»  Shopper Insights

The supermarket business is a tough one and our client Bloom has been challenged like most grocers over the past few years. The economy spurred a flight to thrifty spending and that cost many mainstream stores a dip in sales. As the economy slowly recovers, Bloom is poised to unveil a fresh new look for its stores in the Norfolk, VA and DC markets. In addition to a larger product assortment to meet the needs of its shoppers, Bloom is also investing millions of dollars in new decor and wayfinding elements to enhance the shopping experience. We're proud to have employed our shopper marketing insights and played an integral role in the concept and design of these materials. The banner pictured above is just a taste of the work we've done for Bloom. This entry sign greets Guests as they enter the store to herald the new product assortment and attractive pricing.

Stay tuned for a full reveal of the Bloom Rebrand, and visit birdsong gregory's web site to learn more about our Shopper Marketing services.

In-store marketing has always been about understanding and engaging shoppers on their path to purchase. And yet technology continues to act as the change agent, bringing new levels of innovation to retail. It has forever evolved the traditional path to purchase. Given the changed retail reality we all face, I found this to be a fantastic article that challenges much of the commonly accepted philosophies on why shoppers make the decisions they do.

The article boldly states there is no longer a traditional path to purchase. Meaning there is no longer a linear purchase process - there are added dimensions and layers to how consumers get, interact with, and give information. And these interaction points can influence or change a shopper's approach to purchase. It is no longer about tracing a shopper along a path leading to a store for a purchase. As Mark Prichard, CMO of P&G says, you have to "follow the consumer. And the consumer is becoming more and more engaged in the digital world.” 

Shoppers are becoming increasingly channel- and commerce-agnostic. Said another way, they care more about the what than how they get their what. Given this, how are you evolving your approach to them? Here are three initial ideas and I would love to hear your thoughts as well.

1. Question your assumptions. Really seek to understand how these new retail realities are shifting your shopper's behavior. Not knowing or not being sure are no longer acceptable. 

2. Follow your shopper. Find, gather, and utilize shopper insights in new and different ways. Shoppers are not taking a traditional approach to the store. Your insights shouldn't either.    

3. Integrate your strategies. Social, mobile and shopper marketing should no longer be treated as divergent strategies. Shoppers use them seamlessly and marketers must start viewing them as different avenues by which you can communicate to the same target.

Ultimately, with an ability to purchase anywhere at anytime, a shopper's path no longer is a journey to a brick & mortar store. Each shopper can take many different paths at different places at different times. As shopper marketers, it is time to embrace the many paths to purchase.

It is pretty common to wonder about the future. Even more common to wonder when some of those futuristic visions will become a reality. My Dad just sent me this video, which I found to be pretty interesting. 



Here are my reflections based on watching this: 

1. Flexibility of the technology: Notice how flexible the technology looks, seamlessly surrounding them throughout their day. It allows interaction at different points in different ways. Regardless of what your industry is or what your widget does, flexibility is an essential part of designing with the end (consumer and usage) in mind. Are you making flexibility a key ingredient in your approach today?

2. Customizing the Experience: We consumers crave customization based on our unique needs. Businesses that create customized recommendations for consumers are gaining a loyal following - look at Amazon and Netflix as two personal examples. Are you building customized experiences for your audience?

3. Empowering Consumers: Especially the in-store segments, the shopper is able to review the product information, interact with the product options and deselect down to what she was most interested in trying on. This is not an example of technology for technology's sake (which a lot of these future videos tend to have), but rather technology for shopper's sake. Do you understand your target's purchase pattern enough to identify where gaps and opportunities exist that technology might be able to fill?

The future will be exciting. It always is. And yet the fundamentals applicable today will still apply in the future. You have to have a foundation of consumer and shopper insights in order to build anything relevant, especially in marketing. This allows you to start with the problem/issue/opportunity and then find the right solution (technology/product/service) to fill the need.

As far off as the future is (after all, does it ever really arrive?!), you should be futurizing your approach today. Sound daunting? Not sure where to start? You are in luck. We can help. Because at bg, we futurize. 

