I’m cautiously optimistic about the potential of digital display in-store. I am, if you wish, a detractor as current execution has left me indifferent. Overall most are getting it wrong. I suspect that this is due to nominal retail experience and perhaps pundits who want to make a ‘quick score’, sacrificing retailer confidence and, with it, the true untapped potential of this medium.

Levi’s® Shopper Mannequin

It’s not often that I share or write about sublime shopper executions but this initiative blew me away. In fact, this is a first for me where the traditional mannequin becomes an interactive shopper information and engagement tool.

It hit all three moments of truth: at true shopper pace it caught my attention, stopped me in my tracks, and made me a convert. Further, this wasn’t just the repurposing of a consumer proposition or above-the-line campaign but a fine translation that had been crafted into true shopper speak for the retail environment.

The execution was a derivative of it’s ‘This is a pair of Levi’s’ campaign. With the tag ‘Made far better than necessary’, this created awareness and purchase intent. But I posit that it was the in-store execution that closed the sale.

This is due to the fact that one of the hardest working vehicles in the mix – the window and retail display – was probably the only succinct way to communicate over 24 improvements to its classical five pocket. What else could provide a visceral bond and tactile connection with the shopper?

Arguably this mannequin execution has had the longest shopper dwell time in recent retail history. While the

consumer message cornered positioning, the shopper communication focused on features that lead onto benefits, reinforcing the quality quantum.

This is a pair of Levi’s® campaign. Made far better than necessary.

Dressing the mannequin with apparel that had been turned inside out (something I haven’t seen before) innovations were highlighted with tickets (one colour print and safety pin) pinpointing all the innovations and benefits. I was transfixed and had to make sure that I uncovered all the new innovations.

Well done Levi’s, one of the few examples of pure shopper marketing execution in the high-end apparel space. Cost efficient and highly effective – the way most consummate shopper marketers have to do it. (If you pick this up on twitter, tweet me @jfrichol, I’m expecting a hamper. If not, a shout out is also okay.)

Keep Digging.

Jason Frichol (Frich)

These views and opinions are my own and not those of my employer or customers.

6 Parts

Retailers are leaving a lot of money on the table. Two separate studies that my previous teams were involved in show that if one could delight shoppers in this channel, most categories could enjoy 20% or more growth. The opportunities are massive, yet retailers follow the same rigid formulaic approach when it comes to liquor store layout, merchandising and shopper communication. This may be aesthetically pleasing and reduces shopper angst but this does little to enhance the overall shopper experience.

Retailers and liquor brands do a tremendous job before shoppers enter the store, whether its price promoting revered brands on circulars or maintaining awareness above-the-line. But again they’re promoting destination purchasing and probably targeting only two-thirds of the main behaviours that liquor shoppers’ exhibit. Sadly this approach is repeated in store.

Of the six liquor shopper behaviours I have been exposed to, two are centred on shoppers who are looking for a more enriching and interactive experience in store. These are typically the experimentalists. They’re either looking to be inspired and/or for better/new choices. If we also add the dynamic that these aren’t shopper segments, rather different behaviours that a shopper exhibits depending on the category they’re in, the opportunity becomes exponential.

A category in dire need of intervention is wine. It’s not enough to demarcate by varietal. Studies and experience also show that retailers are offering too much choice (see paradox of choice) and not enough shopper direction/information when it comes to this category. This leaves shoppers dazed, confused and overwhelmed; often exiting the category without a purchase.

Lastly, liquor retailers are neglecting the potential up-sell when it comes to different shopper missions and occasions. There is ripe opportunity to offer day and week-part shopper marketing solutions that can increase overall basket size. Consider habitual, escapism, unwinding, courtship, family occasions and socialisation. Intertwine these with shopper behaviours and there’s a plethora of opportunity. Especially in light of liquor going dark.

Liquor retailers are getting one thing right. For those quick in and out, destination purchases, shopping is easy. You can quickly navigate via good aisle demarcation and logical merchandising. But there’s more to do. Shoppers also want a more elevating shopping experience that is informative and more rewarding. So what can retailers do?

The first is to maybe consider what Herb Sorensen posited for grocer retail – creating two stores or purchase loops in one store. One for the destination shoppers and another for the browsing experimentalists.

