In its first experiential tour, Ghirardelli activated a sampling campaign that positioned its chocolate squares as a delicious centerpiece to an American campfire classic: the s’more. In a piece from Event Marketer, read how the brand’s flexible footprint, designed like a backyard, charmed consumers across the country while capturing valuable shopper marketing data.

The post Ghirardelli Turns Classic S’mores Up a Notch in its First Experiential Sampling Tour appeared first on Chief Marketer.

A global pandemic has turned consumers’ attention toward the value of a robust, healthy immune system. And as a result, ingesting foods that support that health—like probiotics—has become increasingly important for many.

“Because of the pandemic, almost 30 percent of consumers are consuming more functional foods and beverages—and the probiotics category has benefited a lot from that tailwind,” says Kallie Goodwin, Vice President of Family & Wellness Brands at Danone NA. So when it came time to launch its new probiotic-packed product, Activia+, the brand leaned into immunity as a hook.

We spoke with Goodwin about marketing its latest product launch, and how it partnered with retailer shopper marketing programs, tapped influencers to court a younger demographic and leveraged scientific research to support its health claims.

Chief Marketer: What are Activia’s overall marketing strategy and communication objectives? And how do they connect to the new Activia+ campaign?

Kallie Goodwin, Vice President of Family & Wellness Brands at Danone NA: As we’re talking to our consumers, we know how important your gut is to your overall health and wellness. And we know that a lot of the body’s systems are connected to the gut. Our original A to Z, “Your gut is where it all begins” campaign, is anchored in that insight. It helps educate primarily our female target that how you feel on the inside impacts how you feel on the outside, “from active to zealous.” It empowers you to be your best self.

So when we developed and were looking at launching our Activia+ Multi-Benefit Probiotic product, which offers both the probiotic benefit from Activia through our superior probiotic strains as well as an immunity benefit delivered through vitamin C, D and zinc, we wanted to continue that communication strategy with the A+ Feels ad, using the same kind of creative tone and style—the sing-songy, highly-visual approach.

We know immunity is top of mind for consumers right now, obviously, with the pandemic. A lot of consumers are looking for immunity benefit in their foods, and 44 percent of consumers are interested in yogurt to help support their immune system. We wanted to launch it in a really big way, and we knew that leveraging our existing creative idea, which they’ve seen for the last 18 months, would help instantly communicate to consumers.

CM: Besides TV advertising, what channels have you used to market the new product?

KG: We looked at a variety of channels, but are focused on video, in television and online, to drive awareness so that people know about the product and to drive them to the shelf. But it’s not just television. We also have a robust conversion program driving trial and conversion at shelf with coupons, both digital and print, and in-store promotion tactics.

CM: What shopper marketing tactics are you using? How are you cutting through the clutter?

KG: It’s a two-pronged approach. The first is working specifically with every customer team to marry our trade program. So, promoting and getting the right feature and display on the product. At the same time, it’s integrating into that retailer’s shopper programming. Whether it’s Publix or Kroger, each has their own mechanics and rich shopper data for them to reach their customers, and so it’s about leveraging those programs to make sure we’re reaching the Kroger shopper the way they’re used to being reached, through their loyalty card, ads targeted specifically to them through the Kroger retail media group, etc. We have a robust program specific to each customer. That’s one tactic.

For the second, we layer on national consumer promotion tactics by working with a partner like Quotient, where we’re delivering digital coupons through a coupons.com-type platform that also can connect into specific retailers, but more at a national level. We’re trying to give consumers a reason to try us through a discount in the way in which they’re used to receiving those discounts.

CM: What are the consumer insights that this campaign is based on?

KG: We’ve seen that—because of the pandemic—almost 30 percent of consumers are consuming more functional foods and beverages and the probiotics category has benefited a lot from that tailwind. Activia, however, has been outpacing the probiotic category because of our superiority as the number one probiotic and the number one recommended probiotic by doctors. So when thinking about how to expand Activia as a brand anchored in the gut health space, immunity was just a natural place to go next. Seventy percent of your immune system actually lives in your gut. And as I mentioned before, we know that consumers are looking for foods to help support their immune system.

How do we go about doing it? The consumer we’re trying to reach, this healthy go-getter who is a younger millennial consumer, is looking for multiple benefits in their products. So rather than just a standalone immunity benefit, we wanted to bundle it with our existing Activia probiotic and then use vitamins and minerals to help deliver that immune system support.

Then there are other trends that we’re also aware of and incorporating into this, which is additional scrutiny on sugar. Sugar has replaced fat as the biggest dietary demon and a lot of consumers, particularly this younger millennial, are really mindful about sugar. Each bottle of Activia+ only has nine grams of sugar and 70 calories. So all in, when you combine the functional benefits of the product with this delicious, convenient format, it makes it a winner in our book.

