State of Science Shopper Insights

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    IntroductionWhile many consumer companies may have initially turned to shoppermarketing as a practical idea o the moment during a recession, itsmeteoric rise in budget size and importance continues even as the economyshows signs o improving. The evidence: A recent survey o over 300 marketing executives across various

    retail and manuacturing sectors ound more than 80% say shopper

    marketing is vital to their brands long-term success. In many consumer companies, shopper marketing beats out

    digital or astest growing area o marketing spending. Annual spending on shopper marketing in 2011 totaled

    $50$60 biin.

    Wed dene shopper marketing at its most basic level as ctivitis n thpth t puchs dsind t inspi visit t ti nd th puchs mnuctus bnd. Not surprisingly, it emerged rom the realizationthat infuencing consumers when they are in a shopping mode can enhancesales and return on investment (ROI), or so maintains Booz & Co. O course,as more and more companies increase their budgets or shopper marketing,the competition or shoppers eet, dollars, and heartsnot to mention thepressure on shopper marketers to deliver those enhanced sales and ROIratchets up more than a ew notches.

    O course, the explosion o digital media certainly hasnt made it any easierto answer what were already pretty challenging questions: Which group o shoppers is the best target or programming?

    How do you drive them to retailers? When and how is the best way to reach and engage them to inspire a

    purchase?It also doesnt help that idntiin which th xpdin numb pptunitis t inunc puchs dcisins wi hv th tstct n tfc, ss, nd t hs bcm citic nd tnusttin cmpx pcss. The reality is marketers have to pull more

    levers today than they ever had to beore. All o us are consuming medso many dierent wayssome people are only online, some only watchDina Howell, CEO o Saatchi & Saatchi X, the agencys shopper marketarm, told the Wall Street Journal. The bulk [are] somewhere in the midand thats whats making it harder to determine what is the correct ormFactor in the emergence o omnichannel retailers and varying trip misand shopper marketers have got themselves one tough nut to crack.

    Lucky or shopper marketers they have at least one well-established prworking mightily in their avor as ar as delivering to expectations in a vchallenging business environment goes: undin dcisins in insih

    The Path to Purchase Institute, a leading industry organization, lists thereliance on research and data as one o the dening characteristics oshopper marketing: Shopper marketing is the use o insights-drivenmarketing and merchandising initiatives to satisy the needs o targetedshoppers. Practitioners also appreciate this embedded eature o this o the marketing mix. When asked in an interview with The Hub Magazi shopper marketing is here to stay, or example, Tia Newcomer, gener

    manager, retail publishing solutions, HP, replied, Absolutely. Its here tobecause it starts with insights how can that go wrong?The solid history o using research and insights to guide decision-makinis most denitely one o the uels o shopper marketings re. As Booz &Co. once put it, shpp mktins ptnti is td in its custhin insihts but cnsums whnth in shppin mnd ppin ths insihts t inunc thi puchs dcisins.

    Whether its ne-tuning merchandising and promotions at specic storelocations to appeal to a particular shopper segment as Con Agra did at

    campus convenience stores; designing an ecommerce website aroundinsights into the needs o the most protable online shoppers as UnderArmour did; or developing a communications plan where research indicshoppers were most receptive to the brand as Benjamin Moore did, shomarketers routinely draw on insights.

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    As these examples demonstrate, an understanding o which shoppersto target with marketing eorts remains one owe might even go soar as to say thmost important insights marketers need in order tolaunch successul shopper programs and expand channel relationships. AsPhil Kotler, dean o American marketing proessors, wrote in Ten DeadlyMarketing Sins, the rst commandment o marketing is to segment themarket, choose the best segment, and develop a strong position in each

    chosen segment. With multiple challenges to deal with as they try to takeshopper marketing to the next level, nailing the targeting decision becomesall the more important.

    Extracting readily useul, big picture insights such as idntiin th bstsmnt t tt andwh in th puchs nd pst-puchs pcsst ch thm that can guide the development and ease the execution oshopper programs, however, is not a given by any means. In act, i we hada dollar or every time weve heard a shopper marketer tell us, we cantgure out how to apply the insights we have to the decisions we need tomake, and, its not clear how to use them to work better and smarter with

    our retailers to drive trac and turns, we wouldnt need to play the lotteryanymore.

    To our way o thinking, explained our colleague Kevin Clancy, chairmano Copernicus and winner o the Advertising Research Foundations GreatMinds Award in Innovation, a truly state-o-the-science shopper insight isas much about its relevancy and applicability to the undamental strategicand planning decisions at hand as it is about the complexity o the algorithmor analytical technique used to generate it in the rst place.

