If you’re reading this, you’re probably already aware of the concept of shopper marketing. If not, it’s like Ronseal – it does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s about marketing to shoppers while they are in-store, in an attempt to change their purchase behaviour and invest in your brand.
Shopper marketing is a mainstay of most CPG marketing efforts–a proven process of increasing product sales. Sadly, your customers aren’t always in your store, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring shopper marketing to them.
This blog post explains how you can take the traditional concept of shopper marketing, to where it needs to be in 2016: omni-channel marketing.
Omni-channel marketing
Due to daily developments in technology and social media, shopper marketing is no longer just about freestanding inserts, end caps and point-of-purchase displays in-store. It’s also about mobile retail, social coupons, digital wal lets and big data.
Today’s shopper is an omnichannel creature, and the path to purchase runs across multiple channels. As a result, shopper marketing increasingly has an omnichannel slant.
This does not spell the end for bricks and mortar shopper marketing. Rather, with mobile devices becoming the shopper’s constant companion, it’s a matter of melding digital and in-store efforts into a seamless retail experience that engages shoppers at home, on the go and in-store.
Here are some tips to help:
1. Embrace mobile technology.
It’s time to do more than merely optimize your e-commerce site for mobile viewing.
It’s critical to expand beyond a mobile version of your website and think about ways to support mobile transactions as well as mobile functionality in stores, whether that means providing self-service options, creating a downloadable app, or arming staff with tablets in stores.
2. Employ product recommendations.
These involve relevant product bundles or cross-merchandising efforts. They can also include alternative products that are currently in promotion or relate to certain consumption occasions.
3. Make use of ads.
Online retailers can place ads featuring products at certain stages of each shopper’s online journey. These can be targeted on the shopper’s previous and current baskets. Another possibility is to embed deals or coupons in the display ads, so they become interactive and drive conversions.
4. Try online sampling.
By targeting shoppers, product samples can be sent to specific audiences when products are delivered. This way, a new and more intimate touchpoint is created in a moment when the shopper has fewer distractions.
Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. Contact us on 0207 5030442 or email us on info@hotcow.co.uk.