CM: How are you appealing specifically to younger generations through your marketing tactics?

KG: In two ways: in tone and personality and in look and feel. We don’t want to be—and we’re not anymore—the old Activia for your mom. We know that a lot of that is just how we show up. Are we showing up in a modern, vibrant way? And that is the beauty of the A to Z campaign. It shows a variety of different women, a variety of different body styles, all living their best lives in an active way that has this very youthful energy.

The second way is in diversifying our media mix and leveraging influencers to help us tell our story to a younger audience. In 2021, we partnered with Iskra Lawrence, an outspoken influencer, model and younger, new mom. That’s going to continue to be part of our strategy moving forward. Are we partnering with the right influencers that are helping us show up to those younger demographics?

CM: What are the biggest challenges for marketers looking to cut through the clutter in the wellness space today?

KG: There are two that keep me up at night. One you’ve already highlighted: cutting through the clutter. There are so many different options in health and wellness. There’s constantly new brands coming to market with different benefits—some of them more backed in science than others, if I’m being honest. In that case, we rely on the superiority of Activia and the fact that we are the number one doctor-recommended probiotic to help us in that superiority effort. But still, it’s a very busy media landscape. We spend a lot of money on Activia as a percentage of our total yogurt marketing budget because we want to make sure that we’re cutting through that clutter with a really clear message.

The second one is more specific to a brand like Activia in the health and wellness space. You have to make sure that you have the science and are constantly reminding consumers of that superiority, but it has to be in a way that’s very subtle so that we’re not seen as medicinal. [We want to be] seen as a proactive part of people’s health and wellness and not a reactive one—like, “I take this when I don’t feel good” kind of thing. So as we’re on our journey to modernize and be our target’s ally in a proactive health and wellness way, we have to walk that line.

The post Danone NA VP Talks Activia+ Product Launch Within the Wellness Space appeared first on Chief Marketer.

At its annual advertiser summit this week, Pinterest announced plans to roll out new ecommerce tools for brands with the end goal of transforming the platform into a personalized shopping destination. Here’s what marketers need to know about the new features, according to coverage in AdExchanger, which include a tool that identifies trends, access to Pinterest’s first-party data, monetization of its Idea Pins, and more.

The post Pinterest Unveils New Ecommerce Tools for Brands appeared first on Chief Marketer.

A recent survey of shoppers based in the U.S., UK, Germany and France conducted by Salsify indicates the importance of environmental factors when making purchasing decisions. Here are some of the survey’s key findings, according to coverage in Multichannel Merchant, including how a growing number of retailers are committing to sustainability policies and featuring them prominently in their ecommerce sites and marketing materials.

The post Salsify Survey: Sustainability Policies a Key Purchase Driver for Consumers appeared first on Chief Marketer.

New developments occurred in the social commerce space this week. On Oct. 6, Pinterest announced it has added several features to make shopping on the platform easier, including a new way to create shoppable videos, opportunities for creators to tag brands they want to collaborate with and the ability to promote a brand’s values, such as adding labels like “women-owned” or “eco-friendly business,” according to reporting from AdExchanger.

For shoppable video, merchants can pull in many products from their catalog feed automatically through a tool called Slideshow for Collections. Creators can tag a brand or products and promote an ad through an Idea Ads with Paid Partnership feature. And sellers can become Verified Merchants to showcase their affiliations.

The differentiator Pinterest is going for relates to its focus on discovery and capturing intent as opposed to facilitating transactions. It hopes to a play a role in “bridging upper-funnel discovery and bottom-of-the-funnel purchases.” By emphasizing shopping rather than merely buying, the platform aims to create more of an experience. For more details on Pinterest’s new features, read on in AdExchanger.

The post Pinterest Launches New Social Commerce Features Facilitating Shoppable Video appeared first on Chief Marketer.

A company that’s taken advantage of social commerce and experienced impressive results is fashion brand Rothy’s, which tapped Shopify’s partnership with Pinterest to sell its products. A major plus: Shoppable pins on Pinterest connect to Rothy’s inventory on Shopify automatically, which means that when a product goes out of stock in Shopify, consumers will no longer see the ads for that product on Pinterest. And it’s helped Rothy’s scale its digital advertising efficiently, according to a piece in AdExchanger.

Using the Pinterest Shopify app, Rothy’s and other brands can upload product catalogues to Pinterest and allow consumers to shop “Product Pins.” Brands can also now retarget users that have shown interest in their products. For more detail on how brands are using Shopify and Pinterest to sell inventory, read on in AdExchanger.

