor of management. &#8220;They also engaged in a product ideation workshop with teams conceptualizing, assessing for consumer and needs gaps, justifying, merchandising, and ultimately sketching and visualizing a design detail.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students were assigned to different teams for a competitive challenge during the workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The team with Jessica Beavers generated the runner-up-winning design with an innovative healthy food take on Rice Cakes To-Go,&#8221; Barnes said. &#8220;I am proud of these four selected students as representatives of Ole Miss business in this immersive and hands-on PLMA experience.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The program included two days of university-level classes featuring an overview of retailing and store-brand development in the U.S. and internationally, the role of manufacturers and retailers, consumer retail psychology, store brand innovation, the power of artificial intelligence and career orientation, along with a tour of nearby stores with private label programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also provided two days under the\u00a0mentorship\u00a0of practicing professionals in the buying and selling divisions of retail businesses. Participating retailers included\u00a0<strong>Acme, Albertsons, Aldi, Amazon, Costco, CVS, Dollar General, Food Lion, Fred Meyer, Giant, H-E-B, Jewel-Osco, Kroger, Meijer, Publix, Safeway, Shop Rite, Sprouts, Stop &amp; Shop, Target,\u00a0Trader Joe&#8217;s, Walgreens, Walmart, Wegmans<\/strong>, and <strong>Whole Foods<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;My PLMA experience was nothing short of fantastic,&#8221; Bender said. &#8220;It was very eye-opening to see all the work that goes into the private label industry. I was able to see firsthand negotiation, trade show setup, product marketing, consumer psychology and so much more.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By Lindsey White<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"25\" height=\"16\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg?resize=25%2C16\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14544\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/PLMA-University-Outreach-workshop-750.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/PLMA-University-Outreach-workshop-750.jpg?resize=640%2C457&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-135630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/PLMA-University-Outreach-workshop-750.jpg?w=750&amp;ssl=1 750w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/PLMA-University-Outreach-workshop-750.jpg?resize=300%2C214&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">University of Mississippi business students (from left) Kyle Major, Lauren Bender, Jessica Beavers and Edward Shaw attend the Private Label Manufacturing Association&#8217;s annual meeting in Chicago. Photo by Meg Barnes\/School of Business Administration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retail association&#8217;s gathering proved a positive learning experience for many Four University of Mississippi business students are among<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":135630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17687],"tags":[2368,27530,27534,27531,27533,27532,27535,5,7067,4,655],"class_list":["post-135627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-of-mississippi","tag-chicago","tag-clay-dockery","tag-edward-shaw","tag-jessica-beavers","tag-kyle-major","tag-lauren-bender","tag-meg-barnes","tag-mississippi","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-university-of-mississippi"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/PLMA-University-Outreach-workshop-750.jpg?fit=750%2C536&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135631,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135627\/revisions\/135631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}