The second is to re-engage with category captains and lieutenants who I know have invested hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of Rands in shopper research, category solutions and strategic shopper plans over the last five years with little execution success. Pilot some of these programmes in a few stores and if successful, roll-out nationally.

This takes weighted responsibility on both sides; doing what’s best for the category and not subjecting solutions to over-elaborate, vain and impractical executions.

If liquor is going dark, we can find the light from in-store. Arguably this will be the most important medium in the communications mix if government turns off the lights. And if not, who couldn’t do with additional double-digit growth?

Keep Digging.

Jason Frichol (Frich)

These views and opinions are my own and not those of my employer or customers.

One of the questions that I often field is why retailers in general are limiting creativity and opportunity when it comes to point of purchase (POP) display?  My nippy answer is that most brands take a myopic view when it comes to POP and this one-dimensional approach is the product of driving placement costs up and display opportunities down.

We all know that in most categories increased facings equals increased sales. Unfortunately this continues to be the major and often the only metric that justifies POP return on investment (ROI). It is an important measure, but in an industry where there’s incessant pressure is to do more with less, it’s critical that we make POP sweat even harder for both the brand and the retailer.

Previously when I led brands that were either category captains or lieutenants, the formula for success was pretty rudimentary. Secure promotional slots with the retailer, offer a discount over the period and garner as much off-location display place as possible. All one had to do was then vehemently drive display compliance and voila, you had a great spike in sales over the promotional period. In most cases the additional sales versus baseline and/or same period last year (SPLY) usually delivered double digit ROI. We painfully uncovered that this was a shallow indicator. The spike in value/volume didn’t necessary translate into baseline gains over the mid to long term (in most cases the baseline regressed or remained stagnant). What’s more, as soon as you went off promotion, your competitor would then activate and share points would seesaw without significant gains for the category. Fortunately there is a way to double ROI and win additional retailer mindshare. Mindshare that will be more receptive to innovation and creativity.

Here are some of the drivers that are making it more challenging and/or expensive when it comes to POP display:

• Retailers are no longer the purveyors of brands. They are the brand. Their mandate is now to decrease shopper angst, reduce clutter and deliver a consistent shopper experience.
• Private label takes prominence. As a brand, retailers have more interest to drive their own unique offerings (usually with higher margins) giving them preferential display locations.
• One size fits all. Many brands are creating the same POP displays for Retailer A, B and C. If I was a retailer and saw the exact same display stand in one of my competitors, I would question how important my business is to the brand and whether they understand my unique strategic category objectives and the shoppers I serve.
• Category consideration. Brands tend to take a singular view on POP in terms of what it will do for their sales and neglect the impact it will have on the category. Retailers are looking for the net effect on the category not just the seesaw gains and losses between competing brands which inevitably cancel each other out.
• Sharing. Although POP displays are often designed within specific retailer guidelines, often retailers only get to see what hits their floors when the promotion breaks. How often is retailer opinion sought on a scamp or prototype of the unit with a full rationale before execution? How often is the retailer sent a full post campaign analysis outlining what the unit did for the brand and the category complemented with further recommendations for the future?
• Always giving something away. Most executions are too focused on price and/or a competition element at the expense of changing purchasing behaviour for long-term gain (see previous blog – If you’re giving something away you have nothing to say?)

Although an arduous yet highly profitable journey, most of the above can be addressed if one looks at shopper behaviour. Shoppers are on autopilot and unconscious purchasing habits rule. POP display offers a great vehicle to influence shopper behaviour. It’s arguably one of the best mechanisms to break the brand/solution from out of the background. This requires weighted creativity, considered functionality in addition to optimal locations and adjacencies.

Combined with the short-term sales objectives, brands should give equal weighting to influencing shopper habits in the longer term. Do they want to create, maintain or break a shopper habit? Consummately answer one of these questions, skilfully customise the display accordingly (retailer and shopper), vigilantly execute and long-term gain and exponential ROI is inevitable.

Hopefully in the very near future we’ll migrate from POP to POB – Point of Behaviour Display.

Keep Digging.

Jason Frichol (Frich)

These views and opinions are my own and not those of my employer or customers.