The post How Rothy’s Used Shopify and Pinterest to Scale Digital Advertising appeared first on Chief Marketer.

The brand has used livestreaming commerce, an updated version of a direct selling television channel, to supplement the decrease in sales that occurred from store closures due to the pandemic. The result is a personalized, interactive experience that’s educational and entertaining for shoppers, according to Estée Lauder executives. Customers are able to interact with moderators through chat and add items to carts in real time. The brand saw double-digit growth in livestreaming sales of makeup and skincare products and plans to expand the channel with fragrances and hair care.

Similar to other beauty brands, Estée Lauder is also using augmented reality and gamification to engage consumers virtually. For more detail on the brand’s success with livestreaming commerce, read on in Multichannel Merchant.

The post Estée Lauder Enhances Shopping Experience With Livestreaming, New Tech appeared first on Chief Marketer.

One such brand is L’Oréal, whose ecommerce business now represents 25 percent of company revenues—up from just two percent in 2014. We spoke with Chief Digital Officer Lubomira Rochet about the strategy behind the company’s recent investment in social selling platform Replika Software, how the shopping experience in the beauty industry is reinventing itself and what digital shopping trends marketers should be keeping an eye on in the coming year.

Chief Marketer: Tell me about the decision to invest in Replika Software. What’s the strategy behind it?

Lubomira Rochet: It’s not our first. The big move was to acquire a company called Modiface two years ago. Modiface is an augmented reality and artificial intelligence beauty company. For us, it’s about building an ecosystem of digital and tech innovation to make sure that we are connected to the best entrepreneurs out there and that we can use those capabilities to accelerate our digital transformation. Modiface was about augmented reality. Replika is an investment. And Replika is all about social commerce. We see that as a very big trend and we want to scale it for our brands in all our countries.

CM: Do you use the platform right now? Will there be a rollout to various brands?

LR: We do use the platform. It’s used in Europe for now, for brands like Lancome and our professional brands, so L’Oréal Professionnel or Kerastase… It’s an interesting platform for us to accelerate and scale social commerce. We have plans to accelerate the deployment of Replika with our brands and to more countries. It will take place next year. And we are very ambitious about it.

CM: How is this particular platform different from the other ecommerce platforms you use?

LR: It’s completely different. It’s about social commerce, so think of stylists or hairdressers, think of influencers, think beauty advisors… It’s about empowering that ecosystem of people already working with, loving and knowing our brands to become even more powerful advocates and social sellers of those brands online on platforms like Instagram or Facebook or WhatsApp. We see more and more of those platforms embracing commerce as a next step in their journey. It’s empowering them to have the right content for our brands, the right assets to put on live-streaming, on Instagram, so that they can become the best sellers of our brands online.

CM: Ecommerce currently represents 25 percent of L’Oréal revenues. What do you want that number to get to? What is your goal?

LR: We came from two percent in 2014, so in less than seven years we moved from two to 25 percent. The idea is not to have a goal, but to be consumer-centric, and particularly follow consumers where they are. Of course, COVID has accelerated this. More and more, consumers are enjoying the online shopping experience, because it’s more convenient, you have more choice, you have great services and you have great content. The online shopping experience is reinventing itself. And it has brought new consumers, new demographics. We believe that what happened during COVID, the amazing acceleration of ecommerce, is not a bubble and is here to stay.

Ecommerce will continue to grow. We see a moment when 50 percent of our sales will be online. Is it in three, four, five, 10 years? We don’t know, but we know that this moment will happen. To prepare ourselves for that, we invest in people with capabilities, in technologies such as Replika, so that we are ready.

CM: Is this part of a larger plan of investments or acquisitions?

LR: It is on an ad hoc basis, so we’ll see what comes to us. We have a structured ecosystem of what we call “open innovation.” It’s a way to be connected to VCs, to accelerators or incubators, in the U.S., in Europe, in Asia. We have an investment fund, BOLD, at L’Oréal. So, we structured the capacity to, one, get connected to the ecosystem and [identify] the right technology for us, and two, have the financing arm with BOLD. It’s not the last move we’ll make. We’ll continue to invest in this digi-tech ecosystem innovation for our brands and our consumers.

CM: How did the pandemic accelerate your ecommerce business?

LR: We recorded growth above 60 percent this year. It’s not the end of the year, so we’ll see where it ends, but at the end of September we were above 60 percent. Ecommerce was 24 percent, about one quarter of the sales. People got used to—especially during the COVID period—buying online. Our mission is also to continue to invest and work with our partners, like Amazon, Macy’s, Sephora and Target, to continue to invest, to improve and elevate the experience everywhere where consumers shop.

