Shopper Marketing

At Sense we understand the intricacies of the discipline, exploring strategies, trends, and best practices to help businesses thrive in the dynamic retail landscape.

Our view

1. Shopper touchpoints and media have evolved significantly in recent years, and while cardboard is still a critical activation lever that delivers scale, modern shopper marketing encompasses many innovative, dynamic and  digital media touchpoints.
2. Whilst it is fair to say that compliance for in-store, retailed-owned media will rarely be 100%, you can take steps to mitigate for this and offset any issues by balancing in-store media with digital media where it is easier to support compliance.
3. With a shared objective of increasing ROS, shopper marketeers have adopted a collaborative approach to campaign planning; building a clear understanding of each target retailers’ agenda, ambitions and target audience to ensure the right activations are deployed in the right channel and customer.
4. Shopper media can be evaluated more robustly than most traditional media elements, in part due to its close proximity to the point of purchase.

Shopper marketing in the UK

Increasingly, FMCG brands in the UK are making their shopper marketing work harder by following  these principles:

1. More closely aligning ATL and shopper marketing
2. Analysing the barriers to purchase and providing triggers in communication that will convert
3. With cost of living still a driving restraint, value framing their product benefits
4. Recognising that shoppers engage with different mindsets across the path to purchase
5. Setting consistent objectives and evaluating results on a long-term basis

Factors driving changes in shopper marketing

Shopping habits

1. Up to 25 grocery shopping missions per month in multiple channels vs traditional big weekly shops
2. 1/3 of shoppers research FMCG products online before buying in store
3. More than ½ of shoppers do a part of their grocery shopping online

Brands must adapt in order to engage with shoppers wherever they are in shopping mode: at home, at work, commuting, in car parks and indeed in store.

Shifting retailer mindsets

1. Grocers are having to compete with the discounters for share, as well as online pure-plays and of course, Amazon.
2. Retailers are focusing even more on their corporate comms as they battle it out with competitors to demonstrate their USP.
3. Margins in FMCG are slim and the growth of online is putting pressure on profitability. This leads to an increasing focus on the bottom line.

Evolution of media capabilities

1. Where shopper marketers once had limited choice of channels, there is now a plethora to utilise when building effective shopper marketing campaigns.
2. Data capabilities are continuing to grow, with brands now able to utilise 1st and 3rd party data (audience, loyalty and location) to build enhanced targeting programmes.
3. Rather than relying on retailers to provide post campaign analysis, brands are now able to independently measure campaign performance to re-direct spend to high-performing channels.

For any help with your shopper marketing, be it path-to-purchase communications, key visual creation, category strategy or prize promotions, please email james.willoughby@senselondon.com.

Shopper marketing best practices