Shopper Marketing

Shopper marketing takes place in a store and aims to turn the person shopping in the store into a buyer of the product. In order words, shopper marketing aims to generate buying decisions at the store, next to the product. The consumer of the product and the shopper may be different people. For instance, a family mother may be 90% responsible for the entire family’s consumer goods purchases, whereas consumption may be evenly divided between four different family members.

From the retailers’ perspective, shopper marketing means that suppliers target their marketing investments at the retail outlets (stores) instead of traditional media investments. Another significant background factor in the arise of shopper marketing is a better understanding of customers and their buying behaviour, made possible by more advanced IT systems (for example, purchase data based on regular customer cards). Suppliers’ investments in shopper marketing grow annually [http://www.gmaonline.org/publications/docs/2007/shoppermarketing.pdf] ] 21%. For instance, Procter & Gamble, according to the company’s financial statements, invests at least 500 million dollars in shopper marketing each year [http://www.matthiasmoneyboard.com/documents/articles/Advertising%20Age%20-%20The%20Rise%20of%20Shopper%20Marketing.pdf] . The following research results, among others, have directed investments from consumer marketing to Shopper marketing:
* 70 % of brand selections are made at stores [http://www.gmaonline.org/publications/docs/2007/shoppermarketing.pdf]
* 68 % of buying decisions are unplanned [http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2006/08/29/nielsen_instore_ads_sway_68/]
* 5 % are loyal to the brand of one product group [http://www.ogilvyaction.com/Pages/ShopperMarketing.aspx]
* Practitioners believe that effective shopper marketing is increasingly important to achieve success in the marketplace [http://www.oxfordsm.com/OxfordSM_Shopper_Marketing.pdf]

The HUB Magazine [http://www.hubmagazine.com] , a shopper marketing publication, released a study of the top 10 Shopper Marketing focused Brands and Agencies. The top Brand is P&G [http://www.pg.com] and the top agency is MARS advertising [http://www.marsusa.com] .

Partial areas

Shopper marketing always has its starting point in the Shopper, that is, the person doing the shopping. Therefore, Shopper marketing refers to the marketing stimulus reaching the shopper, which is based on an understanding of the shopper’s buying behaviour. Like the traditional marketing mix, shopper marketing can be divided into four P's: product; price; place; and promotion.
* Product: size, shape, colour, material, packing, packing messages, and graphics.
* Price: discounts, bundled offers, price communication, and coupons.
* Place: store concept, lighting, shelves, and placing of special presentations.
* Promotion: packing promotions, store promotions, promotion communications, special presentations, in-store TV, floor stickers, as well as advertising on shopping carts and baskets

Buying behaviour data

Three different data collection methods provide information on the shopper’s buying behaviour: observation, interview, and the cash-register system. Observations made in the store clarify how the shopper behaves when buying a product. Issues to be noted consist of, for example: the length of the buying process, the items the shopper noticed, touched, studied, the items the shopper bought, as well as the purchase methods influencing the process. Interviews help to find out the motives guiding the buying behaviours. The matters commonly clarified are: replaceability of the product and identification of substitutes; values and attitudes; desires and motivational factors; as well as lifestyle and life situation. The cash register system provides information on when and what products were bought. In addition, regular customer cards make it possible to connect receipts on purchases made to specific shoppers, which generates absolute data on the items bought by a specific shopper at a specific time. The deepest understanding of a shopper’s buying behaviour is gained by combining the information gained from the above-mentioned data-collection ways, so that the result is in-depth shopper-specific data (how, why, what, and when).

Segmenting shoppers

When conducting shopper segmenting, the market is divided into essential and measurable groups, that is, segments on the basis of the buying behaviour data. Shopper segmenting makes it easier to answer the requirements of individual segments. For example, price-sensitive and traditional shoppers clearly differ from one another as far as their buying behaviour is concerned. Segmenting makes it possible to target marketing measures at the most profitable shoppers.

Examples of Shopper segmenting

* TESCO [http://www.coriolisresearch.com/pdfs/coriolis_tesco_study_in_excellence.pdf ]
: Finer Foods
: Healthy
: Convenience
: Price Sensitive
: Mainstream
: Traditional
: Social Shoppers

* WAL-MART [http://hubmagazine.com/archives/the_hub/2007/mar_apr/the_hub17_hoyt.pdf ]
: Brand Aspirationals
: Price Value Shoppers
: Trendy Quality Seekers
: Price Sensitive Affluents
: One Stop Shoppers
: Conscientious Objectors

* SAFEWAY [http://hubmagazine.com/archives/the_hub/2007/mar_apr/the_hub17_hoyt.pdf ]
: Value-Seeking
: Variety-Seeking
: Brand-Seeking
: Simplicity-Seeking
: Discovery-Seeking
: Quality-Seeking

References

1 GMA/Deloitte Consulting LLP 2007 Shopper Marketing Study Results:
http://www.gmaonline.org/publications/docs/2007/shoppermarketing.pdf
2 Advertising Age October 01, 2007: What's In Store: The Rise of Shopper Marketing:
http://www.matthiasmoneyboard.com/documents/articles/Advertising%20Age%20-%20The%20Rise%20of%20Shopper%20Marketing.pdf
3 GMA/Deloitte Consulting LLP 2007 Shopper Marketing Study Results:
http://www.gmaonline.org/publications/docs/2007/shoppermarketing.pdf
4 Nielsen Media Research:
http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2006/08/29/nielsen_instore_ads_sway_68/
5 POPAI Consumer Buying Habits Study:
http://www.ogilvyaction.com/Pages/ShopperMarketing.aspx accessed 7/2/07.
6 ECR Research: http://www.oxfordsm.com/research.php?shopperMarketing
7 TESCO: A CASE STUDY IN SUPERMARKET EXCELLENCE July 2004
http://www.coriolisresearch.com/pdfs/coriolis_tesco_study_in_excellence.pdf
8 Category Segmentation. Consumer segments TBA April ‘07. SOURCE: Hoyt & Company
http://hubmagazine.com/archives/the_hub/2007/mar_apr/the_hub17_hoyt.pdf
9 Category Segmentation. Consumer segments TBA April ‘07. SOURCE: Hoyt & Company
http://hubmagazine.com/archives/the_hub/2007/mar_apr/the_hub17_hoyt.pdf