Back in the days of traditional advertising, before the days of social networking, the path-to-purchase was a clear and distinct road to follow:

awareness--> consideration--> preference--> purchase--> retention

Now that there are new realms to influence decision making, the brick and mortar, in-store marketing is taking a back seat to social media. So much can be done online, and every step of the purchase funnel now includes some aspect of online presence.

Shopper insights take the form of facebook posts, yelp reviews, product review websites.  More than ever brands are finding new ways to get their message out there in more targeted forums that hit the consumer from every angle, rather than just radio, TV, print or OOH. This can be a positive point of sale for a brand and a free boost in a brand's image (through Word of Mouth), but can also pose a potential risk if consumers have even just one bad experience. Brand's beware, shoppers have a strong influence and voice today.

I love this example of pushing the traditional definitions and executions of in-store marketing from Adidas. AdiVerse is a fully dimensionalized and interactive point of sale experience that creates an engaging and informational experience, all available at a shopper's fingertips. I especially love the way they integrated shopper insights into their approach, bringing external information (like how many goals their soccer shoe scored in the World Cup) into the information provided to shoppers.

The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.

This video provides some staggering context for how much Facebook is utilized. The implications for marketers are huge. We need to ensure our approach to getting and utilizing shopper insights take social and technological tools such as Facebook into consideration. Based on the way consumer continue to evolve how and where they spend their time and get their information, this is critical. From packaging design to POS design, utilizing relevant and current insights should be the critical bedrock of all your work.

Traditionally, in-store marketing has been targeted at female heads of household, as they have been the primary shopper for their families. However, as the traditional family shifts away from traditional marketing stereotypes, a significant shift is the more active role of men in family decision making.

A recent Ad Age article found that more than half of men now believe they control their family's shopping cart. While that number might be a bit exaggerated (industry numbers tend to be around 1/3 of men), the impact is nonetheless significant for marketers. 

This chart shows the variety of activities where men are getting, playing a more influential role than traditionally. Given this, have you shifted your approach to gaining and understanding shopper insights? How will you make sure you get a gender balanced perspective. How are you approaching packaging design and point of sale differently given these shifts? 

Shopper marketing is ultimately about creating a relevant connection and the most critical aspect of relevance is an understanding of your audience. As your audience shifts, so should your approach and understanding.  

In what may be the beginnning of a trend in marketing magazine subscriptions, Sports Illustrated has announced plans to eliminate the option of only subscribing to a print edition. Acccording to a post at AdAge.com, "The idea is to offer a universal price for access to the brand on any platform you like. That will please the kinds of subscribers who've complained in the last year about being asked to pay again for their magazines' app editions."

With so much communications going digital these days, how long will it be until we see then end of printed news? Keep an eye on this blog from Charlotte advertising and shopper marketing agency, birdsong gregory, for more insights.

When it comes to retail, your brand is built on everything the shopper experiences - from the products you offer to the cleanliness of your bathrooms. Given this, what does this floor plan of a typical Ikea say about their brand?

What's striking is that while the Ikea brand is all about giving customers the tools for organization, the design of the stores doesn't let shoppers make navigation decisions. Instead, the layout carefully creates an orchestrated customer pathway.

The Daily Mail article got Alan Penn, director of the Virtual Reality Centre for the Build Environment at University Collect London to comment, and he compares Ikea's strategy with retail parks designed to keep customers inside as long as possible. "In Ikea's case, you have to follow a set path past what is effectively their catalogue in physical form, with furniture placed in different settings which is meant to show you how adaptable it is."

Taking a shopper insights approach to retail has resulted in most retailers going towards an open, inviting environment. Ikea's stores seem like a step backwards, seemingly ignoring in-store marketing. Ikea's retail design is one way to ensure their shoppers see their full variety, but it makes me wonder if this strategy could hurt them in the long run. What other trips are they missing out on with their own, preordained, retailer-centric store layout?

What do you think? Is Ikea's strategy the right approach for their industry? Or is it a design desperately needing an updated, shopper marketing overhaul? 

In an age of over-designing the brands and products around us to help them stand out at retail, this is a refreshing look at the power of simplicity. While it is important to note this was an exploration in simplicity and not a packaging design conducted by Antrepo4, the implications are no less relevant to our everyday.

