Bringing It All Together for the Consumer — Shopper Solution Events
A new report from the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Booz & Company entitled, “Shopper Marketing 5.0: Creating Value with Shopper Solutions” provides interesting data and case studies around a growing sensation — shopper solution programs.
According to the report, "A shopper solution program is a series of scalable, customizable events that are built around an insight capable of delivering incremental value to the shopper that goes beyond the inherent benefits of a product or price promotions. Shopper solutions, which often feature two or more products that shoppers can purchase together, can simultaneously build brand engagement and drive action."
Increasingly, retailers and suppliers have to ask, “What drives a purchase?” No longer do consumers simply make out a list, visit a store and make a purchase. Thanks to social media consumers can, literally, engage with a brand 24/7. And they do. For that reason, retailers and suppliers have to engage with the consumer beyond the brick-and-mortar location — at home, at work, in the car or walking the aisles a consumer can utilize mobile technologies as brand touchpoints. With this brand-engagement evolution comes an evolution in the in-store shopping experience. Just as consumers engage with brands on multiple platforms, so must retailers and suppliers seek to engage with consumers beyond a category. No longer can we afford to think inside the “category box.” This is where shopper marketing comes in.
Shopper marketing thinks outside the aisle/category. Realizing that consumers rarely purchase one item — or even just those items on their shopping list — shopper solutions combine items that “make sense” together. This benefits the shopper who can take advantage of promotional pricing and appreciates the integrated information and convenience of the promotional setup. The retailer benefits from value-added differentiation. And the manufacturer can increase brand equity, sales and profit.
The key to successful shopper marketing events is lower prices, convenience, bundled products, and aspirational, creative ideas for product use that benefit the consumer. Need a little inspiration? Think along these lines — promotions that are centered around:
- An activity — movie night, holiday get together, outdoor barbecue
- Complementary products — preparing for and taking care of yourself during flu season
- Lifestyle/causes — losing weight, saving the environment
Then ask, how do you appeal to the consumer’s desire to save time and money? By cross-promoting products from varied categories aligned around an event, interest or concern of the consumer. Market research data (Nielsen, IRI) can be very useful in helping you determine how shoppers are shopping — what items they tend to purchase together. Guest relation management data from credit cards and loyalty cards are also excellent resources because they provide basket analysis. In other words, if your data shows that people tend to buy razors when they buy shaving gel — then you need not offer a promotional price. But do consumers necessarily purchase new grilling tools when they stop in for charcoal? Probably not. They’re making a last-minute “I’ve got steaks marinating and I’ve run out of charcoal” purchase. So a promotional price that grabs their attention may be in order.
The above mentioned report offers a few great examples. For example, with the onset of flu season the retailer and suppliers partnered to drive traffic to the instore pharmacy, specific foods and disinfectant aisles. They simultaneously promoted in-store flu shots, soaps, tissues, lip balms, cleaning products, water filters, soups, and healthy cereals. “Everything” you might need to boost your immune system or make you feel better when you’re under the weather.
Other examples that bring together multiple categories/brands/items from different areas are:
- Backyard BBQ promotion – bring together lighter fluid, a grill, charcoal, condiments, grilling tools, outdoor lanterns and a game of horseshoes
- Holiday prep — provide easy-to-make recipes, apples, vanilla ice cream, pie crust, spices, coffee, pie pan, spatulas, measuring cups, a pie tin, mugs and serving plates
- Get healthy — workout DVDs, yoga mats and pants, vitamins, healthy snacks and water bottles
You can also promote a new item group or a new SKU with existing items in the assortment. For example, if your new shampoo is ‘color protecting’ or provides ‘extra shine,’ promote it with your existing best seller to encourage consumers to try something new.
So how do you determine what items to put together in an event? Review POS and basket data to:
- Analyze items that sell well together.
- Determine optimal sellers to group with new items – this will drive attention to newer items and drive sales.
- Determine optimal price points – what is the everyday price, what is promotional price and what would work best for this event?
- Find items with similar attributes from different categories – for example, find ‘environmentally friendly’ items, one brand of items, or one theme (like a sports team) to group together in an event
When all is said and done, examine POS data to analyze their performance and tweak your next shopper event. Create custom item groups to see how the items performed together and be sure to compare the performance against previous events and in variable time frames.
