Welcome to the Year of the Goat. People say it will be an exciting year. We agree – there will be challenges and ultimately opportunities for senior managers who manage it well. At the heart of the challenge (and the opportunity) will be reaching your target shoppers. In this blog we highlight five key factors and five key questions that senior managers must consider to make 2015, the year of the shopper, massively successful.
Finding your target shopper will be harder than ever
• Minimart and convenience store formats are booming as well as on line shopping, whilst at the same time large format stores are struggling for identity and traffic. Discount outlets are taking hold in European markets…is this a format for Asia? The net result is that shopper marketers and sales teams will need to think hard about which activities should be funded in which stores to reach the target shopper
• Key questions – Are we investing our resources in the right activities to change target shopper behavior in the right stores?
Technology will continue to change the game
• The developments in mobile connectivity have done more to change personal behavior than any other in the 21st century. Reaching your target shopper in this environment is tough and the pace of change will quicken as a whole new world of apps and data sources start to arrive. Shoppers are mobile and their media channel usage is changing faster than ever. Reaching them will become increasingly challenging.
• Key question – Do we have a clear, flexible strategy to reach our increasingly mobile target consumers and target shoppers?
More than ever it is about people
• People are still our most valuable resource. Talent is scarce and must be motivated to be retained, whilst developing new talent is essential. In the area of shopper marketing this is an even greater challenge.
• Key question – Are we retaining our best people and nurturing new talent through excellent training and development plans?
Resources are valuable
• With so much change, the resources we use reach our target shopper and ultimately change their behavior must be effective must be measured. All our activity from a simple in-store promotion to the development of our talent must be mapped out and effectively measures so we only spend out valuable time and money on the things that make positive change.
• Key question – Do we have the right systems and processes in place to measure everything we do? If we can’t measure it, why do we do it?
Asia is the place to be
• 2014 was tough across the globe but the positive sentiments in Asia continue. GDP growth that other continents can only dream of, a growing and aspiring middle class and dramatic developments in infrastructure mean this is arguably the place to be. How long will it last and where should we focus? With a scale only dwarfed by China and India, a rapidly growing middle class, infrastructure developments and a new chief intent on change, Indonesia is our pick of the Asian markets.
• Key question – Do we know how to effectively capitalize on this opportunity? Are we resourced effectively in all these markets?
We are sure most of you have considered these challenges and are embedded deeply into your plans for 2015. Go back and check and ask yourself the question over and over again. Make 2015 the year of the shopper, understand who your target shopper is and really seek to understand them and add value to them. Please feel free to share your thoughts about what the year ahead holds in the comments section below.