Despite plenty of effort and even more talk about Shopper Marketing, many trading partners remain ill-equipped to replace their traditional store- and brand-centric dialogue with a shopper-centric dialogue. This slows, or even halts, the journey toward a successful Shopper Marketing strategy and activation.
Despite this general conclusion, it is encouraging that a small group of trading partners has started to achieve breakthrough results by combining a new level of shopper awareness with a focus on giving their high-value shoppers more of what they want. In other words, these trading partners have made real progress in becoming shopper-centric.
How are they making progress while their competition is still “stuck”? They are replacing the traditional store- and brand-centric thinking with a shopper-centric approach, improving the dialogue – and the results – for companies who can set aside yesterday’s model:
| Area | Traditional Store- and Brand-Centric Dialogue | Emerging Shopper-Centric Dialogue |
| Shoppers | How can we drive more shoppers into the store? | How can we understand our best mutual shoppers and grow their basket size? |
| Communications | We want you to buy space in our coupon booklet. | We want to invest in our mutual best shoppers. |
| Category growth | Can we grow 7% this year? | Can we grow 12% by improving share of wallet by 20% among our best mutual shoppers? |
| Converting shoppers | We need to lower our prices in the [HBC, etc.] section. | We need to improve the shopping experience in the [HBC, etc.] section. |
| Assortment | We are removing slowest moving 15% of items. | Let’s work together to remove the 15% of items that are least relevant to our best shoppers. |
| Budgeting | We need 10% more promotion support than last year. | We need to know which promotions worked with our best shoppers and which didn’t so we can plan more effectively. |
| Merchandising | We will trade off End Caps between your brand and our brand. | We can maximize sales by sharing the end cap because your brand and our brand attract different shoppers. |
Are you asking new shopper-centric questions and developing new shopper-centric strategies and plans? Are you wondering how to start? Get your organization to answer these five key questions:
- Who are our best shoppers based on actual behavior?
- What do they buy?
- How do they buy?
- Why do they buy?
- How do we give them more of what they want?
About the Author
Matt Nitzberg - EVP, Manufacturer Practice at dunnhumbyUSA
Matt Nitzberg is Executive Vice President, Manufacturer Practice at dunnhumbyUSA. In this role, Matt leads dunnhumby’s strategy and client relationships with brand owners in emerging channels and directs global strategy among dunnhumby’s consumer packaged goods business.
Prior to his current role, Matt served as Global Vice President, dunnhumby ltd. in which he established and led dunnhumbyUSA’s Manufacturer Practice. Before joining dunnhumby, Nitzberg held marketing roles of increasing responsibility at Procter & Gamble and Borden Foods.
Nitzberg also held a variety of senior roles at Information Resources including the leadership of IRI’s National Accounts client group.