    To nally put a sock in the on-going complaints about the

    actionability o shopper insights and bring them up to state-o-the-science standards, wed suggest shopper researchers and marketersalike take direct aim at the points in the research process wheresomething isnt happening and, as a result, its holding protabilityand perormance back. First and oremost: converting the needs

    and requirements o the end-users o research rom an aterthought to orethought.

    Shopper Insights:Who on the Organization Wantsand Will UseThemAs shopper marketing has denitively moved way beyond the rst momtruth at the store-level, programs involve ar more elements o the marke

    mix and media than ever beore. It stands to reason then, that shopperesearch will need to encompass a wider set o considerations in ordeproduce insights that dierent groups in the organizationbe it the shmarketing team, the sales team, the in-store marketing agency, the ad agmedia planners, digital marketing manager, or mobile agencycan use.

    Its just not enough anymore, as Ron Park, a senior director at databasemarketing rm Merkle, put it, to assume that a better understandingo customers will yield results applicable to a variety o marketing issueMarketers need to actively rame the discussion by getting rid o theconventional up-ront meeting with a very narrow set o people to esta

    research requirements, replacing it with an pn um tht dws s th mktin nd ss niztin.

    To stress the essentialness oincudin th ss niztin in amktin sch discussin, Je Maloy, co-author o this chapter,explained to a client that, shopper marketing requires a group eortbetween sales and marketing, much more so than brand marketing. Bebrands and retailers share the ability to infuence consumers during the

    purchase process, like it or not, marketers depend on the sales account team to bring a retailer on board and run a marketing omerchandising program in stores. When the sales team has th

    opportunity to provide input on what they need or would like tnd out about shoppers that would hp thm with thi ticcunts, the insights coming out o the research are ar more to have a positive impact on channel relationships and successprogram implementation.

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    The same holds true or agencies and the other tactical groups that will beinvolved in creating and executing programs. Unless data gets collectedto help them better understand and identiy the messages, products, andtactics that will most eectively drive trac and motivate a purchase, theyrelet to guess at what will work best.

    An anecdote rom one o our colleagues, a veteran marketing researcherin retail and consumer categories, underscores this point. He recounted

    to us an uncomortable situation at a recent client meeting.His counterpart on the shopper insights side o the researchcompany they both worked or was presenting the ndingso a major study. While it was a thorough report with plenty ointeresting nuggets o inormation, our colleague had no ideahow the client could use it to select a protable target andbuild shopper programs or its retail accounts.

    I just kept wondering, Who [in our clients organization] can use this? Howare they going to use this? he told us. Psin ths qustins nd ttin

    th nsws dtmin wht w nd t knw but shpps t thv binnin th pcss will make a tremendous dierence notonly in the quality o insights marketers end up with, but also to the ROI oresearch eorts.

    Who to Talk to: Consumers vs. ShoppersIn addition to getting input rom a wider swath o the organization onwhat to nd out about shoppers, the other major issue to get ironed outbeore the research starts is who is the research subject. It may soundlike a straightorward enough question to answer, but choosing between

    consumers and shoppers as the key population to study is a much morenuanced decision than it seems. Whats more, i it doesnt get addressed atthe outset o the research process, marketers will run into the same problempresented to us by a client at a nationwide drugstore chain. Were dedicatingdiscussion time to it here because its a problem were hearing about with

    increasing requency as more and more companies jump into the shopmarketing ray.

    Ive got reams o consumer insights, he exasperatedly explained. AnIve got tons o shopper insights. Problem is, its just not clear to me whuse, when, or how they can help me most eectively maximize sales o brands in key categories.

    Its very true that consumers and shoppers are oten dierent groups,requiring distinct marketing strategies. Wed dene consumers as theindividuals who use a brand, product, or service. Whether its the kids weat the breakast cereal, the teenagers who drive the amily car, or theparents who talk and text on their mobile phones during Juniors baskegame courtesy o their wireless service provider, theyre the categorysconsumers. Studying them to learn more about how, when, why theya product or service; and/or asking about the perceptions they have abbrands, their attitudes, as well as the needs, problems, and pains they h

    that a product or service in the category could solve, can provide invaluguidance on bnd mktin stt.

