What is Shopper Marketing?
The GMA says shopper marketing “is one of the most vastly expanding and promising areas of marketing spend for consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers and retailers.”
From a survey conducted by the Grocery Manufacturers Association, 73% of respondents expected their shopper-marketing budgets to increase over the next three years, while 24.9 percent expected them to stay the same. Only 1.7 percent expected a decrease. But what is shopper marketing and how did this new retail marketing term come about?
Despite the rise of consumer-oriented marketing research, consumer marketing is still a build-it-and-they-will-come proposition. In reality, the intensity of competition, choosiness of shoppers, and the demands of retailers to have the best performing packaging and display and maximized sales results, has forced manufacturers and brands to be better at point of sale. Shopper marketing is a new focus on decision making in-store and at the point of purchase.
Shopper Marketing Book
Shoppers Change Minds at the Point of Decision
Through experience and confusion, many marketers have found that consumers and shoppers are not necessarily the same. The new concept of shopper marketing has created another view of the consumer segment – that consumers behave differently when they are in the store with product in hand and facing being separated from their cash. That decision is activating parts of their brain that previously lay dormant as they created their shopping list from brand-fueled advertising.
Excellent packaging and POP displays are proving that shoppers can be influenced and their decisions and brand preferences altered.
| Shopper Marketing as defined by the Marketing Leadership Council: “In-store advertising, promotion and design initiatives that align with and extend supplier equity-building objectives while simultaneously creating a source of differentiation for participating retailers through tailored executions that address specific shopper need-states and activate purchase at the point-of-sale. ”Shopper marketing’s value is in how it is focused on gathering insights about consumers as they are in shopping mode and applying these insights to influence their purchase decisions.” |
Anyone who has faced jumping out of an airplane to skydive, or stepped onto a high speed rollercoaster, or thought about moving across country to a new city to live, all know that thinking about doing something is one thing, but going forward at the last second before the event is quite another. At that point in time, your mind begins to simplify the decision making process and the consequences become clearer and more compelling in the mind.
The concept of shopper marketing makes us focus more on the consumer’s decision making process from first ad impression all the way to post-purchase anxiety. It’s a welcome addition to the study of marketing.
If manufacturers/marketers collectively spend up to 10% of total sales on in-store marketing and if trade spend comprises 40% of total revenue, it makes sense for marketers to know as much as possible about shopper behaviour and decision making. Today, retailers and POP packaging companies are putting more effort into collecting retail sales data and creating actionable plans to improve point of purchase campaigns.
The GMA has an interesting and detailed look at Shopper Marketing. The study was conducted by Deloitte Consulting and strove to understand Shopper marketing, its current state, and where this market perspective is likely to take us.
2/3rds of Shoppers are Brand Switchers
Deloitte Consulting stated that 68% of consumers are brand switchers, only 5% are loyal to one brand, 73% shop in five or more channels, and only 26% are loyal to an average retailer. Given that most advertising and promotion today is predicated on brand loyalty, store preference, and reducing channel selection, it seems consumers are not conforming to modern marketing paradigms.
If this is the case, shopper marketing could well lead to revolutionary approaches to promotion and much more investment in POP advertising and merchandising display.
Are the right marketing messages being delivered to the right consumer, at the right time and place with an impact that generates consumption and loyalty? Shopper marketing then is attempting to create actionable insights to improve advertising, production, distribution, and sales performance. It represents a source of competitive advantage for any company involved in retail pop promotion.
Learn more about the 2012 POPAI Shopper Study. The 2012 study involving interviews of more than 2400 supermarket shoppers in 12 major supermarkets. The study found that 76% of shoppers made their purchase decision instore and often spent more than they had planned to spend in the store. On average, shoppers saw 50 POP displays and 60% of these displays were in secondary areas of the store. That was 47% more than previously found. Learn more interesting insights from the 2012 POPAI Shopper study’s findings.
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