It is October and as every year we not only find Halloween stuff at our local shopping malls and retailers but also a huge amount of pink displays, pink packaging, pink everything. October is the month dedicated to creating awareness for breast cancer and marketers increasingly use it as a platform to foster brand loyalty among their female customer base.

Cause marketing gained momentum in the last years and the Breast Cancer Awareness Month is only one of many different platforms. In this article, shoppernewsblog provides reasons for engaging in cause marketing, introduces some best practices along the path to purchase and gives advice on how to design your very own program.

So, how should your company design and maintain its Facebook fan page?

This is the second of a five-part series detailing how to best design your social media sites. In the first part we explained why your company should be present in social media.

In this part we explore Facebook while in the following chapters we will evaluate:

• Twitter (Part III)
• Pinterest (Part IV)
• YouTube (Part V)
• Measuring social media success (Part VI)

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How to design your brand’s fan page

Each Facebook fan page can be broken down into four parts, namely cover & profile picture, about section, categories, and posts.

a) Cover and profile picture

In most cases the profile picture shows the company’s logo. In some cases it is well-integrated into the cover photo (see ConAgra and P&G) while others seem to be forced in (i.e. Pepsi and Coca-Cola).

Moreover, the cover photo should communicate the brand on a visual basis. This can be achieved by functional (see Kraft Foods) or aspirational pictures (i.e. Pepsi).

Yet, the best cover photo seems to be Wal-Mart‘s as it communicates an actual promotion while fostering an emotional bond with its fans using photos of children in funny Halloween costumes.

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b) About section

The about section should be used to communicate in one single sentence your brand’s mission (i.e. P&G´s “Touching lives, improving life.”). Alternatively, it can explain the purpose of the Facebook fan page (see Kraft Foods).

However, it should not be longer than the content box permits (see ConAgra) as fans are unlikely to further investigate the about section. Also, Pepsi´s “Pepsi – | Facebook” is little appealing and communicates nothing.

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c) Timeline apps

Timeline apps are the tabs below the cover photo working similar as folders. Most Facebook fan pages share four common apps, namely “Likes“, “Photos“, “Videos“, “Events“. The “Likes” app serves as a kind of testimonial to users on how popular your page is. “Photos“, “Videos“, and “Events” are most often used for PR purposes depicting fans participating in some corporate event.

Yet, the real power of timeline apps lies in promoting less generic tabs with a clear call to action. Take for example Wal-Mart’s “Meal Solution” app. The site promotes a new recipe every day and users are invited to comment. Ingredients for the easy-to-prepare meals can be added to a virtual shopping list and users can access a store locator to find the nearest Wal-Mart store.

In order to achieve the highest impact, a brand should evaluate which apps to place first as only four tabs are visible. For the remaining apps, users have to click on the “show more” button.

Moreover, it is possible to direct users directly to these apps by publishing their link on other websites or social media platforms thus forwarding users to the very topic they are interesting in.

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d) Post section

The post section of a Facebook fan page is where most of the communication takes place. Brands engage in a two-way conversations and are advised to encourage user participation, the very essence of social media. But what if users post negative comments? There are basically three forms of intervention:

i) Do nothing and ignore the comment – It is common in social media to also receive negative feedback and a fan page with only enthusiastic comments is little credible. Hence, if the post is a statement within acceptable limits, brands are advised to just ignore it to not damage their credibility. For how this can go wrong, review Nestlé’s reaction to a negative post and the outrage it created.

ii) Correct wrong information – However, if somebody publishes incorrect information about your product (i.e. nutritional information) brands are advised to provide the correct information immediately to avoid rumours and myths from spreading. Consult our post “How To Become The World’s Most Social Brand – Gatorade’s Mission Control” to see how Gatorade deals with this problem.

iii) Delete post – For extreme posts which contain offensive language or conflict with ethical guidelines (i.e. discrimination of minorities), brands are advised to delete a post. Yet, it might be best to post a justification to provide clarification and maintain the company’s credibility.

With respect to the amount of posts to publish and the perfect timing, it is advised to post every second day at morning (8am) or in the evening (6pm)². Too frequent positing was proven to negatively affect a brand’s fan page¹.