    The brand team can use the consumer insights that come out o theresearch to guide marketing communications eorts that build awareneand drive purchase interest. R&D and product innovation teams can als

    FOCUS:

    PRIMARY

    END USER:

    KEY END

    USES:

    CONSUMERS

    How, When, Where, Why ConsumersUse/Consume the Category

    Brand Marketing TeamR&D

    Marketing CommunicationsInnovation

    SHOPPERS

    How, When, Where, Why ConsShop/Buy the Category

    Shopper Marketing TeamAgencies Sales/Account Team

    In-storePath to Purchase Influencers/Ta

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    use the research to develop new products or services to appeal to dierentsegments o consumers. This set o insights, however, isnt necessarily goingto indicate when consumers are in shopping mode and whats going to drivethem to stores when they are.

    Shoppers wed dene as consumers who go to the store/online to makea purchase in the category. Studying them to learn more about how, when,where, why they shop/buy in the category, what drives them into a store,

    attitudes they have about the shopping experience, and what osters loyaltyto the brand ater purchase can provide invaluable guidance on shppmktin stt. When all is said and done, marketers want to reachand infuence the person who does the purchasing in a category or thehouseholdthey are the m pductivndhpu suc romwhich to gather shpp insihts.

    Granted, identiying the purchaser in the household or any given productor service category is not necessarily an easy task. It used to be that ormost consumer packaged goods, mom was the shopping master. A March2012 cover story in Time just conrmed what many marketers suspected: asmore women take on the role o primary breadwinner in the household, dadis more requently taking control o the grocery buying. Likewise, in othercategories where men traditionally did the purchasingsuch as electronicsand investment rmswomen are now just as likely to do the shopping.

    In order to get insights into the mind o the shopper,marketers have to make certain they collect data romthe right person. Screen very careully or the personresponsible or doing the purchasing in the category orthe household. For any given category, it could be the

    emale head alone, the male head alone, or they sharethe responsibility equally. The mix o male and emaleparticipants in a study will likely varythere is no hard andast rule or any category on the ratio o male to emaleshoppers anymore.

    Segmenting Shoppersand Identifying Protable Targets for Shopper ProgramsTo review, answering these over-arching questions will dramatically impthe eectiveness o shopper research:

    Who is going to use the research? What do they need to know? How do they need to use it (e.g., create in-store shopper program

    media to support those programs, guide retailers on merchandisinassortment, etc.)?

    Which group do we study?

    Now how about doing the same or shopper programs? For that, markneed insights that answer the questions:

    Which shoppers should we target? At which channels/retailers? How do we most eectively and eciently market to them with

    campaigns and shopper programs?

    Enter shopper segmentation, one o the most powerul strategic researtools available to point shopper marketing strategy in the most protabdirection. At a time when CEOs, CFOs, and retail partners want proo dto the penny that shopper marketing is working as eectively and ecias possible, segmentation research that tells a shopper marketer wheredirect resources to generate the biggest return in trac, sales, and loyaworth its weight in gold.

    Regardless o the category, there are a ew irreutable acts marketersare just going to have to accept when it comes to doing a shopper

    segmentation.

    Fact #1: the bes rge shopper is he one hs mos profbleor brnds progrmming.

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    A quick note here on one o the biggest trends in shopper marketing today:providing shopper solutions. Shoppers rarely purchase just one item,reported Booz & Co. It is the combination o items, bought with a particularsolution in mind, which oten denes a successul shopping trip. As a result,marketers oten want to put programs in place to sell several brands inseveral product categories. A shopper segmentation can provide targetingguidance on the shoppers that will be the most protable or programming

    or either a single brand OR multiple brands that get purchased together inthe same market basket. More to come on this topic in later sections.

    Keep in mind, in order to assess protability, marketers have to includeprot-related criteria in the segmentation study. Measures or everyrespondent in the survey o shoppers could include:

    current spending in the category in dollars market basket analysis current brand share behavior and prices paid in dierent channels price insensitivity lietime value

    The thing o it is, like it or not, no oneno matter how well-versed inshopper marketing or a categoryknows or any given market whatcharacteristics and behaviors will be related to these measures o protabilityuntil they talk to shoppers, collect some data, and do some analysis.

    Fact #2: theres jus NO WaY o know hed o ime beore doingny d olleion, esing, or sreening wh migh be prediive oprofbiliy.

    Fact #3: Fousing on nrrow, pre-deermined se o vribles suh sdemogrphis, hnnel preerenes, or shopping behviors drmillyDEcREaSES he probbiliy o ideniying he shoppers h will produehe highes reurn on n invesmen o shopper mrkeing dollrs.

