7 Shopper Marketing Trends to Watch
Posted on Tue, Aug 30, 2011
Okay, maybe I included a CPG online shopping trend or two.
1. 76% of marketing executives in the retail and manufacturing sectors reported that more than 5% of their total marketing budgets were earmarked for shopper marketing initiatives. Those funds are coming from more traditional media programs including TV and print. Source: GFK Interscope
2. CPG is now a $12 billion business across a host of pure-play eCommerce players such as Amazon and Drugstore.com, and multichannel players such as Walmart.com and Target.com. Source: Etailing Solutions
3. eCommerce will rise from around 6% of total packaged-goods sales in 2009 to 10% by 2015 in the U.S., surpassing club stores and matching drugstores' share. Source: Nielsen Co.
4. 83% of CPG executives reported their companies plan to increase their investments in shopper marketing; 55% ranked it as their number one investment with plans to increase spending more than 5% per year. Source: Booz & Company
5. Conventional wisdom says that 70% of purchase decisions are made in the store aisle, but Campbell's Soup reports that food shoppers make 80% of their decisions prior to entering the supermarket. Source: Campbell's Soup via RetailWire
6. 44% of cooktop, range and oven buyers made their brand decisions prior to looking in-store - up 6% over last year. While less of an increase, dryer and refrigerator buyers saw 4% growth over last year. The study goes on to say that online research before purchase is yielding higher satisfaction rates with buyers. Source: J.D. Power and Associates
7. 25% of online shoppers bought a health and or beauty product over the past three months. 1 in 5 report shopping weekly online for such products.
- 20% say that they shop online for the coupons
- 79% say they would have bought the product if they had a free-shipping coupon
- 77% of health and beauty consumers state that they purchase different products online than in store
- 48% would purchase more online if they were able to return products to brick-and-mortar locations
Source: Compete's Shopper Intelligence Survey
The bottom line: The path to purchase continues to vary across product categories, but what remains constant is the distinct role for online and offline presence in the process. Impacting shoppers throughout the process is imperative to generating awareness, and driving sales. As such, the task of shopper marketing becomes infinitely more complex with the point of purchase seeming to be a moving target. The key is to proactively ensure your products are seen, wherever consumers are shopping.