In a conversation with a prospective client, we discussed the power of shopper marketing. He challenged me to show him some really great examples of shopper marketing, saying: “That’s all very well, but I just don’t see it happening. All is see in-stores is generic, ordinary – I can’t see the shopper marketing difference. Come back and show me what great shopper marketing looks like.”
Well that got me thinking. It got me thinking about the work we do, and the work I see around the world. And while there are exceptions, an awful lot of what I would call great shopper marketing is actually rather ordinary in execution. A great piece of advertising can be seen, it has a wow factor: the brilliance is typically there to be seen. So why isn’t this true about shopper marketing?
Great shopper marketing is often almost invisible
I began to review some of the work we’ve done recently. For a TV manufacturer in China, we painted the walls red in-store; for a milk company the major strategic output was re-arranging the product on the shelf. We’ve changed signs in-store; listed products in new channels, and withdrawn from others. All of these had a massive (positive) impact on our clients’ business – and all were delivered by leveraging a better understanding of consumers and shoppers to change the way the brand or category was marketed to shoppers. However, with the exception of the red walls, most of this was almost invisible.
Great shopper marketing lies behind the scenes
Behind each of these simple executions there was hours of analysis, crunching, prioritizing and deliberations. Bespoke shopper segmentations were developed, channels analyzed, re-cut and prioritized again. Investment costs were calculated and rebalanced to create the maximum ROI. But none of that is visible to the external observer. The reality is that great shopper marketing is great marketing and marketing isn’t done in a store – it happens in offices, in meeting rooms and at desks. The brilliance of great marketing lies in the fabulous insights, the identification of different ways of looking at a situation, and turning that into something which is actionable and impactful. It doesn’t have to be beautiful to be brilliant shopper marketing – it has to work. Indeed given the many constraints on in-store execution for it to be actionable, great shopper marketing often has to be simple rather than flashy. It is perfectly possible to be impactful and understated.
So, how do you spot great shopper marketing?
If great shopper marketing isn’t necessarily highly visible: how do we know that something is great? Your shopper marketing is great when:
Great shopper marketing creates a behavioral change in a target shopper
If there is no change in shopping behavior then there is no growth. It’s as simple as that. There are many shoppers whom we wish to keep buying as they normally do, but they wont’ drive growth of our brands. If you are a marketer and need to grow your brand (who doesn’t?) then shoppers need to behave differently.
Great shopper marketing also drives incremental consumption
If incremental purchase takes place but there is no increase in consumption, then there is a danger our activity is just filling up the larder. In some categories we have found up to 80% of incremental purchases have not driven any change in consumption – i.e. product sits in a cupboard and just delays the next purchase. In the long term, no extra product is bought. If shopper activity also drives, enables or supports a change in consumption behavior, then as long as the consumption is rewarding, we are well on the way to a follow up purchase.
Great shopper marketing encourages habitual changes in shopping behavior
One purchase is nice, but if the shopper switches back to their old habits the next week then the gain is small. Herein lies the problem with most promotions and discounts. If the change is made permanent, habitual, then long term growth is assured.
Great shopper marketing facilitates habitual changes in consumption behavior
Now we are really talking. Getting a consumer to take on our brand on a long term basis assures consumer demand, and this is one of the best ways of creating or reinforcing a shopping habit.
Great shopper marketing is aligned with the long term goals of the brand
If the brand goal is to be positioned as premium, then how does that deep price discount affect that? If the brand is looking to penetrate new users, how does the buy two get one free deal help? If the brand is looking to drive into new usage occasions, then how can our shopper marketing connect to that?
Great shopper marketing supports the commercial and strategic goals of the retailer
Until all of our activities are conducted outside of the real estate owned by retailers, their collaboration and support will be required. Shopper activities which drive incremental sales and profit for the retailer will get more support, period. Activities which go against a retailers strategy may not. For example, I was once witness to a presentation by a brand owner to Tesco which stated that the goal of the activity was to steal share from the Tesco label product. Needless to say it didn’t get the green light from the buyer!
Great shopper marketing delivers a measurable ROI
Beyond all of this, marketers exist to make money for their companies, and shopper marketers are no exception. If it doesn’t make a decent return, then it isn’t great shopper marketing, regardless of how clever the creative is.
Great shopper marketing doesn’t need to look impressive
When we work with shopper marketing agencies – they often complain that there brilliant creativity is never allowed to shine – that their amazing ideas for transforming brands at retail never see the light of day. When we work with clients (and retailers!) they complain that what is presented by agencies and brand owners is just too complicated to work across hundreds of stores. Perhaps agencies are trying too hard? Perhaps they are trying to justify their fees, and feel that the concept and execution has to be amazing. This is fallacy. In consumer marketing perhaps there is more space for brilliance in insight AND execution. But for now I feel that adding value in shopper marketing is more about the insight end of the spectrum – execution is more about, well, ensuring it gets executed, and that often means keeping it simple
If you’d like to be able to create great shopper marketing work, why not check out shopper marketing experts – a unique online learning environment dedicated to shopper marketing.