    Yes, its human nature to want to select a certain set o variablesbe thdemographics, channel preerences, or shopping behaviorsahead o to eel more in control o the nal outcome. Particularly i the results solike theyll be cool and un and, thereore, theoretically easier to shop ato dierent business units and develop programming to appeal to, why

    just go ahead and pick one set o variables as soon as possible?

    I your mother ever told you, dont put all your eggs in one basket, th

    is the time to take her advice. Why bet only on demographics or any otexclusive set o characteristics as the key predictors o behavior in theabsence o any evidence that they areinvesting signicant time and mnot to mention personal credibilityin a shopper segmentation when ydont have to? Instead, start by considering a wide variety o characterithe bigger and more diverse the list, the betterin order to nd the sethats mst pdictiv pftbiit t pmmin.

    Develop a Meaningful, Profit-Directed and Actionable Segmenta

    Hundereds of Variables1. Category Involvement2. Attributes Desired in

    Product Category

    3. Purchase ProcessChannel Preference4. Demographics5. Links to Media Habit Panels6. Links to Household Panels7. Links to Marketing Databases

    To identifycharacteristicsof people whoare profitable

    for your BRAND

    OptimalSegmentation

    CREATE TEST PRODUCE

    Who is the Shopper?

    C C

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    We want to be clear here, however, that were not talking about puttingtogether a totally random set o hypothetical ways to segment the market.Marketers need to stay razor-ocused on what dierent people in theorganization want to know about shoppers and need to be able to do withinsights when the research is done as they make their list. Ater all, knowingwho the most protable group(s) o shoppers to target with programmingis, in and o itsel, an incredible insight, one that can and should shape

    everything a marketer might dorom retailer-specic programs to media,to ecommerce website design and product assortment, to sales strategyand promotion. Yet its the ability to actually do something with thatinormationas in track down the target shoppers in stores, online, and ontheir mobile phonesthat can have a transormational eect on shoppermarketing.

    Well talk more in a moment about building a ull set o shopper-orientedvariables that could be candidates or consideration, but certainlyestablishing what databases end-users o the research access or their worki.e., household panels, marketing databases, customer databases, etc.and

    connecting the data that gets collected as part o the segmentation exerciseto them, it goes without saying, should go right on top o the list. Wedgo so ar as to say that inkin th qustins btwn th suv usdt ct smnts nd ths usd t buid th mdi, ss, ndhushd pn dtbss is tn missin m shpp smnttinxciss.

    With so much o the success o shopper programs riding on execution at theindividual store level, i a segmentation doesnt include a way to nd andreach protable targets or programming in the areas surrounding storesthrough clear connection to a database, its basically worthless. Think o

    a shopper segmentation as the oundation on which to build a marketingstrategy and the EXECUTION o that strategy. It should pave the way tomove smoothly rom research, to insights, to action steps.

    Moving back to the segmentation process now, ater collecting datain a large-scale quantitative survey, test the relationship between eachcharacteristic and the prot-related criteria to nd the key market driveAt that point, marketers can group shoppers into segments based ontheir standing on the anywhere rom 525 characterics that best predicprotability. Tap various analytical tools such as cluster analysis to generdierent segmentation solutions based on the characteristics.

    Finally, marketers can evaluate the possible solutions in terms o managstatistical, and nancial criteria. Ask questions such as:

    Do we see dierent shopping behaviors? Dierent needs rom products in the category? Dierent in-store purchase infuencers (i.e., shopper loyalty cards, PO Dierent channel preerences? Dierent needs rom the channel? Dierent shopping processes? Dierent levels o protability?

    Which solution is most easily understood? Is this approach more or less easy to execute?

    Will the sales orce be able to use it to improverelationships with key accounts?

    Can we nd the segments in dierent databases?

    Based on the answers to these questions, select the optimal solution anprovide nk d th dint shpp smnts in tms ttun n invstmnt to clearly identiy the most nancially advantageogroup to target. Not surprisingly, not every retail partner will have locatiareas with large concentrations o the most protable, highest ranking seg

    The ull rank order provides guidance on prioritizing eorts to drive oot and prots in n trade area. As we mentioned earlier, as long as linkshousehold and neighborhood databases were included in the segmenexercise, a marketer can provide sales and account teams with a list opriority stores and/or the relative mix o segments or every retail lo

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    To make it more manageable, additional work can be done to create atypology o store types based on the mix o segments across dierentlocations. The sales/account teams could oer, say, Wal-Mart, a typology ohow to organize its 2500+ supercenters into 46 groups based on the typeso shoppers that live around them.