Posts should be carefully analyzed using Facebook’s built-in tools to detect patterns among the most popular posts. This way a brand can optimize their communication with fans and adapt timeline apps and communication in other social media accordingly.

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Conclusion

Facebook fan pages require a different approach than regular websites do. Social media is about communication and hence a fan page can only flourish with the input of users.

Yet, companies have to eventually use the platform to create tangible results. These can be improvements to brand indicators but also increased sales. In our examples presented in this article, Wal-Mart stood out for creating both a platform for communication and commercial ends while fostering communication and strengthening their brand image.

Can your fan page compete with Wal-Marts?

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In our next post we will have a closer look at Twitter.

Click here for the complete table of content  or visit shoppernewsblog on Facebook.

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Did you find this chapter helpful? Please share your opinion with us by commenting on this post below.

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Sources:

¹ http://mashable.com/2012/09/24/facebook-brand-page-value/

² http://www.marketinggum.com/17-mistakes-companies-make-on-facebook-and-how-to-fix-them/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505143_162-28646786/nestles-facebook-page-how-a-company-can-really-screw-up-social-media/

Read in the first chapter of our six-part series on social media why your company can’t miss out on all these users.

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This is the first of a six-part series detailing how to best design your social media sites. In this first chapter we explain why your company needs to be present on social media sites. In the subsequent parts we will give advice on how to best design your presence on different social media platforms such as:

• Facebook (Part II)
• Twitter (Part III)
• Pinterest (Part IV)
• YouTube (Part V)
• Measuring social media success (Part VI)

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Why your brand needs to be present on Social Media platforms

If your brand is not present on social media sites so far and you are worrying if it makes sense at all, think about the 10 following advantages of social media:

1. Cheap - A brand’s fan page or account can be created for free without any initial cost. Yet companies are advised to invest in the site’s design and in the generation of content to create an appealing outpost for their brand.

2. Simple - Social media sites are quite intuitive and do not require any major IT expertise as they were created for the average person. Hence, brand managers should not have any trouble in handling their company’s fan page as they probably will use the same service for private purposes.

3. Reach – According to a recent infographic, the top 250 brands on social media on average recruit some 935,000 followers on Facebook and another 57,000 on Twitter³. Your brand might probably recruit less but your present and future customers certainly will be using some of the social networking sites analyzed in this series.

4. Interaction – Users who visit your brand fan page choose to do so and hence are actively looking for information on your company. Provide them with what they want and they will become loyal visitors of your account.

5. Conversations – In contrast to traditional media, social networking sites are based on two-way conversations. Instead of the brand having a monologue, fans want to interact with your company. Hence, users are more engaged and thus more receptive to receiving branded content.

6. Brand ambassadors – Interacting with customers on social media sites will help your company to recruit valuable brand ambassadors who will talk favorably about your brand and eventually recommend your company to friends online and offline. As a result, they represent a powerful and free form of customer testimonials.

7. Feedback – Companies receive immediate feedback on posts and comments they publish. They can use these insights to improve their communication online and to adjust their marketing strategy in traditional media.

8. Analytics – The free analytical tools imbedded in social media sites allow you to understand the very demographics of your audience and to evaluate which posts generated a buzz. Hence, it becomes quite easy to continuously improve the content of your brand’s site to increase engagement and loyalty among your fans.

9. Marketing - Although social media is all about conversation, your fan page still is nothing else than an additional channel of communication. Use it to publish new product launches, promotions or other relevant messages to customers. If your fans wouldn´t be interested in this type of content, they wouldn’t have become a fan in the first place.

10. Shopping habits – Brands which want to stay competitive have to adapt to younger generations’ shopping habits. Millennials for example are more than three times as likely to consult social media like Facebook or Twitter when looking for opinions about products to buy⁴. Moreover, 64% of millennials “feel that companies should offer more ways to share their opinions online in the future – and they’ll continue to participate“⁴.

If you would like to find out more on how millennials shop, please consult our post Millennials – How, Where And Why They Shop.