If video killed the radio star then brand awareness and intent to purchase is likely to do the same to the marketing star. A few weeks ago I was once again exposed to another survey that rated the best, most loved and/or coolest brands. When I looked at the FMCG categories, many of the brands are having mute performances, and I couldn’t help but wonder what the CEO was thinking? “Well that’s all very well but can someone please show me how this is going deliver better results?”

The fact is that many of South Africa’s top FMCG brands are getting hit and getting hit hard. Gone are the days where superior market share and a hefty above-the-line budget where the key determinants for success. The proliferation of new entrants, private label, repertoire brand shopping and savvy shoppers coupled with shrinking margins have changed the game. This means we need to change what we measure and manage when it comes to determining FMCG brand value that will consummately resonate with the c-suite.

I’ve been exposed to many quantitative and qualitative results where consumers said that they loved our brands but their purchasing behaviour was contrary. Many said that they would purchase our brand on their next shopping mission yet they were so easily influenced at shelf to buy another.

Influenced by shopper marketing, the key determinants for FMCG brand value are the drivers behind the brand not the subjective perception of it:

1. Value and/or Volume growth vs. baseline or SPLY correlated with product profitability
2. Out of Stock/Availability & Forward Share
3. Trade spend vs. category and/or competitors
4. Innovation uptake

Value and/or Volume growth vs. baseline or SPLY correlated with product profitability

In today’s market, it’s rare that you can have both. Increased value without forsaking margin shows that you’re driving absolute growth and should be indexed against the category and competitors as one of the indicators of brand health. Increased volume can be a great indicator that shoppers are buying more as long as one is not cutting into profitability and targeting fickle switchers with no medium to long-term baseline growth.

Out of Stock/Availability & Forward Share

Unseen is unsold. The store delivers more impressions than any other media. Making sure that you “out-merchandise” your competitors is paramount and a lot more marketing focus and resource needs to be centred on this. Secondly maintaining or increasing forward share shows that you have a truly valued brand by the retailer. They don’t just easily relinquish your space to cheaper offerings or private labels.

Trade spend vs. category and/or competitors

Another key indicator, arguably the most important, is the cost of doing business with the retailers versus your competitors and the category. Too often category captains and lieutenants try to outspend instead of outsmart. The key determinant should be: “we spent better/less and got a greater result by surgically focussing on the right shopper, with the right offer, at the right time in the right banner.”

Innovation Uptake

Genuine innovation equals brand survival. By measuring the percentage of successful innovations and the amount of marketing investment required, one can easily determine the material value of a brand. A higher-percentage lower-investment requirement is a strong brand.

Brand efficacy is not about how big. It’s about how smart and the equity strength allowing you to do more with less.

Keep Digging.

Jason Frichol (Frich)

These views and opinions are my own and not those of my employer or customers.

I’ve slain Raidriar at the summit of Saydhi’s estate. I’ve led brave legions of aves that united against the green swine to rescue their young. I’ve checked in and reviewed some amazing epicurean finds and shared this with the world. I’ve navigated the Côte d’Azur like a local. Yet I couldn’t make a lucid call, have a long crisp conversation or take a picture.

Apple has been my unconscious choice. The lustrous design coupled with the intuitive interface and ubiquity of iTunes across multiple devices meant that I was habituated. This was until I got the iPhone4, which I’ve been using for just over 18 months. Although I loved the design, the browsing, the social networking, the gaming and access to some of the greatest apps, it just was not a phone.

Dropped calls, bad reception, a defunct proximity sensor (this meant that while talking, your ear touched the dial pad or put the phone on mute in mid conversation), not to mention the countless lost memories when it came to taking a quick snap or video. However good the rest of the iPhone4 was, unfortunately this was the first Apple device that continually engaged my conscious mind always asking what else is out there?

My partner was having the same challenges when it came to the proximity sensor on her Samsung Galaxy2s. What’s more, she didn’t find the android platform that intuitive either. So this is how quickly the path to purchase happened.

A quick discussion and we both agreed that with iPads all we needed now was a good working phone. She had heard about some good reviews on the Blackberry Bold 9900. We surfed the Internet and the reviews were sterling. We then started to surf the carrier’s websites for deals and I was also due for an upgrade with my current service provider. We hit the mall and went to various carrier retail shops to price, look at and handle the device (showrooming) as well as get opinions from the different sales associates. The sales associates warned us about the Bold’s very low battery life.