    A case in point, a large wine maker we worked with oered a customizedprole o the relative mix o shoppers at every restaurant and retail account

    that carried its brands. The segment proles included a classication o ourclients and its competitors premium brands, preerences or promotions,displays, and eatured products. When on-site at a store location, our clientsaccount team could assess whether a retailer adequately addressed productassortment and in-store marketing in a particular trading area and makeproduct mix and merchandising suggestions. Armed with a prole o therelative mix o shopper types, the sales orce was able to demonstrate toretailers how to most eectively inspire purchases with in-store infuencersand enhance shopper experience at the store-level.

    The Shoppers JourneyMaking a List, Checking it TwiceLets dig into that all-important step o building that list o characteristicidentiy the people most protable or shopper programming. Inorminbig part o this discussion is the stn undcunt disstisctinshpp sch not ully exploring the dint spcts th pucpcss that weve observed. Shopper research is not currently diggindeep enough at the retail level, agreed shopper marketing consultant

    Dustin Lehner and Jennier Butcher in their article, Retailandia.To conront the situation head-on, brands and retailers need to getinormation that clearly indicates how to engage with and motivate shoto go to a real or online store and buy, buy, buy. The primary objective wasking all kinds o pre-, during, and post-purchase- and channel-relatedquestions is to create segments that are v dint in terms o shobehaviors and dierentially reachable with shopper programs, promotiand incentives. In the context o the shopper segmentation, the end-reshould include a ich, bi pictu pf ch smnt in terms mapurchase infuencers, in-store tactics, and more. Importantly, we think o

    this kind o segment prole as being v distinct rom the kind o patpurchase analysis which well talk about later that assesses the relative Rdierent tactics and timing o execution or a specic target group.

    Dividing the journey into three basic stages th pups ntin hpthtic ws smntin th mkt that may brelated to protability, could look something like this:

    Pre-shop > Shop > Post-Shop

    In the pre-shop period, how important a shopper eels a purchase decisionthe categorya.k.a., their level o involvementcould set the stage or a

    exploration o shopping behaviors. Some shoppers spend almost as muchweighing the merits o dierent toilet paper brands as others do in choosincar. Given how accessible inormation and reviews are or virtually any prodor service in the digital age, to assume that involvement is a unction ocategoryas opposed to the individual shopperis simply incorrect.

    Using predictive characteristics to define segmentsleads to clear targeting.

    Who is the Shopper?

    Likelihood to Purchase the Brand Potential ROI

    % ofShoppers

    % of BrandsPotential Business17%

    11%

    6%

    4% 3%

    25%10%

    18%

    9%

    16%

    10%

    19%

    27%

    22%

    44%

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    others on a regular basis. Nevertheless, many consumers will share theipersonal experiences with using or purchasing a brandeither with a snetwork, by writing a review, posting a picture or short video, the list caon and on i prompted to do so.

    With all the digital and mobile tools that most shoppers have at theirdisposal allowing them to broadcast their experiences with greater reacspeed than at any prior time in history, including questions about shopp

    behavior post-purchase in segmentation research should be a given.

    Including the Digital and Mobile JourneyWhich brings us to another component o shopper marketing thats vermuch on the minds o marketers these days: digital and mobile media. quote Dina Howell, CEO o Saatchi & Saatchi X, again, shopper marketisnt just about cardboard displays anymoreu nd t ccmmth w shpps bhv nw, nd tht mns in sts nd ninWhen it comes to developing dierent shopper segments, theres everyreason to believe that digital and mobile usage, behavior, and engagem

    could be an important criterion on which to base a segmentationit copredict protability to programmingand, at the very least, would beprecious descriptive inormation to have or each group.

    As a refection o the growing role o digital in shoppemarketing, Saatchi & Saatchi X reported that not evenyears ago, a scant 10% o its in-store marketing campaincluded an online component, but virtually everythingdo now has digital elements. Not to be outdone, accoto a Jupiter Research orecast, spending on mobileretail campaigns in 2012 will hit $15 billion globallya

    50% increase over 2011. Especially i a marketer wantssegmentation to guide digital and mobile, having a udigital/mobile prole o the segments will prove morehelpul to strategy development.

    The amount o time an individual shopper spends researching a purchasecould be another behavioral characteristic to investigate. The Wall StreetJournalreported recently, Its well known that consumers researchexpensive products like electronics online, but coming out o the recession,cnsums m scupuus but schin thi vdpducts such s dips nd dtnt, t. One consumer electronicsmanuacturer we worked with discovered that the more time a shopper put

    into reading and reviewing inormation about TVs prior to buying one, themore open and protable the shopper was to their brand.