This is why we have decided to open source our services. So, things like virtual makeup try-ons or hair color try-ons… Our plan is to make those great services with the technology available to our retailers so that we can [enhance] the beauty category together online. I’ve never seen opposition between brick and mortar and the online world. For me, what was very striking during COVID was the acceleration of traditional brick and mortar embracing digital transition and digital transformation… We saw triple digit growth coming from Target and from Walmart, and from European distributors. That’s a clear sign of the times and that’s not something that’s going to stop. We are entering into this omnichannel online and offline world, where our traditional partners are going online. We are there to work with them, to partner with them, and it creates new opportunities and new experiences for consumers.

CM: Shifting gears a bit… what do you see as the biggest digital trends coming online for 2021 that would be of interest to marketers?

LR: Continuing with ecommerce, we are going to see a complete reinvention of the shopping experience. If you think about it, the ecommerce experience has not changed dramatically for the past 10 years. It’s having those beautiful product pages—the product and some content—and that’s great, but people expect to have more services, more content, more of an experience. It’s moving from convenience to experience—providing better services for enriching the shopping experience, providing more content, providing more entertainment. The whole entertainment/retail/retailtainment trend is starting to be interesting. It’s like QVC on steroids, with modern digital technology with interactive comments popping up. This is coming to Instagram, to Facebook, to all the platforms. It’s a reinvention of the shopping experience at the intersection of entertainment, gaming and services. It’s a great way to continue to improve the shopping experience everywhere.

What we also see is the rise of conversations. People have started to communicate through tons of channels. It could be by email, by WhatsApp, Messenger, it could be leaving a comment on Instagram. We’ve had 40 percent more of those conversations during COVID. That translates to the appetite for consumers to directly connect to us, to our brands, to our experts. And this is something that for me is moving from marketing that was very visual—especially in beauty—to becoming more and more conversational marketing whereby we have to completely reinvent our consumer care services, our community management, to be able to satisfy this appetite for conversations from our consumers. We see pretty siloed teams—consumer care, community management, retail—converging together, embracing the consumer online and offline and creating consumer engagement and activation.

CM: How are you specifically integrating technology into the consumer experience?

LR: The whole notion of product plus services is becoming a big trend. Every vertical has its own way of building and strategizing for its services. For us, it has been around augmented reality and the diagnostic and virtual try-on. Why does it matter? Not because of the technology; it’s not because AR is cool. It’s because it’s solving a problem. It’s solving the problem of choice. In beauty, you have massive choice. You are in front of thousands of colors for your lipstick or your hair color. With augmented reality, you can try different colors on your smartphone and see what’s best for you. Maybe have access to a virtual consultation with a beauty advisor or beauty expert. Then it creates this whole notion of “guide me through the choice I have.”

In the category of skincare, for example, we’ve built this amazing skincare diagnostic called Skin Doctor. The idea is to evaluate 17 signs of skin concerns. It can be wrinkles, it can be pores, pigmentation, hydration… Then you get a score that highlights the areas for improvement and a personalized routine based on your skin concern. This is being uploaded by consumers because it helps them choose the right product and the right routine.

CM: How do you suggest that marketers stay on top of digital trends in the coming year? Do you have any advice for them?

LR: My advice would be to be on the platforms. That’s basic and obvious, but there are so many marketers that are not fully on the platforms, understanding reverse engineering, how it works, the algorithm… It’s a lot of trial—and if you’re not there, if you don’t experiment with the platforms every day, it’s hard to get to playbooks and rules and be able to inspire your whole marketing organization around what the new playbooks for content are. That’s very big. I apply that advice to myself every day.

The post l’Oréal Chief Digital Officer Talks 2021 Digital Marketing Trends appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Deal Day Spending

Many U.S. consumers have experienced economic hardship due to the pandemic. According to the report, 27 percent of U.S. shoppers surveyed indicated a slight or significant income reduction this year. But 73 percent will spend the same or more during blockbuster holiday events, like Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day and Cyber Monday. Overall, ecommerce holiday sales will grow by at least 19 percent.

Channels for Research

However, in terms of the channels consumers will use to research purchases, 43 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed said they will still browse in stores. The top channel for research was retailer websites (54 percent), with brand websites at 37 percent, catalog browsing at 31 percent, social media at 28 percent, TV commercials at 21 percent and personalized campaigns at 18 percent.