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Conclusion

Considering the figures mentioned in the introduction and taking into account some of the advantages we mentioned in this article, it comes as no surprise that brands want to be present in the major social media networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

Nevertheless, many fail to create an online presence which is appealing to customers as they apply the same one-way communication strategies they use for traditional media. Social media however is very different and thus requires it very own approach.

In the following four chapters we will give detailed recommendations on how to best design your brand’s social media presence in order to create an appealing and successful outpost for your company. We will give advice on how to design your site’s layout, how to generate relevant content, and how to interact appropriately with fans. The final part of the series, part VI, will provide guidance on how to measure a brand’s performance on social media sites.

As we will see in the following parts of this series, even the most popular brands commit subtle errors which too often result in angry fans and a public relations disaster.

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Click here for the complete table of content.

For more infographics related to shopper marketing, please visit us on Facebook.

If you are interested in how Gatorade uses cutting-edge technology to become the most social brand on the internet, please click here.

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Did you find this chapter helpful? Please share your opinion with us by commenting on this post below.

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Sources:

¹ http://newsroom.fb.com/News/One-Billion-People-on-Facebook-1c9.aspx

² http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-media-users_b22556

³ http://www.bestinfographic.co.uk/2012/05/14/top-250-internet-retailers-on-social-media-infographic/

⁴ http://econsultancy.com/ar/blog/8806-how-social-influences-millennials-shopping-decisions-infographic

The claim of the campaign is as simple as enticing: “Drop a jeans size in two weeks” simply by following Special K‘s dieting plan.

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In 2003, Special K was facing a tricky question: How to increase sales in the breakfast category in which the brand already had acquired a dominant market position and which was considered to be a mature industry?

The solution was to create a second consumption occasion during the day. But how to promote it? Kellogg‘s marketers came up with an ingenious idea: Create a dieting plan which is based on a bowl of Special K‘s cereals for breakfast and another to replace lunch or dinner. Moreover, the campaign is based on an appealing promise: Drop a jeans size in just two weeks!

Along the entire path to purchase, Kellogg’s developed an elaborate communication plan which accompanies shoppers.

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AT HOME

On the brand’s website, users can access abundant information on how to achieve their goal of loosing weight. Users can create their very own dieting plan based on a personal goal. The website also includes a wide range of healthy recipes to facilitate the preparation of a complete dieting plan. Moreover, relaxation and fitness tips are available to stress the importance of a balanced lifestyle.

On Facebook, the brand publishes dates and locations of special events (i.e. marathons). Furthermore, users can access a video series called Tracey’s Journey which accompanies a regular female customer during the Special K Challenge. So far, the fan site received 840,512 likes and the brand recruited nearly 7,500 followers on twitter.

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ON-THE-GO & IN-STORE

Recently, the company also developed an app, My Special K, which allows its users to “design a unique weight management plan, access daily menus, track progress, receive helpful tips, find Challenge-friendly recipes and access Special K’s full suite of products“¹.

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POST-PURCHASE

Back at home, users are encouraged to share their progress and achievements on Facebook thus converting customers into valuable brand ambassadors.

JWT Kuala Lumpur went even a step further. They designed a complete two-week bundle pack containing Special K packages plus a nightshirt with a measuring scale to track success.

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CONCLUSION

Kellogg’s Special K Drop a Jeans Size Challenge became one of the company’s most successful campaigns. Its huge success led the cereal giant to extend its Special K product line to cereal bars, crisps and drinks.

The brand marketers successfully picked one of their customers’ main worries and designed a consistent communication strategy along the entire path to purchase. By leveraging consumer testimonials and by recruiting brand ambassadors via social media, Special K increased awareness and shopper engagement.

The campaign was also awarded a Bronze Effie Award for creating “(…) a brand whose relevance has grown beyond summer and the breakfast occasion and whose global net sales have almost doubled over the past 4 years to $1.5bn” (quote from 2008)².

shoppernewsblog is fascinated by Special K‘s innovative approach to creating new consumption opportunities and the use of social media to facilitate its costumers to solve a concrete problem, namely weight loss. For this reason we decided to award Kellogg’s Special K with the Shopper Solution Of The Month Award.

Thank you Kellogg’s Special K for making loosing weight a little less hideous!

