Shopper Marketing Trends – a guide to shopper trends and shopper marketing initiatives in UK food and grocery

Shopper marketing initiatives range quite considerably, from the format and location of displays in-store, product merchandising, packaging and POS, to promotion and even in-store sampling and live demonstrations.

But whilst they do vary quite considerably, they all share the same goal in common-to identify with shoppers, communicate benefits and ultimately to influence their behaviour at the point of purchase-to turn them from shoppers into buyers.

Shopper marketing is a strong growth industry, with some studies estimating that investment in shopper marketing is increasing faster than investment in advertising online.

Many recent studies also claim that a high proportion of purchase decisions are made in-store at the point of purchase. Whilst the percentages vary, it is clear that in an environment of heightened competition, diminishing brand loyalty and an increasingly fragmented media market that a focus on traditional TV and print marketing alone is no longer sufficient. FMCGs must look to better understand their consumers as shoppers to stay ahead of the competition.

Shopper marketing is in essence the use of shopper insights to develop marketing campaigns that seek to influence shopper behaviour at the point of purchase. By understanding what influences consumers in-store as shoppers, you can better attract their attention and improve your sales conversion at the point of purchase.

Shopper insights relate to behaviour along the path to purchase, typically in-store. They capture how people behave as shoppers as they search for these convenient solutions, value and differentiator's in-store. Consumer insights in contrast capture the relationship between consumer and brand.

To understand the shopper, one should consider their mindset and the purpose (mission) of their trip. Which channel are they likely to use for this trip? What kind of shopping behaviour (modality) are they likely to adopt in-store? Do they typically use a shopping list with a focused mindset, or are they more open to impulse purchases? Does this vary by category?

Different categories and products lend themselves to a different balance of marketing initiatives through the path to purchase. While some products are almost entirely defined by brands, consumer marketing and a pre-planned approach to purchase, others rely heavily upon shopper marketing in-store-where the number of alternatives and impulse nature of the product are the more important factors.

The consumer shopper model leads to a clear distinction between consumer and shopper insights. Shopper and consumer insights are two complementary ends of the same spectrum. Marketing, brand and insight managers should seek both shopper insights and consumer insights to complete the picture, with consumer and shopper marketing initiatives aligned.