Brand Loyalty Challenged

Brand loyalty is proving to be more vulnerable this year, as consumers have tended to try new products and brands during the pandemic. McKinsey research shows that more than 60 percent of global consumers have tried a new shopping behavior since March, and 40 percent have shopped at a new retailer. When looking at the holiday shopping season specifically, just 11 percent of U.S. consumers will shop from the same retailers as they did last year.

Health and Safety

For those U.S. consumers intending to browse in-store, health and safety measures are top of mind. The most important measures are masks and barriers (40 percent), cleaning and sanitizing supplies (18 percent), one-way store aisles and special hours (13 percent), physical distancing (12 percent) and health checks upon entry (11 percent).

Early Shopping

In the face of limited availability, shipping delays and curbside pickup trends experienced in the spring, many U.S. shoppers are intending to make purchases earlier than last year, with 42 percent of U.S. consumers getting started in October or earlier.

Setting up for Success 

The reports suggests that there are four ways in which retail marketers can respond to the above trends and meet new consumer demands. First, motivate shoppers to buy early by creating early Black Friday events and sending consumers personalized communications to inspire purchases. Second, offer a higher level of convenience by providing multiple options to fulfill orders, from traditional home delivery to online to curbside. Offer digital support for growing ecommerce operations through enhancing digital storefronts and prioritizing the customer experience with online support, live chat and warehouse fulfillment. Finally, use consumer data to personalize and enhance the browsing experience online with product information, reviews and shopper preferences.

—

Following is a conversation about the report with Brian Ruwadi, Global Leader, Periscope by McKinsey and Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company, and Tamara Charm, Senior Expert, McKinsey & Company.

Chief Marketer: Was anything surprising to you about the trends outlined in the report?

Brian Ruwadi: There are a handful of things that are certainly different than they were in the past. The first is—and we saw this with our retail re-imagined COVID research—that consumers have tried a bunch of new CPG brands and also retail brands. We continue to see in our holiday research that folks are much less loyal than they were in the past to particular brands and plan to be through the holidays. One major theme here is how do retailers re-achieve this loyalty, and for consumers that have tried them for the first time or second time, how do they lock them in?

The second is this notion of retailers and consumers being worried about ensuring availability and trying to spread the consumer demand out through longer holiday events, Black Friday, et cetera, which appear to be even more important this year as consumers move to value. That has a two-point side to it. One is from an operational standpoint. If they’re going to move more product online before over the holiday season, how do they smooth out demand? And then, how do they work with their marketing partners to make sure they’re getting the demand from the consumer and getting it early?

Tamara Charm: I’m looking back to the start of COVID and what happened in terms of the digital surge, the shock to loyalty and the shift to value in essentials. We’re going to see the same thing play out in the holiday season. One note on the shock to loyalty: All folks’ routines have been disrupted and they are looking at online shopping more and to spend less and differently on value events. There’s going to be more and more of their spend up for grabs, and those who can give consumers what they want, when they want it and how they want it will win.

Chief Marketer: Following up on that, because brand loyalty is a clear issue, do you have suggestions on how marketers can either win back consumers or keep them as customers during this time?

Brian Ruwadi: Three thoughts are critical right now. First and foremost is personalization, particularly churn analytics, to understand who’s tried you for the first or second time and who has left you, and making sure you’re capitalizing on the new customers but also reaching out and pulling back in the customers that have left you and wandered to other brands over time. Second, we’ve seen a big rise in the importance of the omni-channel experience. The folks that have started with great omni-channel experiences or have invested heavily in building that experience are better set up for success and should be focused there.

The third is we’re seeing a big focus on the efficiency of the shopping experience. So, if you’re a consumer worried about COVID, you wouldn’t be able to get into the store, find what you need and get out quickly. Marketers should be thinking about how they create that in-store experience that allows them and the consumer to get in and out efficiently.

Tamara Charm: Folks are telling us that they’re not going to travel as much this holiday season and spend time with a smaller group of folks. So, what they want is likely to change. [It’s about] understanding what that will be, offering the right product to the right folks, upping the communication with them and being able to connect with consumers in all sorts of ways—not only in the store, but catalogs and social media.

Chief Marketer: It’s evident in the report that big deal shopping days are going to be more significant for consumers this year. Do you have any thoughts on how brands can balance those deal days with other avenues to purchase, such as in-store, in order to remain profitable?

Brian Ruwadi: The trick of all of this is going to be how you build a basket in an omni-channel environment. When you’re in the store, marketers and retailers know how to get people to buy. Not just the Black Friday sales, but also the rest of the basket and build it out to be something that’s actually meaningful and profitable. The ones that are going to win over the holiday season are the folks that are able to replicate to some degree that basket-building experience in the omni-channel and online shopping environment.

