»  Shoppercentricity

How well do you know your shopper? How well do you know your competition? Have you ever used shopper insights to define your competition?

Traditionally, retailers and brands have viewed their competition as other category or cross category offerings. But if you define your competition from your shopper's perspective, your competition will be defined broadly and probably more accurately as those you fight with for share of a shopper's wallet. American Eagle, the teen clothing retailer, realized they were not just fighting with other teen clothing retailers for sales, they were increasingly fighting against technology gadgets for share of their target's wallet. 

Understanding this led them to create an interesting promotion that will run from July 21 to Aug. 3, during the critical back to school sales window. Shoppers who try on a new pair of jeans receive a card directing them online to select one of dozens of free phones (from brands such as BlackBerry, Motorola and HTC) as long as they sign up for a two-year contract (through a variety of carriers including AT&T, Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless).  They didn't stop there - the free phone is shipped along with a $25 American Eagle gift card, incenting their target to get back into their stores.

Great shopper marketing is built on great shopper insights. And great shopper insights can lead you to refining how you view the competitive landscape in order to provide relevant offers to your shoppers.