Shopper marketing is a discipline in distillation. When shopper insights are employed correctly, SM boils down a product, brand or offering to its most relevant essence. Packaging is one of the most powerful SM tools available, allowing differentiation on the shelf of competition. The next time you get started on a packaging assignment, instead of going down the well worn path of incrementalization and evolution, consider the implications of simplification.

Ask yourself: What would my brand look like stripped down? Does my brand look better naked? 

Interesting insights from PROMO Magazine on trends impacting Shopper Marketing and the world of consumer promotions in 2011 ...

1) Leveraging the power of social media to drive commerce Groupon is setting the bar and we're watching for how its success may fundamentally change distribution, effectiveness, and efficiency of promotional value offers to consumers. For example, Groupon recently launched “Grouponicus,” a holiday dedicated to “filling your loved ones’ gift buckets with experiences, not gift cards.” The daily deal shopping Web site also recently entered into a partnership with eBay to offer incentives to eBay loyalty members who participate in Groupon deals.

2) Integration of mobile (handheld) into shopper marketing programming As marketers and retailers look for new touch-points along the path-to-purchase we're seeing the use of more digital applications such as QR codes.  Interestingly, marketers are trying to get on the leading edge of the trend and capture the early influencers while driving greater awareness and usage for the majority vs. waiting for overall adoption rates to hit critical mass. Canon was one such brand, testing QR codes in September on its printers in a number of retail stores, including Best Buy.

3) Marginalization of "brand.com" promotional websites Virtually all clients are looking to platform their promotions on social networking sites (Facebook), sharing sites (You Tube) or partner with existing content/audience relevant sites (e.g. WebMD) vs. building their own stand alone sites.

4) Localization of promotion We're having a lot more discussions about driving promotion down to the local grass roots level. The Web is certainly enabling this but also indicative of a trend toward greater personalization/customization and a backlash against big high-profile events as the economy continues to teeter. We’re seeing this realized often in cause marketing and at retail.

5) Continued blurring of the line between content and promotion We're looking at, and our clients are asking for, more content integration opportunities across all platforms (TV, print, digital, social, gaming).  Marketers want the promotional message to be almost indistinguishable from the content because of the ability to deliver promotional messages in high-value brand environments. We're working on a host of videogame integration opportunities right now and traditional CPG marketers are seeing that as a new frontier to reach their audience.

Contact birdsong gregory to see how we can help your brand navigate 2011.
 

From a shopper's point of view, coffee can be as complicated as wine to shop. Both of these categories represent shopping adventures for the knowledgeable consumer and intimidation to most everyone else. Part of the challenge is that there are so many different variables and varieties to select from, making it a hard category for shoppers to navigate quickly.

Having spent part of my career doing shopper marketing for a premium coffee manufacturer, the new brand and packaging design from Seattle's Best caught my eye. One of the biggest challenges in the coffee aisle is the vast variety of offerings (brands, roasts, flavors, etc) do not enable quick selection for shoppers; unless a shopper knows exactly what they are looking for, the coffee aisle requires time.

In such a category, the vast majority of competitors take a very similar approach to categorizing their blends and flavors. With this new redesign, Seattle's Best took a completely different direction. Although I do not have the exact shopper insights from their research that led to this approach, it is obvious their focus was on simplifying down a complex set of decision points to enable easier deselection and selection. 

This is a great example of what shopper marketing should ultimately deliver for brands: insights that are actionable and lead to a relevant, shopper-centric approach to the the shelf and the store. 

Check out this refreshingly engaging spot from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners that's part of a larger campaign that includes TV, online, mobile, in-store, PR and social elements to promote HP's sPrint technology. I loved it the first time I saw it. When advertising can get your attention and is inspired from shopper insights, you've got a winner. We may not be Goodby, but birdsong gregory can help fuel growth for your brand. Learn more at www.birdsonggregory.com

Pepsi, Foursquare, and a grocery store called Vons (owned by Safeway) have teamed up to offer customized coupons to their shoppers. Instead of the standard frequency based rewards system used by foursquare, this program will offer rewards to you based on when and where you check in. If you check in early in the morning you might get an offer for a free pound of coffee. If you check in at the library a few times maybe you'll get a coupon for an energy drink to take with you the next time you go.