    Determining what the key infuencers are or shoppers leading up to thestore visit is inormation o exceptional importance. Prior to the store, whatsources do shoppers pay attention to or consult? Advertising? Friendsand amily? Retail sites? On-line circulars? Product reviews on retailer ormanuacturer websites? Do they seek out opinions o category expertsand/or bloggers? Do they do a lot o on-line searches? Do they takeadvantage o sampling opportunities?

    Moving to the shop stage, marketers should thoroughly investigate retail

    partners and channels o distribution. What characteristics do they look orin a retailer when theyre buying in the category? Where do they do mosto their purchasing in the category and how well does the retailereitherbricks-and-mortar or online sitethey requent do at delivering thesecharacteristics? Do coupons, shopper loyalty cards, or other incentivesmove them towards one store or another? Once in-store, what do they payattention to? Store circulars? Displays? QR codes? In-aisle coupons? BOGOoers? Live product demos? Shopper card incentives?

    Post-shop, what happens? Depending on the category, do shoppers registertheir product? Sign-up to receive product updates and news? Do shopperstake advantage o the loyalty rewards they earned? Post-purchase advocacyis also a very hot topic in marketing in general these days, and no less soin shopper marketing. Intriguingly, we nd most brands have very ew trueadvocatesconsumers who love a brand and want to share their love with

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    To explore how shoppers use digital and mobile media along their journey,questions might include:

    How much time shoppers spend online? How much time on mobile devices? What websites do they visit? Where are they most engaged? Where are they most receptive?

    What types o mobile devices do they own? Where do they go on their mobile devices? Do they use mobile deviceswhi shppin? How? What mobile apps do they use?

    O course, no study o digital media would be complete without a closerlook at social media habits and behaviors. Recognizing that theres aspectrum o engagement with social, at the end o the day itd be quitehelpul or marketers to know what the distribution is within dierentsegments. There are many dierent typologies that depict digital mediausage and engagement. The one below comes rom our sister rm Carat.

    The key here is to collect this data or the brand(s) or product category(interest in the sm survey employed to do the segmentation and to insome o the same questions ound in the survey used to create the typo

    One brand we worked with applied a digital typology to its shoppersegments to give their digital agency some direction on the socialprograms that could be used to engage the target groups. It ound a hconcentration o Connectors, who tended to use social networks to s

    inormation with riends and amily, and Commentators, who take pain on-line discussions/orums. The digital agency could use this breakdocoupled with an understanding o the needs and attitudes unique to thsegment to crat social media promotions and campaigns tied to the brin-store shopper programs.

    The Path to Purchase: Follow That Target!Once they have selected a specic target or programming, many markdelve urther into path to purchase analysis to pinpoint where targetshoppers are most interested in receiving communications rom the braGiven that in many categories, to echo Jim Lecinski, managing directorU.S. sales and service at Google, the once linear purchase unnel is nomore like a neuron, with branches that let shoppers move orward andbackward through the process until theyre ready to make a decision,charting the shoppers journeywhile not exactly simple to domakes

    Index is determined as the % people in each typology with the market segmentdivided by the % in each typology among the total sample.

    S PECTAT ORS CONNECTORS COMMENTATORS AUTHORS

    11%Index = 104

    32%Index = 145

    23%Index = 180

    16%Index = 214As part of the segmentation, capture how your targets behave

    in the digital environment.

    What do you do on-line, on your mobile device, etc.?

    LOWLevelsofDigitalSocialBehavior

    Neither createor consumeonline social

    media

    INACTIVES

    Read posts,watch videos,

    listen topodcasts

    SPECTATORS

    Use socialnetworks,

    share/managephotos/videos

    CONNECTORS

    Take part inonline

    discussion/forums

    COMMENTATORS

    Write ownblogs or

    web pages

    AUTHORS

    Know How to Reach and Engage Your Shopper Target with Social Media

    HIGHLevels

    ofDigitalSocialBehavio

    r

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    some good sense. Our plug here is that ollowing a spcifc shpp ttmakes or an even wiser investment.

    F th pups idntiin th xct mmnts, msss, ndcmmunictintctics tht wi mst ctiv mv th tt twd bnd nd ti, marketers would do well to blow out the path topurchase more ully to look something like this:

    inspiration > exploration > consideration > trial > satisaction > advocation

    Usually theres some triggering events that gets shoppers to start downthe path. A paint company we worked with, or instance, ound our basiccategories o catalytic events:

    1. Noticed the room looked dingy2. Liked a room at riends house3. Read about a room makeover in a magazine4. Watched a room makeover on TV

    Shoppers next start doing some research. The vital inormation or marketers

    to nd out is where and to whom do shoppers go to get some product/service/brand guidance. It could be a retail location or a website to learnmore. Maybe they post a question on their twitter eed or on their wall onFacebook, or, these days, see what might be on Pinterest. Probably atersome period o consideration o dierent options, they make a selection andbuy a brand. The hope is theyll eel satised with their purchase, but i theyrenot, they may seek out assistance rom dierent sources to resolve the issues.Some may even share experiences, reviews, or really push or a brand.

