The Secret Weapon in Shopper Marketing

What is Shopper Marketing? Is it something new or another new buzz word in the world of consumer products marketing? Brand marketers are scrambling to get their heads around it - it appears to be a new holy grail that everyone feels they must get into their marketing activities. The rewards? More effective marketing programmes in store by providing a better shopping experience for your brand in store, in order to increase brand affinity and purchase. Thereby better sales and Return on Investment. Unfortunately, the reality in store often is a far cry from the vision in the brand manager’s mind or the ideal conditions in which the brand is displayed in TV advertising.

Let’s first take a look at of the most basic but often ignore elements of the consumer and shopper marketing mix, from the days of Phillip Kotler, the guru of Marketing fundamentals - the simple humble packaging itself. Realization is dawning that this is one of the most important weapons in the quest for successful shopper marketing. Why? The reasons are simple….

1. Packaging is the most reliable brand ambassador in the fight for on shelf visibility.

2. Good packaging embodies the brand and created a point of difference it lives longest in the hands and the home of the consumer.

3. Sustainability and environmental impact.

To win in the store, good packaging designs have become integral to good shopper marketing. More than 60% of the shopping decision is made in the store (Source: SDMIS Study, OgilvyAction). This necessitates that the packaging has to work really hard in store to get instant recognition, standout and brand communication. Brands in the more developed markets have realized this and made big strides in improving packaging communications in store. For example, companies like P&G are mandating to agency partners – new ways of working in their “Store Back” initiative. Store back is an effectiveness initiative that requires that agencies take a holistic view of marketing programme development; start with the store in mind i.e. at the “first moment working back into the start of the consumer journey where awareness is created for the brand. This has also changed the way P&G designs product packaging, which is no longer another silo in the organization. It has now been brought into the fold of brand/shopper marketing – to make it “designed in for success” from the start, not as an afterthought.

The Test of In Store Standout and Communication

Question – is it being developed with the rigor that it should be, given its vital role in communicating to shoppers? Or is it still being designed to please the aesthetics of brand and marketing managers and not with the store in mind? Brand packaging if often designed often in isolation from the rest of the marketing mix or very often on the Brand Managers Desk! Does it look the same on shelf as it looks when parked next to its many competitors on a busy supermarket shelf? An example from a very large consumer products category we see in a lot of big and small stores in Asia. Packaged powder milk, an important & expensive purchase for Asian mothers with young children – usually bought about once in every four weeks. They usually go to a large supermarket or a hypermarket to buy powder milk. It’s a product purchase that is carefully considered – what could be more important to get right than your child’s nutrition? Manufacturer claims aplenty on product benefits if you buy their brand but very little to guide and help the poor shopper.

What you see in store is a sea of similar colours, shapes and shopper confusion. A classic example of Packaging that’s designed without the store or the shopper in mind. Watching shoppers buy here shows that mother actually read the packaging back and front. Does the packaging here create the clear communication the poor shopper needs and help them navigate the shelf to ease their purchase?

And shopping takes place in more traditional trade outlets too, visited several times a week by Asian shoppers. The challenge to get any standout or even be seen in such retail outlets is a challenge.

Brand Communication and Point of Difference

If the packaging design embodies the brand and its essence, we should be asking some good questions during the development. For example, other than the brand name does it communicate what we want it to? If it’s a new improved version but 20% more expensive, does it give the shopper enough reason to buy it instead because it’s got a new widget inside? Does it pass the 10second test? 10 seconds is about how long it takes many shoppers to grab and complete a purchase in store.

Good design is not just the branding and the label, but also the 3-D elements. Many packaging shapes present challenges to visibility in store. Campbell’s a brand of tinned soups, that’s been around for a 100 years in the US, recently put a special focus behind getting their soup packaging to work harder in store. Insight work with shoppers showed that it was a struggle in store to find preferred variants on the store shelf. After some thought and development time, Campbell’s designed a new retail shelving system - the new gravity fed “ IQ maximizer” along with a packaging redesign to give better shelf standout to cans of soup.

Not only was it loved by consumers/shoppers because it made it easier for shoppers to buy their preferred brand or variant. It was also popular with retailers as it enables better stock management, reduced out of stocks and was easy to replenish the shelves. For the Brand – Campbell’s Soup, it created a better consumer experience and more efficient operations with an increase in sales! Shows that good shopper marketing means staying in touch with consumer preferences and in store shopping behaviour.

They are constantly looking for ways to improve the shopping experience for their brand. Not only redesign for better “appetite appeal” but also recently, they redesigned some favourite variants linked into “charitable causes”. Every purchase makes a contribution to a charity – e.g. a breast cancer or Earth charity. Why? Campbell’s shopper research showed that their primary female/family shopper felt good about making a contribution to important causes that they cared about and putting it on the packaging brings these values right to the heart of the brand! This was more relevant and appealing to environment and health conscious shoppers leading to more purchases.

In the Home of the Consumer

Long after the shopping decision is made in store, the pack lives in the home and in use of the consumer. At this point more than the branding – in use characteristics become important. Any experience promised at the TV or in store has to live and deliver when the product is in-use. If it is bulky, difficult to store, not easy to dispense from or gets lost on the shelf in a mass of other products. Failure to deliver a promise in store can result in shoppers not coming back to buy the next time.

Retailers get it

As we are seeing in Asia now retailers like TESCO with their “Good, Better, Best” range of Retailer brand have used packaging very successfully to communicate to shoppers. Instead of TV or Press advertising their retailer brands to attract shoppers, smart retailers have invested an innovated in packaging. Thereby creating brand identities for private label and a point of difference vs. manufacture brands. Different strategies are used – either the communication of value/price discounts or even new premium ranges. Retailers Tesco have been successful in creating their “Finest” and other premium ranges using packaging to great effect and positioning their premium private label often at higher price points to the leading supplier brands.

Environment and Sustainability

Packaging has an environmental impact and consumers are increasingly aware – often making brand choices based on that criterion. Wasteful and unnecessary packaging is being rejected by consumers and will be more so in Asia in the future. Recyclability, Refills and bio degradable packaging materials are all becoming more conscious choices by Asian consumers and shoppers as is restricting the use of plastic bags. We will see these becoming important points of difference, which impact why a shopper chooses one brand over another – because of perceived environmental impacts.

The Asian Path to Success

In Asian markets, packaging design and development is relatively nascent. Though there is much focus & investment on developing advertising (on TV or other media), some on point of sale material – there is very little on packaging development. Often international brands have dominated the Asian FMCG shelves, thereby packaging is a ‘give’ and the packaging design industry has remained underdeveloped.

As we see here in Asia, the common pitfalls are many. However with increased awareness and recognition of the important role for product packaging in the shopper marketing mix we expect some important changes.

  • More brands testing packaging communication to shoppers rigorously before putting it out there.
  • Store standout/ communication tests needs to become regular practice and tough questions need to be asked during the packaging design and development process.
  • Packaging will not be designed in isolation, but instead integrated into the development of the consumer and shopper marketing mix along with formulation, pricing and promotions.
  • Packaging Design in Asia will experience rapid enhancements with Agencies ramping up capabilities as clients demand more.

The results? Happy shoppers and more returns on the bottom line for brands!