Shopper Marketing is probably the most under-utilised and poorly invested area of many commercial organisations.
In truth we never understand why this is as it should be a fundamental part of both your insight production and an integral part of your decision making throughout your commercial routine
There are many reasons however why it gets overlooked;
- Research methodologies can be expensive
- Getting retailer permission to study their shoppers both on and off line can be problematic
- Internal Capability in research or trade marketing teams can be weak
- Because it intersects many parts of the commercial decision process it appears to have no natural place to sit within the organisation
- It can be seen as complex and most clients say they simply don’t know where to start
And yet there is significant evidence that companies that employ Shopper Marketing grow significantly more than their competitors that don’t, up to 50% more!
But there are other additional benefits and these can include creating greater strategic relationships with your customers, having a competitive advantage over your competitors, better understanding of new product launches, tighter targeting of your shopper/consumer and more effective spend.
How we can help?
We have researched across many markets, using leading edge methodologies, as well as running workshops across the globe with retailers and their suppliers. These range from broad macro projects on shopper basics right through to understanding category structures and packaging. Our workshops help us deliver enhanced Capability (see our services on capability and learning) and have theoretical and practical elements to allow participants to use the tools and discuss the implications on daily routines
However, whilst we can help with expertise in specific areas of Shopper Marketing we ideally like to start with understanding your existing Capability gaps. We do this to achieve a roadmap over the next say 3 or 4 years that allows you to prioritise each of the capabilities in an easy to digest way for your business (see below)
1.DISCOVER
Know the fundamentals
- Shopper marketing foundation workshop
- Development of internal understanding
- POS design and execution
Output – Small scale impact, as ad hoc programmes drive positive return
2. DEVELOP
Fix the fundamentals
- Category Visualisation – excellence in execution
- POS touchpoints understood
- Shopping Missions profiles for lead markets and acted upon
- Packaging fundamentals
Output- Growth in impact as scale progammes; also growth in costs
3. SCALE
Integrate into commercial process
- Evaluation development from marketing tests
- Brand and channel strategy shopper inputs
- Shopper led Growth drivers that are universal
- Behaviour changes understood and defined strategies built
Output- Significant margin improvements and new growth due to integration/ optimisation
4. BEST PRACTICE
Total activity alignment of Brand, Channel and Sales Teams
- Shopper marketing fully integrated into Trade and Brand Marketing
- Compelling Shopper-based messaging in all executions
- Gate process for Shopper Insights integration
- Deep Category and Brand barriers to purchase
- Full understanding of shopper drivers
- Thorough spend effectiveness through the shopper journey
Winning at the PoP through aligned customer, shopper and consumer engagement
INTEGRATION
In addition to this framework we analyse your commercial process and instead of using Shopper thinking just for execution, we integrate its outputs throughout your commercial process
So for example, Shopper thinking can help you identify business opportunities when you are considering how to grow but also help you identify channel opportunities by utilising shopping missions. It will affect your NPD in terms of packaging design as well as help you maximise how you execute in outlet or on-line.
This way of thinking secures shopper philosophy across your business and avoids it becoming a stand alone function that has little opportunity to affect major change and result in tactical short term activity
Get in Touch
We believe Shopper Marketing continues to be and is arguably now more important than ever to achieve growth and greater effectiveness with your Marketing and Sales budget. Let us unlock that opportunity and discuss how we can help.
The Capability Bridge