Tamara Charm: The other important thing to think about is that the big holiday events will no longer be one day. We’ve seen that Black Friday is expanding across many retailers and we know that consumers are looking to shop earlier. [It’s about] bringing the feeling of excitement and value into multiple mini-events, or something that’s connected over the course of November, so that consumers can participate without waiting for that one day.

Chief Marketer: In light of the pandemic lockdowns that vary by each region, how do you suggest marketers approach the constantly shifting situation?

Tamara Charm: One of the things that’s becoming more and more important is getting granular data—not only on what’s happening with your consumer, but what’s happening with infection rates and what’s happening with general shopping and out-of-home activity. Being able to understand that data and be agile and change quickly is increasingly a hallmark of those who are able to succeed in this environment.

Brian Ruwadi: To build on that, this notion of becoming radically more agile than we have in the past as retailers is a big deal in this environment where so much is unpredictable. I’ve been impressed with what many retailers have done over the past six or nine months to become more agile. But if you have a region lockdown over the holiday and your inventory is sitting in a store, now need to be able to market that inventory online to consumers or ship it somewhere else to be sold to a consumer. All of those agile capabilities are going to be critical during the holiday season.

Chief Marketer: According to the report, there are four areas that retail marketers should embrace to be successful this season. We talked about personalization. Any tactics that you would suggest when it comes to digital support for consumers?

Brian Ruwadi: The traditional shopping experience in a store over the holidays is browse, look and see, and feel. That gives consumers confidence in what they want to buy, whichever channel they buy it through. There’s a meaningful chunk of consumers who are now trying to do that through a digital experience, but not all retailers had historically invested in being able to test a product online as easily as many would like. When we did our retail re-imagined research, we saw a massive increase in the number of consumers who cared about product descriptions, product reviews, those types of things, so that they could actually feel confident in their purchase.

Tamara Charm: When we ask folks who is going to shift online, we do see Boomers telling us they’re going to shift at the same rate as younger consumers. So, you will likely have a lot of older consumers going online and digital for the holidays who are not used to that experience. Making sure that you are bringing the product to life digitally will be extra important—and the navigation around that, making it simple and easy to find.

Chief Marketer: Does that translate to creating a range of experiences to accommodate multiple generations?

Tamara Charm: The product description and the reviews are places consumers consistently tell us they go and they trust. Increasingly, virtual and augmented reality capabilities will be quite helpful in categories where getting a sense of the dimension of the product and the look and feel on you, in the case of apparel or cosmetics, will be increasingly important.

Brian Ruwadi: There’s also a point of understanding the different types of journeys that consumers are taking digitally. Are they there for one product and want to get in and out fast? Are they there and they want to browse? How do we create an experience, digitally, that allows them to have the in-store browsing experience online? Those are two very different journeys and require different types of capabilities online, or apps, or whatever it might be.

The post McKinsey Report: Navigating New Shopping Behaviors for Holiday Season During Pandemic appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Then COVID-19 erupted, putting a temporary halt to most brick-and-mortar retail and transforming it permanently going forward. During the second quarter of 2020, Momentum reports that 84 percent of consumers had moved to online shopping. What’s more, 37 percent of shoppers were having their groceries delivered to them—500 times what had been projected, Brown says.

Now, as consumers and retailers adjust to the new normal, a significant portion of those shoppers are returning to stores or looking forward to doing so. Momentum’s research shows that just 12 percent of shoppers who started using grocery delivery services in response to the pandemic planned to continue. In fact, grocery stores and supermarkets topped the list of public spaces consumers felt most comfortable returning to, cited by 78 percent of those surveyed. Parks were second (73 percent) and home-improvement stores third (68 percent). More than three-quarters of shoppers (79 percent) missed the tangibility of the in-person experience; even more (83 percent) missed the social aspect.

That said, digital channels will continue to be an important aspect of shopping—and shopper marketing—going forward. McKinsey & Company estimates that the number of consumers purchasing groceries online at least some of the time will have grown 41 percent post-COVID-19, with 38 percent more buying at least some household supplies and personal products online.

This increase in digital shopping presents an opportunity to reach and convert new audiences, just as the product shortages that occurred during the early weeks of the pandemic did. “People have been getting exposed to and getting experience with brands that are new to them because their usual brands were sold out,” says Colby Graff, GM, strategy and digital for Propac Agency. “Now is the opportunity for brands to bring joy and support to customers. The more value brands can deliver for them—not just monetary but also emotional—the better.”