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View all winners per month:

Shopper Solution Of The Month

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For more information on Shopper Solutions, please consult our introductory chapter or click on the tag Shopper Solutions.

Find here more innovative shopper marketing campaigns which try to offer a solution to obesity in our modern societies.

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What’s your Shopper Solution Of The Month? Please comment so we can take it into account for future awards.

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For an in-depth analysis of the success story, please have a look at Effie’s Awards evaluation from 2008:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/effie_assets/2008/2857/2008_2857_pdf_1.pdf

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Sources:

¹ http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/SpecialKmyPlanApp/prweb8019493.htm

² http://www.effie.org/winners/showcase/2008/2857

http://www.specialk.com/#

http://www.facebook.com/specialkus

http://www.jwt.com/measuringtee

In this article shoppernewsblog summarizes insights from various studies to help our readers prioritize spending of their marketing budget in order to achieve the maximum impact along the entire path to purchase.

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What Are The Most Effective Shopper Marketing Vehicles?

To answer the question we raised in the introduction, we first have to understand what marketing vehicles actually exist and how to best categorize them.

Shopper Marketing 4.0 – Building Scalable Playbooks That Drive Results (GMA and Booz&Company)

The study published in 2010 analyzes 49 single vehicles which can be classified into 7 different platforms. For the study, 2,706 shoppers, 34 manufacturers, and 28 shopper marketing experts were interviewed to determine the effectiveness of each marketing vehicle. To the right you can find a first classification according to brand objective and the stage of the path to purchase.

In exhibit 2, you find the level of adoption of different materials along various platforms. Note that mobile marketing and social media was little adopted when the study was conducted. Yet, it is likely that adoption rates have changed in the last two years.

In a final step, the study categorizes vehicles according to their brand objectives and along various platforms to provide marketers with a guideline for prioritizing investment in different marketing vehicles. In exhibit 3 you can see recommendations for “Awareness and Consideration” while exhibit 4 and 5 are dedicated to  “Trial and Purchase” and “Loyalty and Advocacy“, respectively.

The advantage of the study is that it offers a clear structure and a simple classification scheme. Nevertheless, the insights were obtained from averaging results from different product categories and hence marketers still have to conduct their very own studies to determine which vehicle works best for their product. Moreover, as the study was conducted in 2010, some insights might already be outdated (i.e. effectiveness of mobile marketing).

Still, the report might offer the most exhaustive comparison of different shopper marketing vehicles along the path to purchase currently available.

For a pdf version of the study, please click here.

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How To Measure The Effectiveness Of Marketing Vehicles

Digital Shopper Marketing Vehicles

Measuring the effectiveness of digital shopper marketing vehicles is often easier and straightforward. For example, a company can calculate the exact ratio of cashed-in coupons to coupons handed out at the cashier and thus, efficiently evaluate the effectiveness of that vehicle. Thus, we will not further elaborate on this here.

For more information on how to measure Digital Shopper Marketing, please visit our introductory chapter.

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Traditional Shopper Marketing Vehicles

Measuring the effectiveness of traditional shopper marketing vehicles is often a more expensive and laborious process. Thus, the two remaining articles presented here will be dedicated to introducing different approaches for measuring the effectiveness of traditional marketing vehicles.

2012 Shopper Engagement Study – Media Topline Report (POPAI)

POPAI draws both attention and criticism for its famous “76% of purchase decisions are made at the point of sale“² statement. Thus, it might be best to take a look at the raw data and draw one’s own conclusion.

The study was conducted between 2011 and 2012 and is based on interviews with 2,400 shoppers and 210 shoppers using EEG/ eye-tracking devices.

According to its topline report, endcaps and free-standing displays are the most frequently recalled vehicles. Moreover, in-store displays attracted 13% of all eye-fixations and thus might positively affect sales (see Exhibit 6). Accordingly, “(m)ore than 1 in 6 purchases are made when a display with that brand is present in store“². As a consequence, marketers increasingly look for additional locations for displays and thus the number placed in secondary locations (away from actual aisle) has constantly grown from 47% in 1995 to 60% in 2012.

The full study is only available if your company is registered with POPAI. To access the topline report, please click here.

