15 Dec 10

Our Shopper Marketing Wish List

At the end of many months spent driving home the benefits of true shopper marketing, we’ve reached that time of year when people pause and make lists of the things we’d like to change, do better, or toss in the garbage. And, since this is the season of giving, there are a few things on our shopper marketing wish list.

1. Data would be shared. Imagine a world where retailers, like Tesco, would open up their sales, shopper behavior, and clubcard data vaults to FMCG suppliers. Come on, guys. Share. It will only help us do a better job in your stores!
2. Manufacturers put purpose into their promotions. Rather than using promotions as short-term fixes, we’d love to see companies set tangible goals for their promotions—like driving more consumption in a sustainable way. Oh, and then we wish they would take the time to evaluate the results, so they know what worked, what didn’t, and why. Or is that another wish?
3. We could stop overloading the trade every December. It seems that if we did more effective planning and execution then we wouldn’t be scrambling to make our targets in December. Is it just us, or does this recurring pattern seem like a case of doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results (which is, by the way, Einstein’s definition of the word “insanity”)?
4. Negotiating with customers could be a positive thing. Why does it feel like the annual negotiation with retailers is like a visit to the principal’s office? This key step in the relationship should deliver rewards to both sides—and it can! But we need to stop caving in and actually start negotiating. And when we can demonstrate value with a plan that achieves the customer’s KPIs as well as our own, everybody’s happy. And speaking of KPIs, here’s another wish...
5. Retailers would tell us their KPIs. You do performance evaluations with employees to tell the how they’re doing. Why can’t our customers share their KPIs with manufacturers so we can all be clear on expectations? If we know where they have set their goals, we can focus on achieving them.
6. Managers viewed trade spend as an investment, not an expense. Sure, if you chalk it up to the cost of doing business and just give away your trade dollars, trade spend is a big waste of money.
7. Training and coaching went hand in hand. When a training program is well thought-out so it addresses the real needs of the team, it works. And the success is even greater when followed up with coaching. Building the skills of your sales team is not a one-off proposition or a quick fix. It takes ongoing commitment and a “big picture” plan for training to work.
8. Sales and marketing teams could work together. When you’re all working for the same company, why be at odds with one another? Too many consumer goods organizations have Sales guys pointing fingers at Marketing folks, and vice versa. It’s a team effort, everyone. Work together to establish goals, understand each other’s challenges, and work in unison to get results.
9. Retailers would see that more fees are not the best answer. While manufacturers need to come up with and sell better activities to their customers, we wish for retailers who don’t automatically levy more fees when they are not sold on an idea. Break the cycle. Just tell the supplier, “Come back when you have thought it all the way through to a mutually profitable result!”
10. Category management would be declared dead and shopper marketing takes its place. We’re in the age of the shopper. It’s time to stop focusing on growing a category and start looking at how to get shoppers to buy more products and drive more consumption. The shopper mindset varies from aisle to aisle in the store, so we need to recognize that it’s the shopper we should focus on, not the category. Shopper marketing will do that, if we can just accept that there is a better way.

Now, are these ten things really so much to ask? We’ll keep working on making our wishes come true, but if Santa is listening, a little help would be nice!