To maximize that opportunity, brands and retailers should be channel-agnostic and home in on what most agree is the heart of shopper marketing: using data about shoppers’ behaviors and mindset to instigate changes in those behaviors. “Consumer advertising is about driving demand,” says Rich Butwinick, founder and president of Marketing Lab. “Shopper marketing is about driving conversion”—regardless of channel.

The Twin Tenets of Shopper Marketing 2.0: Convenience and Value

Until recently, convenience often came at the expense of value, and vice versa. Consumers had to pay extra for expedited delivery, for instance. But “the pandemic didn’t just cause a spike in the demand for immediacy,” says Lisa Norat, SVP, business leadership at HMT Associates. “It accelerated a need for convenience that shoppers will expect and demand forever.”

At the same time, the ensuing economic downturn has led consumers to seek out greater value to justify their purchases. “People are starting to be very mindful of spending, and that’s going to impact what is considered essential vs. what is considered a luxury,” notes Propac Agency’s Colby. “It comes down to the brands to communicate why their brand is essential.”

Delivering Convenience

Many consumers used to consider home delivery of groceries and other essentials a luxury. COVID-19, however, has made it a necessity—or at the very least, a necessary option for retailers to offer.

From February to mid-March alone, downloads of the Instacart app increased 218 percent, according to Statista. Target’s 2017 purchase of Instacart-rival Shipt now seems especially prescient. Not only does the retailer control the delivery platform, but it also owns the valuable consumer data. “The third-party delivery platforms such as Grizly and Instacart are collecting a ton of data,” says Marketing Lab’s Butwinick. “Who owns the customer could really be up for grabs.” He anticipates more retailers acquiring or developing their own delivery platforms.

Subscription boxes and auto refills/auto replenishment are other ways retailers and brands can deliver convenience. While subscriptions to non-essentials, such as beauty supplies and fashion, are expected to decline in response to the economic crunch, those to groceries, health and wellness items, and educational kids’ activities will likely hold steady, if not increase. Companies that promote these—such as Petco, which offers free delivery and rewards for those who opt for its Repeat Delivery—have managed to combine convenience and value.

Value Propositions

In a weak economy, price of course becomes more important in the buying decision. “People are more brand agnostic,” Graff says. “They’re more willing to buy store labels because the need is more critical than the want.”

Fortunately, slashing prices and offering ever-increasing discounts are not the only way to provide value that will convert shoppers into buyers. COVID-19 has brought cleanliness, safety and wellness to the forefront of many consumers’ minds; according to Ipsos, 62 percent of consumers would stop shopping from retailers that they felt were not adhering to health and safety best practices. Retailers that tout such practices, then, are promoting value without competing on price. So are CPG brands that highlight the high quality of their ingredients and materials: According to Momentum, 42 percent of shoppers surveyed during the pandemic said they chose a name-brand product over private label because “it uses better-quality ingredients,” making this the second most important factor. (“I trust the brand,” cited by 53 percent, was first.)

And regardless of the economy, there will always be consumers who prioritize intangibles, such as spending time with family. “This is an opportunity for CPG companies to come in and connect with consumers—offering recipes and suggestions for family movie night, for example,” says Graff, who sees storytelling as vital to communicating this type of value. “Brands sometimes think if they put a product on the shelf, shoppers will see it. But a store is a sea of brands, of products, so if you don’t have a true strong point of difference, you’re not going to win on that aisle. You have to come up with a program, you have to come up with the benefits. Endcaps, knockouts, they all help.”

Digital Messaging

Pre-COVID-19, the journey from online storytelling to in-store purchase could be fairly long, even with apps and mobile sites helping to bring digital storytelling into the store. Now that point of decision and point of transaction are both more likely to be digital than they had been, driving demand and driving conversion are more closely intertwined than ever. Social channels, blog posts, and digital recipes and service articles are just a click away from the point of purchase for an increasing number of consumers.

“If we can agree that shopper marketing’s impact is most effective within the context of shoppers making purchase decisions, and we can align on the fact that purchasing now occurs anywhere, anytime throughout the purchase journey and across any platform or device, then we can appreciate that shopper marketing initiatives are even more valuable today in reaching shoppers when they are most open to engaging in a branded dialogue,” Norat says. “This also highlights the importance of connected media to inform how and where to deliver a brand message to convert search into purchase.”

Five Essential Technologies for Retailers and Brands

* QR codes. Giants including Walmart along with smaller retailers such as Fairway use QR codes for contactless store checkout and pay-as-you-go. Nike stores use the codes to facilitate contactless pickup of items ordered online. EBay has tested shoppable storefront windows, where consumers can view products and then scan a QR code through the window to buy them. To boost in-store traffic post-COVID, Sephora placed QR codes on retail signage that shoppers could scan for a chance to win prizes. And of course myriad CPG brands use codes on their packages and advertisements to go into greater detail about ingredients, allergens, recipes and special offers than physical space allows.