Inside The Mind Of The Shopper – The Science Of Retailing (Herb Sorensen)

Herb Sorensen presents in his book “inside the mind of the shopper” results from a case study during which his team analyzed shoppers’ exposure to different in-store visual media (see Exhibit 7).

Although the insights can not be generalized without further analysis, the sample case study also points to end-aisle displays and free- standing product display racks as to be the most efficient shopper marketing vehicle at the point of sale while interactive displays score rather poorly.

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Summary

The studies presented in this article should not be considered the ultimate guide to shopper marketing vehicles for various reasons:

• First, the above-mentioned studies were conducted in the US and thus might be applicable to other countries only on a limited basis.
• Second, especially information on fast evolving media and technology (i.e. social media or mobile marketing) already might be outdated the day it is published.
• Third, the effectiveness of marketing vehicles presented in the studies above is based on averages across product categories. Hence, we can not conclude with certainty which materials work best for a specific category as for example pet food.

In consequence, retailers, brand managers, and marketers will still need to conduct their very own analysis to arrive at the ideal spending mix of their marketing budget. Nevertheless, this article is intended to provide our readers with an (almost) exhaustive list of marketing vehicles available and to provide a general guide on how to best categorize and analyze them to ultimately arrive at a more successful execution at the point of sale.

Nevertheless, chances are high that you are better off opting for the old-fashioned endcap when promoting a new dog food brand instead of spending your entire marketing budget on a fancy interactive kiosk. But maybe you can prove us all wrong.

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Find below our form for defining and measuring the effectiveness of marketing vehicles which will allow you to keep track of the results of each single vehicle and hence, help you to optimize the spending of your marketing budget.

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Click here for the complete table of content.

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Did you find this chapter helpful? Please share your opinion with us by commenting on this post below.

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Sources:

¹ http://www.booz.com/media/uploads/BoozCo_GMA_Shopper_Marketing_4.0-2.pdf

² http://www.popai.com/engage/docs/Media-Topline-Final.pdf

³ Sorensen, H. (2011). Inside the mind of the shopper – The science of retailing, Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

In recent years however, more and more innovative start-ups promise real-world stores to provide them with this very same information.

In this article, shoppernewsblog introduces five start-ups which equip the traditional bricks-and-mortar store with the necessary weapons to successfully compete with online retailers in the 21st century.

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1. Shopperception

Shopperception is an analytical tool which, through motion-capturing technology, allows to retrieve real-time shopper data at the point of sale. Placing a Microsoft’s Kinect devise invisibly above an aisle, the software allows to prepare heat maps and analyses of numerous variables, such as number of aisle visitors, dwelling time, product interaction (touch, pick-up, return, conversion), and much more.

Shopperception offers various advantages over similar technologies and hence provides superior shopper insights by:

• Analyzing multiple shoppers at the same time
• Avoiding interviewer bias and subjectivity
• Operating 7×24
• Providing shopper confidentiality by using mathematical algorithm instead of video analysis
• Utilizing automated processes
• Serving as a source for new shopper insights

Click on the sample report to the right to enlarge.

shoppernewsblog had the opportunity to observe a test trial at a supermarket recently. We were impressed by the depth of information Shopperception is able to retrieve without interfering with consumers’ natural shopping behavior.

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2. Shopper Retail Insight

Making use of existing securities cameras in retail outlets, SRI analyzes the footage to generate unique shopper insights. Through “software, derived from sports science, our team of analysts tag each and every significant action that your shoppers take“¹. This way, SRI is able to analyze:

• Shopping paths
• Category management performance
• Queuing behavior
• Effectiveness of POP material and promotions
• Shopper interaction with products
• Shopper behavior to generate actionable insights

Clients of SRI include for example Kraft Foods and Cadbury. According to the company’s website, P&G recently contracted SRI to analyze “shopper types, shopper journeys, conversion rates, heat maps and staff service to name just a few“¹ in the beauty category. Apart from recommending new KPI’s to measure P&G´s performance at the point of sale, SRI also established benchmarks for future measurements.

