Category — White Papers

A path-to-purchase framework turns insights into opportunities. By Todd Engels. Recently, I was speaking with a senior marketer from a large packaged-goods company who was expressing frustration that, despite the company’s resources and significant investment in research, he was unable to get his hands on truly useful shopper insights to support his retail programming ideas.

That conversation reminded me of a verse from the poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by the English poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” Coleridge’s line (somewhere my college English Lit professor is smiling) perfectly captures one of the key challenges we face as shopper marketers … read>>

Are shoppers as enamored with technology as we are? By Sarah Chow and Diana Boynton. It’s undeniable: The use of technology among consumers is growing. It’s something we must recognize, respect and, most of all, pursue. But we have to ask ourselves: What happens when consumers turn into shoppers? Are we blinded by the bright and shiny, double- and triple-digit increases in consumer digital adoption?

Let’s take a step back and remember the big picture. While the spending on and execution of digital vehicles are growing, what is the actual penetration and growth of engagement among shoppers? Those numbers may not be quite as bright or nearly as shiny … read>>

Truly useful insights must capture consumer attitudes, behaviors and beliefs. By Beth Craig. It used to be that brands only had to think about the consumer. With the continued evolution of shopper marketing and the need to more closely link marketing outreach to purchase behavior, marketers now want to know all about the shopper.

As a result, the newest bright-and-shiny object has become insights. Everyone wants them — consumer insights, shopper insights, retailer insights. However, considerable misunderstanding lingers in marketer circles about what constitutes an insight and, equally important, how to apply them to ensure some sort of business solution: fending off a competitive challenge, meeting changing shopper tastes or some other need … read>>

Actions speak louder than word in the store aisle. By Beth Ann Kaminkow. When it comes to identifying the most potent shopper insights, could it be that we are drowning in data? Loyalty card data, purchase data, IRI data — as marketers, we are not lacking in analytics. But could it be that the “optics” are more important than the analytics — or at least equally important — when it comes to truly understanding how shoppers behave?

How shoppers actually behave is more revealing than what they say. It’s almost cliché to say that people often say one thing and do another. We know this to be true personally, whether we admit it to ourselves or not. It’s simply the nature of human behavior. You need to be a psychology expert to analyze all the theories of why … read>>

Consumer and shopper distinctions are messier than they used to be. By Fred Bidwell. Do you see that guy walking down the street with smartphone in hand? He may be texting a friend. Or he may be window-shopping for a new pair of shoes.

That meant brands and retailers got away with looking at consumers and shoppers as distinct entities to be dealt with separately, first by brand advertising and later through shopper marketing. Then life got messy … read>>

Technology is no substitute for shopper-focused collaboration. By Spencer L. Hapoienu. How often do you get an offer that is truly relevant to you? What percentage of the offers that you receive online or in the mail are actually of interest? Of the billions of dollars spent by manufacturers and retailers on marketing, it’s likely that less than five percent of the money spent is actually customer-specific and relevant.

With all of the technology and data horsepower available to track purchases, behavior, and lifestyles — which makes it so much easier than ever before to know which customers fall into which categories and to market to them with specific offers and creative messaging — retailer-manufacturer partnership marketing is still way down on the list of priorities and way down on the percent of dollars invested … read>>

The new shopper-marketing agency is ready to lead the way. By Ken Barnett. When Advertising Age took its latest look at “What the Media Agency of the Future Will Look Like,” 11 industry leaders shared their visions. Not surprisingly, none mention the words shopper, retailer or path-to-purchase. Instead we got visions such as the following:

This begs the question: Is it ethereal thinking like this that is best equipped to lead one’s business into the future, or is it the grasp of hard, everyday realities that will best service the needs of marketers whose challenge is to integrate brand with retailer objectives? … read>>