Marketers have woken up to the fact that if they want their brands to jump off the supermarket shelves and into consumers’ shopping baskets they have to join up all of their marketing activities into one seamless whole.

 

A report published by Deloitte and the Grocery Manufacturers of America in 2008 says that manufacturers of consumer packaged goods plan to invest more heavily in shopper marketing strategies. While overall marketing budgets were growing at 2%, shopper marketing budgets were growing at 21% for manufacturers and 26% for retailers.

 

UK shoppers tend to be more loyal to brands and retailers but that may be changing - a report from Mintel shows that only 16% of consumers remained loyal to their usual clothes washing brands with the rest being tempted by lower prices and special offers.

 

The report states that although it has seen sales fall, Procter & Gamble remained in pole position with 47% of the market and, significantly, it is Procter & Gamble which most retail marketers say has been driving the introduction of Shopper Marketing to the UK.

 

So, what IS shopper marketing?

Amazingly, when you may have thought it was quite straightforward, industry definitions vary. Surely, there is a shopper, you market to them and therefore marketing to a shopper is shopper marketing.

 

Unfortunately, it isn’t that logical.

 

Most practitioners agree that the definition should encompass the in-store marketing (eg point-of-sale marketing materials) and brand-building promotions developed by both the manufacturer and the retailer.

 

There is an argument from others as to whether the scope of shopper marketing should also include out of store marketing (eg direct mail, radio and internet campaigns), trade promotions (eg BOGOFs) and product/packaging modifications. Responsibility for these activities would be split between the retailer (eg private label marketing, store banner promotions) and the manufacturer (eg product packaging innovation).

 

When attempting to define ‘shopper marketing’ we also need to understand that consumers (consumption of goods and services) are not the same as shoppers (consumers when they are in the buying mode).

 

There is overlap but it makes sense to gain an insight into why a shopper decides to buy your brand rather than someone else’s. The place where this happens is in the store, be it bricks or clicks.

 

Shopper marketing also assumes that consumers and shoppers are not always - or even often - the same. For instance, a shopper for pet food products is highly unlikely to be the consumer.

 

Probably the most succinct definition of Shopper Marketing comes from Deloitte^ “Despite industry debates and differing opinions, shopper marketing should be consistently defined from the shopper’s point-of-view. It should include all marketing stimuli, developed based on a deep understanding of shopper behaviour, designed to build brand equity, engage the shopper (i.e. a consumer in ‘shopping mode’), and lead him/her to make a purchase.”

 

In a nutshell, when consumers enter a store as ‘shoppers’, they do not suddenly become blank slates; they arrive with well-developed preferences for brands.*

 

Sources: ^Shopper Marketing: capturing a shopper’s mind, heart and wallet. Deloitte 2007/*Millward Brown