Technology continues to change the face of shopper marketing. Digital Shopper Marketing is not only a hot topic among agencies and their client partners but is opening up new ways to reach, connect and engage shoppers. Using shopper insights to ensure relevance, digital shopper marketing can extend a shopper's path to purchase, opening up new ways for brands to connect with shoppers. The power of this is that these connection happen in a unique and brand relevant way.

In recent years, brands have started using temporary pop up stores to create awareness and buzz of their product offerings. As the holiday season approaches, it is especially inevitable pop up stores will start appearing. Here is an interesting and innovative example from Airwalk: an invisible pop up store. How does it work? Using location based technology, shoppers can download the app and be at the designated locations in LA or NYC at the given date and time to snap up one of the only 300 pairs of shoes available.

Competitive.
Limited.
Exclusive.
All great ingredients to a powerful promotion.

But also powerful is the brand's ability to mobilize it's target audience to action. Think about it - the power of a brand to cause people to be at a specified place at a specified time. And with only 300 shoes being available, there is no doubt these shoes will be sell out quickly.

The implications of this are huge for retailers and manufactures. No longer do brands have to rely on traditional brick and mortar or even the temporary walls of a pop-up store to reach their audience, create buzz or drive sales. How will you leverage technology's ability to connect with your target in a way that reframes, recreates or re-energizes the path to purchase?

Salt. It is on every table in America. And what is amazing about salt is that it is such a critical ingredient in both sweet and savory dishes. Need your chocolate chip cookies to taste better? Add some salt. 

In the world of Retail Marketing, with retailer's shopping environments and manufacturer's products, agencies should play the role of salt. Retailers are experts on real estate development, supply chain and merchandising products – establishing stores and getting products from distribution centers to store shelves. Manufacturers are experts on R&D, manufacturing and brand development – creating working products and getting those products to retailers. 

Sounds like a functional and mutually dependent eco-system, right? It is important to note that both play roles that are fundamentally internal looking, building off of existing platforms, systems and scale. What a great agency should bring to the table is an external perspective. It should be able to push and pull, generate momentum as well as gravity. It should be the voice of the consumer, bringing shopper insights to life in a way that is both relevant and actionable. It should be the consumer advocate, helping retailers and manufacturers understand what shoppers want and need.     

An agency's biggest responsibility is to be neutral. It is also the biggest challenge. A shopper marketing agency worth its salt will approach your problems and projects from the shopper's perspective. That means there should be a good amount of healthy tension in and around the work as it finds the line between reaching the target and building the business.

Lack this tension and balance? You risk following the well worn brand path of incrementalism and irrelevance. So, is your agency worth their salt? Need some salt? Call bg, we might just be the saltiest agency around.

A few highlights from a recent Advertising Age article that debunks the myths about penetration of pop culture hot topics...

• If 10 million iPads ship this year, users will still represent less than 3% of the population.
• While sales of organic foods are rising, they only represents 3.7% of all food sales.
• While there are more than 100 million registered Twitter accounts, 40% of them have never sent a single tweet.

What does this mean to a North Carolina ad agency like birdsong gregory? It's easy to get caught up in the myths of popular culture. So be sure to look deep into the data and explore shopper insights to make sure marketing strategies are well founded.

 

As a recent transplant to the area, I have been on a fun journey exploring what Charlotte has to offer in the way of food (and so far, I have been pretty impressed). This weekend I finally made it to Pasta and Provisions, a place I had been hearing about for a while. The experience did not disappoint – they have more handmade fresh pasta offering available under one roof than I have seen anywhere.

But what stood out to me wasn't the approachable gourmet environment or great selection of all things Italian. It was the service. This is an environment where it is obvious the staff loves to work. And as a result, the shoppers enjoyed being in the store, resulting in satisfied, loyal customers.

After getting an overview of offerings and recommendations from the man behind the counter and narrowing down my selections, I made my decision to try their rosemary/garlic and arugula/black pepper fresh pastas cut into linguine.

