Shopper Marketing Campaigns – Why the retailer says ‘no’

There is nothing more frustrating than when a retailer says ‘no’ to one of your wonderful shopper marketing campaigns. At our workshops, it is the most common source of frustration for clients and shopper marketing agencies. And that is understandable. So how can shopper marketers avoid this frustration and improve the chances of their brilliant shopper marketing campaigns getting the green light at retail?

Why retailers say no to your shopper marketing campaigns

While there are many potential reasons for a retailer to say no to your shopper marketing campaigns, there are two main reasons for a negative response.

The first is that the retailer sees little or no commercial value in supporting the campaign. While the client and the agency might be fully bought in to the great strategic fit for the brand, the retailer, quite simply, doesn’t care. The retailer is thinking about their strategy, and their commercial gains. So if you’re getting a bad response to your campaigns, first check the quality of your commercial proposition. Check out this post for more on how to structure a powerful commercial proposition for a retailer.

If you work for a shopper marketing agency and you want to improve your chances of success, work closely with your client team to ensure that there is a clear commercial story, and a strategic rationale which supports the retailer’s strategy, as well as the brand’s. And make sure that all the shopper insight that drove the creative idea in the first place is explained and justified. Don’t present pages of data, but use data sparingly to support the story. As we call it at engage, Shopperize your story!

The other reason why retailers say no to your shopper marketing campaigns

So far so good, but unfortunately strong commercials and retail strategic fit aren’t always enough to get a ‘yes’. For sure, the stronger the commercials, the more other objections you can overcome, but there is one set of objections which bring down shopper marketing campaigns more than anything else. If the retailers perceives that executing your shopper marketing campaign would be operationally difficult – there is a good chance you’ll get a ‘no’!

Shopper marketing campaigns can add massive complexity to an already complex environment

Unless you have worked in retail, it is maybe hard to understand the sheer complexity of the retail model. The average hypermarket stocks 50,000 or more products (some top 100,000), and employs hundreds of people. And that is just one store! The number of moving pieces is incredible. Each store is different. Each store has to function as a site: there are operations (lights, heating, air conditioning, escalators, bathrooms), inventories, deliveries, shoppers, checkouts, marketing messages. The list goes on. And all that in each and every store. So how do retailers manage to keep on top of all these things? Well, to be honest, they don’t always manage it. But they try to keep on top of it all by using one key principle. Keep it simple.

We’ve all heard the mantra of K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) For retailers this really is a way of being.

How to ensure your shopper marketing campaigns don’t cause operational problems

So, next time you are pitching a shopper marketing campaign, or next time your shopper marketing agency is pitching you, check the following:

• Is there any evidence that the retailer has done something similar to this in the past? If there is, do you know if it was successful? What was the feedback? Were there any issues? The fact that a retailer has run something similar before is a good sign, but it might have been a disaster, so its always worth checking!
• Does this break any known retailer policies when it comes to materials placement (just because a policy is broken, it doesn’t necessarily mean the retailer will say no, but it is definitely going to make it hard!
• List all of the key operational steps in executing the plan, and identify what the retail team will have to do that they don’t normally do. Are there changes to delivery processes? Merchandising processes? Do these all fit within one category, or one department (e.g. fresh, or chilled). The broader the impact, the harder it will be to sell your shopper marketing campaign.
• Identify the retailer stakeholders behind each of these operational steps, and work to understand their needs and KPIs.
• If necessary, build a separate selling story for each stakeholder. For example, the buyer may have a category growth KPI, so might be persuaded by that. The operations team may be measured on days inventory, so is there a positive spin on that? Seek to match the benefit to the stakeholder.
• Anticipate key objections, and work, in advance, to overcome them by either modifying the plan, or explaining why the short term operational pain is worth the gain.

And remember there are no guarantees of success. So, when you get a ‘no’ try to ask why, so that you can learn more about the objection, and plan to overcome it in the future. But before we get too negative, and play it safe, always remember that if the value is high enough, retailers have in the past been prepared to make massive changes to their operations. Remember the story of the in-store bakery!

Getting a win at retail requires your team to be able to see the world through two lenses – the shopper and the retailer. For details about our “Shopper and Retailer Lens” training program, get in touch now (and make it quick, we only run a few of these this year!)