All About... Shopper marketing

In 1978, filmmaker George A Romero made the cult classic Dawn of the Dead, a comic gore-fest in which swarms of zombies descend on a shopping mall. The flesh-eating anti-heroes were meant to reflect the rise of mass consumerism that was infecting society.

Romero had a point, but 30 years on, it has become more obvious that the way consumers consume is not as straightforward as a mindless trudge into shops to grab the first brands they find. Consumers like to change their minds at the last minute, which is why marketers are looking at the potential of turning the retail environment into a media vehicle.

Indeed, Saatchi & Saatchi worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts has chosen to launch a sustainability unit focused on retail (Media, 10 August) and all around Asia, advertisers are making a bigger effort to influence consumers in ‘the last mile’.

1 Advertisers have started to recognise shopper marketing as a viable alternative to traditional advertising. Eric Wong, general manager of TBWA’s retail unit, Integer China, notes that start-ups with small marketing budgets will “allocate the resources to secure retail sales before developing above-the-line brand-building campaigns”.

While ATL helps to give consumers a predisposition to a brand, shopper marketing can sway the consumers’ mind in the shop, says Ross McFarlane, managing director, OgilvyAction Analytics.

“A salesman may show you other products that suit your needs. Or a retailer may allow you to try out the product to help you decide whether or not you like it. Shopper marketing can change a consumer’s predisposition or create one where none exists.”

2 The shopper may not be the target audience and brands need to understand the difference, says Mitch Webber, MD, OgilvyAction Thailand. He points out: “If a harried mother is shopping with her three young kids at Tesco and buying a bottle of whiskey for her husband, how smart is it to promote a golf weekend with every multi-purchase?”

3 The retail scene is changing in Asia and becoming more organised, observes Dan Saxby, Iris Singapore’s MD: “Consolidation of the retail real estate is happening all around us and mom-and-pop shops are losing out to a wave of organised retail.” Couple that with the growth of modern trade and retail in markets such as China, India, Thailand and Vietnam and the potential is enormous, reckons Webber.

4 But the lack of an industry measurement standard for shopper marketing effectiveness is hampering growth, notes Wong. “It’s difficult to track sales as retailers are reluctant to share customer information. Usually brands can only measure campaign success through the response to incentives or redemption rate — which rarely reflects the actual sales conversion rate of the campaign,” he explains.

5 Another problem is that marketers with pan-regional footprints need to spend a lot of time and money to understand a huge diversity of audiences. OgilvyAction’s pan-Asian ShopperAnalytics study shows that while 10 out of 10 Korean male shoppers choose their shampoo in-store, only 30 per cent of men in India do the same.

For a company like Nokia, which has more than 2,000 outlets in the region, such differences make the implementation of shopper marketing initiatives more difficult, says Julie Lee, retail programme manager, Nokia Asia-Pacific.

6 A lack of understanding and expertise in the segment in Asia also slows growth. McFarlane concurs: “I have a set of competency skills that I use to judge potential employees and I have never found someone with all the boxes checked.” While an FMCG background is not necessary, he concedes that the fast-moving nature of the industry is an advantage to grasping shopper marketing concepts.

7 The good news is that the mindset of retailers is changing. Integer’s Wong feels that many brands in China still consider shopper marketing to be the ugly stepsister of print advertising.

But Nokia’s Lee concludes: “For us, shopper marketing is crucial to understanding the consumers. Mobile phones are no longer just for talking and sending text messages.”

What it means for… 

Advertisers

Given that 50 per cent of shoppers decide what they’re going to buy in-store, advertisers can use shopper marketing to pin down precisely where to place the product and message.

Advertisers and retailers often have different agendas. Shopper marketing allows the two to work together to better understand types of shoppers. The results can be used to create a shopping experience that is tailored to shopping habits, which will increase the probability of sales.

Shopper marketing is arguably more suitable for FMCG advertisers, because effectiveness is easier to track. A cola drinker may switch brands quickly upon seeing an appealing point-of-sale message, but it will take a few years before a car owner changes his vehicle.

Agencies

Point-of-sale is no longer just about using sales promotions to attract attention. These days, consumers are more sophisticated and demanding, so agencies need to create more intelligent messaging to reach them at the retail level.

There’s a greater need for integration. Usually - but not always - POS executions that carry above-the-line themes work better. So above- and below-the-line agencies will have to work closer together. This means that creative agencies will have to ditch the not uncommon perception that point-of-sale is a down-and-dirty trade.