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3. Digby

Digby’s Localpoint is a software which can be embedded into a brand’s or retailer’s app to analyze shopper behavior based on geofencing, both around the store and in-store. The software then “measure(s) application engagement and events such as geofence entries/exists, store visits, UPC/QR Code scans and other key shopping-oriented events triggered through the application as the consumer visits the store and uses their smartphone to find and research products to enhance their in-store shopping experience“².

Based on the real-time information retrieved from the shopper, brands and retailers can then send targeted marketing messages. For example, a brand might choose to send a  promotional offer to shoppers when they arrive at a specific aisle or display. Brand apps which include an online commerce function can also encourage to buy the product right away online thus offering a multi-channel experience but also fostering the problem of showrooming.

Find a definition of showrooming at the end of this article.

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4. Qubulus

Qubulus is an indoor positioning technology leveraging on shoppers’ mobile phone devices to track with extreme accuracy shopper paths without depending on RFID.

Qubulus does not make use of GPS either as its signal would be too weak to penetrate most buildings. Instead, Qubulus relies on radio fingerprinting which recognizes the very characteristics of each position in a store and the radio signal a mobile phone emits.

The technology itself then not only allows to analyze shopper behaviour indoors, but also to interact with shoppers based on their very location. According to the company’s website, Qubulus allows for “(n)avigation, proximity alerts, store locators, location-based product searches (…)³. Based on the information obtained, store owners can optimize their store outlay to match the natural path of shoppers.

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5. Euclid

Euclid analytics promises bricks-and-mortar stores the same depth of shopper data which only online retailers could retrieve so far. The technology is based on identifying shoppers with smartphones outside and inside of a store and then using a software to examine their behavior.

According to Euclid‘s website, the easy to set-up sensor and software enables shop owners to measure:

• Window conversion rate
• Store hours optimization
• New vs repeat visitors
• Dwell time
• Customer loyalty / frequency

The low-cost and intuitive software allows shop owners to test hypothesis with ease and thus is ideal for smaller stores and shop owners lacking outstanding analytical skills or computer expert knowledge.

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Outlook

The above-mentioned five technologies enable traditional bricks-and-mortar stores to access information which until now was only available to their online competitors. Using the technologies presented in this article, retailers and FMCG companies can amass huge amounts of shopper data in real-time and thus generate actionable shopper insights which ultimately will result in higher sales and increased shopper loyalty.

Moreover, most shopper data provided by the established research companies such as Nielsen and IRI, is already weeks old when being analyzed and thus lacks the power of instant interaction with shoppers. However, the above-mentioned technologies provide  real-time information on shopper behavior and thus allow for personalized communication at the store level.

In consequence, online retailers might just be about to lose one of their main advantage.

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Showrooming

Wikipedia defines showrooming as “the act of examining merchandise in a brick and mortar retail store without purchasing it there, then shopping online to find a lower price for the same item“⁴. Some retailers already threatened FMCG companies to charge a fee for showrooming their products to compensate for their loss in sales to online retailers. Others prefer to launch their own online retailing platform to avoid losing shoppers to virtual competitors.

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Click “5 technologies That Change Shopper Marketing” to access all posts from this series.

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What do you recommend to traditional bricks-and-mortar stores for competing successfully with online retailers?

Please share your opinion with us.

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 Sources:

http://www.shopperception.com/

¹ http://www.shopperretailinsight.com/

² http://www.digby.com/

³ http://www.qubulus.com/#

http://euclidelements.com/

⁴ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showrooming

Showrooming picture retrieved from http://www.adexchanger.com/comic-strip/adexchanger-showrooming/

The founders call their concept “the first walkable recipe book” as shoppers can choose from 20 recipes their favorite one and purchase the exact quantity of all ingredients in a single store. The result: A healthier food alternative, increased convenience, and above all happy shoppers!

According to one of the founders, former McKinsey consultant Ramin Goo, a negative experience was the initial inspiration.

When he invited some colleagues to have dinner at his place, he realized how difficult and tedious is to do the grocery. Shoppers have to know in advance what they want to cook, ideally prepare a shopping list and then buy all the necessary ingredients most of the time at various different stores. Instead of a pleasurable experience, the shopping trip was a real nightmare.

