If you ask any brand marketer or retailer they will tell you that catching the attention of today’s shopper is no easy task. With so many channels of communication throughout the path to purchase how can marketers and retailers be sure that they are effectively reaching the shopper? A new study out by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and Booz & Company aims to answer this question and many more.

With shopper marketing continuing to be one of the fastest-growing segments in the advertising and marketing mix it is crucial that the right mediums are selected in engaging shoppers. The rapid growth of shopper marketing has been fueled by the need to shift spending further down the purchase funnel, getting beyond price, and injecting more equity into in-store marketing, and develop greater retail intimacy. Shopper marketing is expanding rapidly across the full path to purchase, supported by a proliferation of new vehicles that engage consumers when they are in shopping mode at home, on the go, and in the store.

Last year, the 2009 GMA–Booz & Company Shopper Marketing 3.0 study found shopper marketing growing rapidly, but at a crossroads. Many manufacturers had not yet aligned their shopper marketing initiatives with their other advertising and marketing capabilities, and measurement was a crucial missing link. The result was disconnected messages, wasted spending, and missed opportunities to drive purchase of individual brands and grow categories.

The 2010 GMA–Booz & Company Shopper Marketing 4.0 study finds shopper marketing continuing to gain strength and momentum. But complexity and uncertainty around what is most effective persist. Now, companies are seeking to impose more order and rigor on their shopper marketing initiatives and optimize their spending.

Key findings from the study include:

• Rapid growth in shopper marketing. Over 55 percent of manufacturers in the food, beverage, health and beauty, and household products categories surveyed said their investment in shopper marketing will grow by more than 5 percent annually over the next three years. In many cases they are planning to rapidly scale up spending on platforms that are closer to the point of purchase to create direct relationships with shoppers and drive more measurable results.
• Today’s shopper is a digital deal hunter. As shoppers conduct more online research before shopping trips, their deal hunting is migrating from clipping coupons and browsing the Sunday circular to digital media. Overall, 62 percent of shoppers engage in at least one digital deal activity for half or more of their shopping trips. Early adopters—the 29 percent of all shoppers who actively use social media and own or plan to buy a smartphone—engage in even higher levels of digital deal hunting.
• Collaboration is the key to success. In the quest to engage consumers along the entire path to purchase, shopper marketers are using an expanded set of digital vehicles, such as search, social media, thematic content on manufacturers’ and retailers’ websites, and mobile apps. This is reinforcing the need for more effective collaboration between sales and marketing, as well as the need to build greater intimacy with retailers’ marketing teams.
• Sharp proliferation in vehicles to choose from. The study identifies and evaluates 49 individual vehicles, which are classified in a platform-based taxonomy. The seven platforms, ranked in order from highest to lowest adoption by manufacturers, include displays and in-store advertising, deals, relationship marketing, social media, search, thematic content, and apps. Adoption levels of individual vehicles within these platforms vary widely. Traditional vehicles, such as on-shelf display advertising and freestanding inserts (FSIs), have the highest levels. Digital vehicles, such as direct-to-card coupons and mobile apps have lower, but increasing, levels.
• Traditional POP and marketing at retail vehicles are still the most effective. In-store displays, ads, promotions, and product packaging—the “bread and butter” of shopper marketers—continue to be viewed as the most effective means of reinforcing targeted equity messages and influencing purchase. In addition, shopper marketers are experimenting with a broad set of deal-related vehicles that provide greater targeting than traditional coupons and circulars and offer new opportunities to collaborate with specific retailers.

To view the complete study visit POPAI’s Online Research Library.