    As most marketers know, a shoppers desire to listen to and engage witha brand doesnt necessarily rise to a peak during the research phase and

    all precipitously aterwards as they shop and buy. Isolating each stage tdtmin wh ths mmnts hihtnd pnnss t vst and what underlying motivations might be driving them should shapecommunications strategy.

    An auto parts manuacturer we worked with wanted to use inormationabout the digital behaviors o the dierent market segments specicallyduring the exploration phase o the path to purchase to improve theeectiveness and eciency o digital communications to shoppers. In oresearch, we discovered that some shoppers did on-line research pre-purchase to nd the right product or their situation and needs, while owanted to make sure they werent going to get ripped o when they wto make a purchase. The messages our client might deliver to address very distinct drivers and infuence the shoppers decision-making procewould clearly take dierent orms.

    Marketers are also well-aware that shoppers do sometimes drop out althe path to purchase. Many studies, or instance, estimate that, regardlthe product or service a shopper is purchasing, up t 75% shppcts bndnd b th s is csd. It happens or manydierent reasons. In the case o shopping carts, it could be the check-oprocess was conusing or too long. Moving away rom shopping carts,sometimes in researching products in one category, a shopper nds ou

    about a solution to their problem oered in another. Other times its prilack o availability, or a poor merchandising at a retail store that causesshoppers to jump ship. Assessing the magnitude o the problem amontarget shoppers, guring out when it happens, and why provides guidaor retaining shoppers and keeping them moving toward a brand.

    Some brands also make it arther along the path in the considerationset than others and or marketers itd be helpul to know which brandssurvive each step. I bnd s ut ptt in th cnsidtist, wht th bis? Veriying when the target makes the branddecisionbeore getting to the storehas many ramications or shop

    marketing. I the decision most oten occurs beore the shopper gets tostore, advertising might play a bigger role in swaying brand selection indirection or another than i the decision occurs at the store, where in-stdisplays or eatures could be the primary infuencers.

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    Post-purchase, as we mentioned beore, the ht tpic th d isnticin nd mtivtin advocacy behaviors such as posting a commenton Facebook, writing a review, or chatting with riends. As part o its newCoverGirl Smoky Eye Look makeup kit, or example, P&G encouragedshoppers on Facebook and through other online advertising to write reviewso the product ater their purchase. As more marketers add elements oshopper campaigns specic to this post-tailing period, closely analyzingwhere post-purchase experiences are getting disseminated, how oten,and are they positive or negative would give marketers, among many otherthings, some indication o how shoppers might like to be engaged withorat least apt to behaveollowing a shopping trip.

    At the end o the day, marketers want an analysis o the path to purchase totell them where the bist pptunitis are t inunc cnsidtin

    nd puchs and what the critical orms o communication and keymessages are at each stage. Even just an approximation o where and howan increase in a brands presence will have the greatest eect on store trac,sales, loyalty, and advocacy would shed some light on which o the myriadways to reach and engage a customer will produce the highest return.

    Potential Profitability Along the Path to PurchaseExample: Interior Household Paint

    Stages of Path to Purchase Rank order of opportunity 16

    0

    $10m

    $20m

    $30m

    $40m

    $50m

    $60m

    $70m

    $80m

    PotentialProfitability

    I ns pi ra ti on E xp lo ra ti on C on si de ra ti on T ri al S at is fa ct io n A dv oc at io n

    1

    5

    2

    6

    34

    Mission Possible: Understanding How the Same ShopperCan Buy Differently, Depending on the Occasion

    Marketers also might like to get a good read on which o the literally mo shopping trips that take place every week hold the most value or thbrands and where shopper programs could be used to the greatest eT idnti th iht mix pducts nd tctics ti nd chnnptns, many marketers extensively explore the reasons shoppers hain t st t mk th puchs in the rst place.