The net result had an impact on choice of phone as well as the network provider. With the choice of the Blackberry and it’s BIS we figured out that we could save on data costs, nearly 50% of the total monthly cellular bill. We also figured that it was cheaper in the medium to long-term to become network agnostic and buy the phone instead of financing it with a carrier. So then off we were again surfing local e-classifieds www.gumtree.co.za and www.bidorbuy.co.za to see what was on offer.

The net net result was that we got new phones at nearly 50% less than retail, probably going to save 50% on monthly cell bills and we’re not tied into a specific carrier.

From a Shopper Marketing perspective if we look at Integer’s Shopper Continuum® , digital had a very strong influence along the path to purchase. With Pre-Tail™, word of mouth influenced us to research online. Retail facilitated browsing, comparing, sampling and asking advice but couldn’t close the deal. Post-Tail™ came full circle turning myself into an advocate purporting word-of-mouth.

This is a case where the shopper won. And I suspect many more victories on the horizon, as the shopper is now fully in control. Retailers, service providers and brands, especially those in high cost and/or high consideration categories can expect more consideration drift if they don’t start to wholly embrace the path to purchase.

Keep Digging.

Jason Frichol (Frich)

These views and opinions are my own and not those of my employer or customers.

Show Me The Love Not The Money

Valentine’s Day Special Feature

When it comes to Valentine’s Day, retailers, brands and shopper marketers have lost their way. Although its origins might be dubious, for me Valentine’s Day is far more than just reigniting giddiness with your partners (it’s PC in SA to include polygamists as well) but also showing others that you appreciate and care for them.

I loved it when my daughter used to give me the original V-Card and when I was young, I used to celebrate with all my single mates too. Sadly, most are besieged with mass-marketed, red-hearted Valentine’s Day pressure with high-priced flowers, tasteless candy hearts and stuffed bears.

If it is the thought that counts then shopper marketing needs to do more for directionless male shoppers, frugal moms, dizzy kids, BFFs and the tumultuous tweens. Combining a few in and out limited editions at a discounted price on the gondola end doesn’t cut it.

In the US, the National Retail Federation estimated that shoppers would spend $126.03 on Valentine’s Day gifts in 2012, up 8.5% from 2011. Nearly 60% of the population planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day and also planned to spend US$3.5 billion on other family members besides their spouse/partner.

Pets were unfortunately excluded from the family member classification but not forgotten – US$0.52 billion was the estimated spend. This brings the total to a staggering US$17.6 billion.

Now that summer/Xmas planning is done and you’re finalising Back To School, here’s some inspirational ideas from overseas for Valentines Day:

How about celebrating the start of the Super 16 (maybe it’s 14 or 15? Can’t keep up) with Valentine’s Day? Check out Target’s SuperValenBowl…two big dates to love.

Beautiful navigable dedicated Valentine’s Day locations that reduce angst, increase shopper delight and drive additional sales.

Phenomenal campaigns that align Valentine’s with Go Red Heart Month. Love thered wine health association, retailer going for relevance and meaning and extending occasion beyond the typical.

Getting naughty has never been more convenient. Following our small blurb on thesexual health category in grocer, here are some great ideas to extend beyond theDate Night and redefine the joy of receiving at an aisle near you.

One stop quick/new solutions offer great respite from the clutter. Quick grabs for only 75c (show everyone you care), children’s books V-Day Section, something different from a SNAG, something to last through the winter and finally Whole Food’s curates love on Pinterest.

Remember…Mo Luv Mo Money…

I’ve read Neale Martin’s Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore and recently Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. I highly recommend the former. Both books have provided countless insights, ideas and new approaches to tackle, shape and modify shopper behavior. But perhaps the biggest validation is that shopper marketing should do a better job by segmenting shoppers by behavior and not by groups of people.

We have two minds, the executive and the habitual. The brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort and tries to optimise processing power by passing many decisions to the habitual mind. This is true for the shopper as well. Many of my customers and peers dispute this when we talk about repertoire brand shopping, the volume gain influence of discounting and the traction of private label, all which on the face of it, seem to engage the executive mind. My simple retort to this is that this is how we’ve trained shoppers to behave and we are continually rewarding the wrong behaviour.