Then, as I was checking out, it happened. Knowing I had recently moved from Chicago and it was my first time in their store, they gave me one of the pastas free for being a first time visitor as a way to welcome me to the area. In the world of retail marketing and shopper insights, this stuck out as such a powerfully simple move. And more, it was the first step in converting me from a visiting customer to a loyal shopper.

There is much we can learn from how smaller retailers approach their point of sale. Here are some quick take-aways:

1. Love what you sell. If you do this authentically, it will be an important part of your brand, as well as a way to differentiate yourself aside from the products you sell.
2. Empower your employees to satisfy customers. Ultimately the focus should be on sales and satisfaction. If you are focused purely on sales, this will be reflected in how your employees treat customers. Satisfaction sells and satisfied customers buy more.
3. Focus on the checkout. All of retail has to be focused on selling, but that shouldn't be at the expense of the last interaction your customers have with you. Checkout is the opportunity to start of the relationship and seed return trips. Ask yourself this question: are your customers leaving happy?
4. Loyalty is built one customer at a time. There is much talk about loyalty in shopper marketing, but the conversations tend to stay at the macro level. Ultimately loyalty is a micro conversation, requiring a focus on every customer and every transaction. Employ empathy as a strategy - walk in your customer's shoes and proactively look for ways to improve the experience. 

My experience at Pasta and Provisions was a reminder of how powerful a retail interaction can be. The great news is that if you get the above right, not only will you begin to build loyal customers, you will experience exponential growth thanks to satisfied customers spreading word to others.

After all, sometimes loyalty is as easy as giving away your noodles. 

One of the biggest potential game changers in retail is the ability for shoppers to access information at the point of sale in order to inform or influence their purchase decision. Any and all conceivable information, from reviews to competitive prices, is literally in the palm of their hands via smart phones.

An obvious risk retailers and brands face is a shopper comparing their offering and going elsewhere/buying something else. Retailers and brands are doing what they can to combat this by using shopper insights to understand the purchase process and then providing the needed information to shoppers. However, regardless of how much information is provided, the ultimate power is choice and that will always reside with shoppers. 

Aside from delivering information, technology is also playing the role of facilitator, facilitating the collision of two retail universes: brick (traditional retail stores) and click (online). Whereas it used to be an either/or world (ie shop online or shop in the stores), technology is now allowing shoppers to brick and click at the same time, in the same place.

A great example of this ability coming to life is Amazon's smartphone app. Aside from the predictable ability to shop their total store, they also included a smart tool called "Amazon Remembers." It allows you to take a picture of a product (regardless of where you are), will then scan its online store and then find the exact or similar product and send the results to you.

Shopper marketers, the future is in the palm of shopper's hands - today. Amazon's app points to a world where the combination of what and when will be the deciding factor, not the where. Retail is a world of constant evolution and the fight for the what and when will only intensify. However, with this collision of bricks and clicks, the winner will always be the shopper. 

The challenge with technology in shopper marketing is not the lack of innovative technology, but the lack of adoption of the technology with shoppers. As most of the technologies are new, it takes a while for the adoption curve to get past early fringe adopters.

Knowing this, I think it is significant to watch the growth of mobile barcode scanning. A new report from ScanLife, as demonstrated by the chart to the left, shows it is on a serious growth trajectory. Even though it has a small base upon which to grow, statistics like "there were more barcode scans performed in a single month starting in July 2010 than in all of 2009" point to an increase in shopper adoption of this technology. The article goes on to say barcode scanning is up 700% this year and 1D and 2D barcodes are scanned about equally, "showing people are less concerned with code format, and more interested in getting information quickly."

What is important to note with this trend is not just the adoption, but the fact that this is technology shoppers are using at the point of sale. This points to a larger trend of shoppers adopting and utilizing technology to help them make smarter decisions in stores and at shelves.  

This has many implications to retail marketing. Here are a couple quick take-aways:
1. Shoppers are using technology to make them smarter. How are you using technology to inform and influence decision at the point of sale?
2. Shopper insights must be based on actual understanding of behavior. If you don't know how your target audience is getting information or approaching purchase decisions, it is time to invest. Without a true understanding of your audience and their behaviors, your work will be ineffective or worse, it could be just plain irrelevant.