    Given how busy most consumers perceive themselves to be, shoppersspend more time planning a visit to a retailer and n 60% shptips nw ccsin-bsda.k.a., shoppers had a specic reasongoing to a store to make a purchase in the category. Ask shoppers whbought shampoo the last time they went to the store, or example, yoget a variety o answers. It was part o my weekly shopping trip; I was time beore a meeting and went to the store; I just realized Id run outwas a great sale; I wanted to pamper mysel, and so on.

    The retailers where a shopper bought shampoo as part o a Weekly Sare likely dierent than those where the shopper went to Splurge andSpoil. How they shopthe day o the week, the time o the day, andbehaviors along the path to purchasealso probably vary depending the main driver o the shopping trip.

    Increased brandloyalty

    Increased foot trafficand market baskets

    Better shoppingexperience

    Understanding shopping occasions benefits all key stakeholders:a win-win-win

    SHOPPER

    BRAND RETAILER

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    In our hypothetical case o shampoo, oral care items like toothpaste, foss,and mouthwash all go in the cart at the same time during the Weekly

    Shop, though generally speaking it could be products inside or outside thecategory and/or even a brands own portolio. One requent oer we see ingrocery stores is a ree liter o Coke with a rozen pizza. Determining whattype o products tend to end up in the shoppers market basket at the sametime during dierent shopping occasions would assist brands and retailers inconguring and merchandising multi-product/multi-brand solutions.

    We cant emphasize enough the power o insights that indicate whatshopper marketing tactics will be the most eective during each step o thepath to purchase or each occasion. From the brands standpoint, marketerswill nd out which occasions hold opportunities or shopper programs. Its

    easy to conceive in some categories theres that last minute occasion, orinstance, thats mostly unplanned so theres little pre-shopping, the shopperis in and out o the store, and theres no post-shop activities to speak o onthe part o the shopper other than breathing a sigh o relie. Theres just noopening or shopper marketing in that situation. Yet or other occasions, such

    Shopping Occasions Segment ProfileWEEKLY SHOP

    as the Weekly Shop, shoppers are more open and available to inormcoming rom brands. In those cases, both brands and retailers could staget the specics on what programs are most infuential at eachstage o the journey during each occasion.

    Taking Shopper Marketing To The Next Level

    Simon Moore and Marina Foxlee, o Oxord Strategic Marketing,

    believe that marketers who ail to recognize and embrace the potentiaor shopper marketingdened as the capability to drive growth throinsight-led, shopper-based demand creation and ulllmentwill simpbe giting an opportunity to their feeter-ooted competitors. Naturallyone wants to miss an opportunity or get let behind, but taking the timne-tune research processes and tools to generate the kind o insights inspire breakthrough ideas and support superior execution should not goverlooked in a big competitive rush.

    Shopper marketing is at the same stage that digital was at in the 90s,Carl Hartman, WPP global team leader, put it to AdAge. Everyone go

    hot and bothered about digital, and then it turned out to be banner adToday, he said, Everybody knows that reaching consumers at the poinpurchase is an important place to reach them. So you have a video screa shopping cart is that really the big bang? Shopper marketing really hahit that 2.0 eeling yetbut its about to.

    Even with the changes brought on by the digitally-induced media andretail revolutions, succssu shpp mktin sti cms dwn tundstndin which shpps, tctics, nd ccsins hd th mptnti pft pptunit nd th biit t tnst this inm

    int pms tht pduc psitiv intctins nd xpincsk mmnts in th puchs pcss. Using a prot-driven, action-ocapproach to shopper segmentation, path to purchase analysis, and occasegmentation will deliver state-o-the-science insights that orm the ounto create and execute shopper programs that drive trac, sales, and loya

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    PeTer KrIegRecognized as one o Americas leading marketing consultants, Peter Kriegis President and CEO o Copernicus, a research-driven marketing consultingcompany in the business o transorming companies. He has been workingwith leading B2B and B2C brands to grow their brand equity and prot line

    or close to 30 years. He is the co-author o three books, Your Gut Is StillNot Smarter Than Your Head, Counterintuitive Marketing, and Market NewProducts Successfully Using Simulated Test Marketing.

    JeFF MaloyWith a deep background in brand management, Je leads marketingstrategy engagements that include a heavy emphasis on branding orconsumer and B2B clients. A senior vice president at Copernicus, Je has

    in-line experience at many o the worlds leading consumer packaged goodscompanies including Krat, and has worked across industries to help clientsunderstand how to develop highly eective and ecient programs thatmaximize sales and prots.

    2012 by Peter Krieg and Jeff MaloyCopyright holder is licensing this under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 3.0.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us

    Contact: Ami Bowen, (617) 449-4179 [email protected]

    About the Authors

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