* Augmented reality (AR). QR codes can also help deliver an AR experience. This could enhance a shoppable-storefront experience, enabling consumers to see how a dress hangs on a runway model or zoom in on product details. Ikea’s Place app is perhaps the best-known example of a brand using AR to improve the at-home shopping experience and, in turn, boost conversion and decrease returns: It lets users virtually place products in their homes to get a true sense of scale and see how well they’ll work with existing decor.

* Connected packaging. QR codes on boxes or labels that deliver AR or other types of value-added content are a type of connected packaging. NFC and RFID are other technologies that enable connected packaging—and can also provide the brand with data it can use to tailor marketing messages. For instance, when Kraft Singles introduced NFC packaging with retail partner Walmart in 2019, consumers who tapped the packages while in the store received recipes and a coupon; after they’d bought the product, they could unlock an entry to an instant-win contest.

* Digital shopping lists. Apps that minimize the amount of time spent in grocery stores or that simplify online ordering will only become more popular. Just about every major grocery retailer has an app that allows users to create, save and share lists as well as to apply digital coupons and arrange for pickup. The best retailer apps, as well as those from third parties that allow users to shop from multiple stores, include links between recipes and ingredients; some third-party digital list services also enable price comparisons and remind users when they might be running low on items. And in July 2020, Walmart, Yahoo Mail and Verizon Media partnered to create Groceries from Walmart, allowing users to shop for and purchase groceries direct from their email inbox. For CPG brands, ads in and sponsorships with these aids are the digital equivalent of shelf talkers and endcaps.

* Personalization. Website product recommendations based on consumer data and previous purchases are nothing new, but they’re gaining importance as a substitute for in-store assistance. Also gaining traction as a way of minimizing friction are online dynamic merchandising tools that use customer data and algorithms to serve personalized products and offers to visitors upon their arrival to a website. Retailers and brands can use this same data to personalize marketing emails, push notifications and other communications. Pampers, for one, offers a number of personalized tools on its website—a pregnancy calendar, due-date and weight-gain calculators—to gain useful consumer data while forming a relationship with users. Chatbots are another way to provide personalized service. While online retailers are increasing their adoption of the technology, most CPG brands have yet to do so, though Clairol is a notable exception. (Given the popularity of Butterball’s Turkey Talk-Line in November and December, not having an online chat function seems a miss.)

Best Practices of Shopper Marketing 2.0

* Promote multiple delivery options. The thinking used to be, “Make sure consumers can shop by whichever channel they want.” Now retailers need to add to that, “Be sure they can receive their orders by whichever method they want” including home delivery and curbside or in-store pickup. As well as communicating these options early in the funnel, retailers and brands need to be transparent and proactive about any snafus, delays or out-of-stocks.

* Allow shoppers to make it personal. Letting consumers choose how they want to receive their purchases is one way of offering personalization. Another is enabling them to customize their purchases. People might be more willing to order produce online if they can specify what color they want the bananas or how soft they want the tomatoes.

* Use data and digital technology to take advantage of physical proximity. “Proximity’s going to be a big deal,” says Momentum’s Brown. “If consumers are in a store or near a store, use push notifications or digital-connect shelves to deliver custom content.” Beyond prices and promotions, this content can highlight the unique selling propositions of brands or products.

* Spotlight newness. People grew bored during the weeks of sheltering in place, and even now most consumers are still limited in terms of diversionary options. Take inspiration from Oreo, which excels at regularly creating excitement about its brand by introducing new, unexpected flavors.

* Use content to differentiate your brand. Telling shoppers that your chips use potatoes grown by family-owned farms is one thing; printing codes on your packaging that enable consumers to learn more about the farm where the potatoes for their specific bag of chips, as Kettle Brand does, is another. The beauty of digital marketing is its variety of content options, from YouTube videos showing the pristine conditions of a company’s facilities to Instagram posts where influencers can show off products. And whereas print, broadcast and in-store assets require a significant lead time to produce, most digital assets can be turned around in a flash to respond to market changes.

* Make agility a priority. PepsiCo unveiled two D2C websites, PantryShop.com and Snack.com, just 30 days after conceiving of them. “We used to plan a year in advance,” says Brown. “Now the marketplace changes weekly. You have to be as digitally agile as possible.”

* Continue investing in shopper research and consumer data. “Now is the time to invest in shopper research in order to reveal and understand those changes and the behaviors that will have a long-term impact on the purchasing dynamics around your brand,” says Norat of HMT Associates.

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