While nearly every area of the grocery landscape has changed dramatically in the past 10-15 years, perhaps nowhere has changed as much as how grocers market and advertise their stores. As that evolution continues, how smartly and how efficiently AWG retailers adapt to new channels, technologies and go-to-market strategies can make a big impact on their current and long-term viability.
The biggest changes can all fall under the umbrella of “digital.” That term includes everything from online shopping to loyalty programs to digital coupons to social media and even on to digital advertising. But in taking a look across the AWG landscape an honest assessment of retailer activities shows that collectively we’re still very much in the “dip our toe” category. In 2020, a top down approach is to move beyond that current place and to become more fully-formed multi or omni channel retailers.
A key pillar of the grocery industry and AWG for more than 93 years has been the print ad circular. Taking a hard look at how the print circular fits into the marketing mix is something every grocer has probably done in recent years.
“Retailers of all stripes across the food/drug/mass retail channel have already begun moving the weekly circular to digital (putting on their websites and/or sending via email), running promotions on social media and making personalized offers to customers via email,” Russ Redman, senior editor with Supermarket News, said.
That’s where the variety of digital marketing comes in – finding new ways to connect with consumers. There isn’t one channel that has overwhelmed the market, but there are certainly some key spaces retailers should likely be heavily involved in for 2020 and beyond.
Engaging Shoppers Through Loyalty and Data
If you’re looking around the retail landscape in 2021, you will see loyalty and rewards programs are more popular than they’ve ever been. From grocery competitors to fast food restaurants to professional sports teams and airlines, a rewards and loyalty program has become table stakes for playing in nearly any consumer-facing business.
“Customer information is critical today,” Redman said. “The more data you have on individual shoppers, the better your ability to make more relevant, personalized offers to build loyalty. A mobile app also helps in this regard.”
Obtaining customer data is one part of the loyalty equation, which generally comes from a rewards program. However, real thought needs to be given to what rewards are offered in order to get customers to engage.
Joe Cox, who is the founder and owner of Pop Marketer and former Vice President of Engagement at Barkley advertising agency, knows many aspects of the digital world extremely well. He says rewards programs can be difficult, but there’s room to engage consumers.
“The way to make them exciting to your consumer is easy,” Cox said. “Find out what your consumer finds valuable and give it to them. For example, my wife tells me on an almost weekly basis how much she saved on gas from shopping at one grocery store. At this point, she visits an extra time during the week, if it means maximizing her points. The first question to ask is usually, ‘Would this be exciting to me?’ If the answer is no, it’s probably a good sign that your consumer will think the same thing.”
Data from AWG’s own Shopper Engagement Platform shows that rewards shoppers are about $8.50 more valuable per basket than non-rewards shoppers. But even then, that’s not the end of the road for loyalty programs. Utilizing data for activations is where the needle can be moved even more for personalized marketing. Redman said that personalization is one of the key trends in our industry.
“Personalization — the ability to make customized, relevant offers to individual shoppers,” Redman said. “For independent grocers, email marketing provides a cost-effective way to reach large groups of shoppers with relevant promotions (loyalty program data on customers makes this even more effective).”
Get in the loyalty and rewards game by contacting our Shopper Engagement Platform coordinator [email protected] – (913) 288-1168
Where Social Media Fits
At this point, social media is a part of our lives, whether grocers want to admit it or not. Grocers have seen a mixed bag of success in utilizing social media to their success. For every large follower base for a store, there are plenty of retailers with limited amounts of fans and not much traction to their post. However, in looking around, there are plenty of examples of brands utilizing social media well.
For most retailers Facebook makes up all or most of their social media strategy. And Cox says that’s not necessarily a bad thing right now.
“It’s not all social, it’s Facebook…I’d make sure that no matter what, both Facebook and Google are well represented in any digital strategy,” Cox said.
But what to post on social media? Retailers often see success from what is really happening in the store, the faces of employees and customers along with giving an insight to what’s going on behind the scenes.
But grocery retailers are in the fortunate place where they can tie into promotions that CPG and other vendors are already spending millions of dollars to sponsor and support. An expert on pop marketing, Cox said it’s a no-brainer to utilize these promotions as much as possible. In fact, you can even take these from online to shelf-level.
“I’d be looking strongly at the products and brands that you have on your shelves that are partnering with popular culture, be it movies, Netflix, music, big events and I’d be helping maximize those efforts by giving them more space when those things are trending or premiering,” Cox said. “The opportunity would be to start grouping those products that are all partnering with the next Marvel movie (for example) together in one end cap. Those products may be completely different under different context, but shining light on their common partnership with the movie will give fans an excuse to try new products or grab a product that wasn’t on their list, guided by fandom and positive association with the license.”
Need help starting or perfecting your social media? Contact margaret holmes at [email protected] or (913) 288-1064.
Finding The Right Mix
Online shopping, digital advertising, websites, e-mail, text message programs, and digital coupons are just a piece of the digital mix that retailers can be involved in. It can certainly be overwhelming to manage a store, the weekly print ad, and then all of the channels that make up the digital mix. But it doesn’t have to be that complicated.
“I see so many marketers that are drowning in trying to do a little bit of everything, that they end up doing nothing very well,” Cox said. “The most important thing to remember in 2021 is that it’s just as much about what you don’t do, as it is the things you do. Focus on your business goal and what exactly you need to push the needle on to grow your business and reach your business goals. The more locked in and focused you are on what you need to do (one to three things, not 50) the more likely it is that you’ll find the digital channels that are most effective for you.”
Redman and Cox agree that print is a key player for retailers, so it can’t be thrown away. But adding in the right digital marketing elements can bring on real success. If Cox was running a store, here’s what he said he might do:
“Print is probably a strong baseline, so if it isn’t broke, I wouldn’t touch it,” Cox said. “Then, I’d focus on getting as much data as possible and collect the email and information for everyone that regularly comes to the store, then I’d use that data to streamline a digital approach that specifically focused on the Facebook ad platform and Google. This way, you can use the data from your loyalty to drive more visits with your core base of shoppers and create a trackable loop that you can maintain.
“Throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks is not only a really scary strategy to maximize results, it also leads to many sleepless nights and needless stress. So, focus in and articulate what you want to do and then go out there and do it!”
Find more about Joe Cox and Pop Marketer at Pop-Marketer.com, follow him on Facebook or YouTube