A rudimentary example of the above was work that we did in a category where we were number three and at a much higher premium. The category captain and lieutenant, fierce competitors, alternated their new discount price every week trying to outdo each other, retailer by retailer. The promotional grid was simply mirrored activity paying for the volume peaks, but not necessarily sustained baseline value growth. We however tacked on some unique behaviors and occasions that delivered exponential growth year-on-year even though we were more that 250% more expensive per unit.

Then on the back of our success as the main driver delivering absolute margin category growth, a retailer lured us in with the promise of much higher volume allocations over a sustained period if we discounted the product significantly. At the time we thought this would recruit new users. The net result was we did get those volumes, but our value and volume long-term (baseline) eroded significantly.

Why? Simple, we were the unconscious choice for specific occasions where price didn’t play a role in the purchase decision. When we engaged the shopper’s executive mind with a 30-50% discount we inevitably trained the shopper to question our premium and mostly buy on promotion.

I’ve developed extensive guidelines and critical questions that Shopper Marketer’s need to ask themselves based on Neale Matrin’s mantra:

3 Types of Shopper Behaviour (behavior per category shopped on the same mission)

• Strong Brand Preference = Bonding
• Low Involvement = Inertia Driven
• Experimental = Variety Seeking

Shopper Marketing Needs to Facilitate Specific Behavioral Goals based on one of these:

• Habit Creation
• Habit Maintenance
• Habit Breaking

I’m of the school that I’d rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong. In most instances one does not have all the behavioural research required. So my recommendation for now is to straddle both and indicatively complement with usage and attitudinal studies. But, continually ask yourself: What are the behaviors and what habit do you want to create, maintain or break?

“True value of Habit will come from managers rethinking their approach to creating and maintaining relationships with their customers. By understanding how to design products, choose distribution channels, set prices, and craft messages for both the habitual as well as the executive minds, it is possible to create unconscious customer loyalty – the most important asset any company can own.”

Follow me on twitter or #shoppahabit where I will be sharing regular excerpts and ideas from the books.

Keep Digging.

Jason Frichol (Frich)
Cape Town, South Africa

These views and opinions are my own and not those of my employer or customers.

http://www.theredzone.co.za/our-big-story/134-shopping-up-a-storm-a-closer-look-at-brand-engagement%E2%80%99s-role-in-shopper-marketing

A survey of 2000 LSM 5+ female shoppers showed a particularly high engagement with retail and FMCG brands in Yellowwood’s Engager survey. Following the agency’s launch of the Engager brand in 2011, which is a research tool to help evaluate depth and drivers of engagement with brands, this year it has taken a deeper look at the impact of branding on shopper dynamics.

Shopper marketing is rapidly encroaching on traditional media budget, said Jenni Moore, Group Head of Business Development and Innovation at Yellowwood. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that point of purchase (POP) is no longer the only consideration – shopper marketing requires engagement along the full purchase journey, especially post-recession, when shopping behaviour has changed.

Insights gained from the survey include that the in-store experience is impacted by the online experience and the two need to be integrated; online shopping itself is growing and allows for a more empowered shopper; shopping is being driven by convenience, dictating the need to pre-engage in order to sway decisions before customers enter the store; and solutions-based shopping means shopping means time poor customers are more likely to fill their baskets with products and brands that meet their complete set of needs completely and effectively.

Emotional connection is also key, especially for highly engaged brands, although lower engaged brands rely more on POP as well as habitual loyalty to drive sales. In this vein, Jason Frichol, Managing Director at Integer, explained that to win consumer buy-in, you have to create a new habit. Habits emerge, he explained, because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save energy and effort. When it comes too shopping, all it takes is three purchases of one product in order for this to become the easy choice for the habitual brain, and the executive brain no longer needs to step in to make a conscious choice. On the other hand, brands wanting to break into the market need to make a significant impact in order to break old habits and create a new one – think Cinnabon’s choice not to be in the food court, but rather strategically placed elsewhere in the small to attract customers with its irresistible smell.

Just a few more things to consider when planning your next campaign…

OUR TAKE OUT:
Make your brand the habitual choice so they don’t even see other brand offerings

Shopper Marketing