So, Ramin was wondering if there couldn’t be a store similar to a walkable recipe book where you get inspired and buy only the very ingredients you really need.

Founded in 2010 in Berlin, Kochhaus is growing steadily, was nominated for the German Innovators Award and attracted attention not only from distressed urban citizens but also from the world press. Despite all the interest, the start-up opts for a slow growth carefully selecting its franchise partners in Germany. Thus, there are currently only five outlets, two in Berlin and three in Hamburg.

The stores themselves are decorated in a very natural way to underline the company’s commitment to a sustainable business (i.e. colaborate with local organic food producers, use environmental-friendly packaging, and so on). Each single recipe is placed on a wooden table with the very ingredients it requires wrapped individually in ecological packaging. Not more than 20 always changing recipes are developed by the company’s chefs.

To the right you can find a recipe for codfish with mediterranean vegetables and fresh herbs. For six persons, you will get exactly eight potatoes, eight tomatoes, one clove of garlic, and so on. If you already got some garlic at home or just want to cook for two persons, you can leave unnecessary ingredients thus positively reducing waste of perishable goods.

The recipes themselves are classified into three categories according to their difficulty, ranging from easy to hard. Moreover, all dishes can be prepared in less than 60 minutes acknowledging the usual lack of time of Kochhaus‘ clientele. The portfolio includes starters, main dishes and desserts to allow its customers even the preparation of a sophisticated dinner at home. Prices range from Euro 1.90 (U$ 1.51) to Euro 9.70 (U$ 7.71). Furthermore, for each dish Kochhaus recommends the appropriate wine which is available at affordable prices as well.

To the shopper who prefers even more convenience, Kochhaus also offers a flexible subscription service including up to one starter, three main dishes, and one dessert for two persons at Euro 49 (U$ 38.96). Customers who do not want to compromise themselves, can opt for same-day-delivery orders. They can choose from one of the dishes of the menu and get the very ingredients delivered to their door steps the same evening.

Kochhaus also offers cooking classes and published its very own book containing 80 different recipes. Additionally, customers can acquire gift vouchers and contract Kochhaus to organize events.

On Facebook, Kochhaus already recruited 13,192 followers and the start-up is considered one of the most innovative new food retailers in Europe.

shoppernewsblog is fascinated by Kochhaus‘ commitment to offering high quality products at fair prices while providing a service which acknowledges the very needs of busy urban citizens. Kochhaus in itself is a shopper solution and thus convinced us to award them with the Shopper Solution Of The Month Award.

Ramin and his team recognized that modern shoppers are too busy and do not have the time after work to browse various stores for their groceries to prepare an elaborate dinner. Yet, shoppers also do not wish to depend merely on frozen and often poor-quality microwave dinner solutions.

Congratulations to Ramin and his team and thank you for offering us a healthy and sustainable food alternative!

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View all winners per month:

Shopper Solution Of The Month

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For more information on Shopper Solutions, please consult our introductory chapter or click on the tag Shopper Solutions.

For similar websites and mobile applications, please read our post on Best Practices For Digital Shopper Marketing.

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What’s your Shopper Solution Of The Month? Please comment so we can take it into account for future awards.

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Sources:

All photos retrieved from the company’s website www.kochhaus.de

Articles in English:

International Herald Tribune http://www.kochhaus.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Int.HeraldTribune_06.10.10.pdf

For more articles (mostly in German) please visit http://www.kochhaus.de/presse/pressebeitraege/

Industry experts agree, they will completely change the way we shop and interact with brands.

Is your company prepared to life up to their standards?

Millennials are very different from previous generations for various reasons:

• Ethnically diverse
• Hyper-connected due to the internet and social media
• Spoiled with respect to available options

Millennials can choose from more options at every moment than any other generation before. Nevertheless, they also face an above-average employment rate in comparison to the general population which results in highly skeptical and disloyal shoppers. Millennials switch retail stores and consumer goods brands without hesitation if a competitor convinces with a superior value proposition.

So how can you successfully market to this extremely skeptical and disloyal demographic?

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General considerations

Millennials, as mentioned in the introduction, are facing an above-average unemployment rate. At the same time, due to recent technological advancement (internet, free software, etc.), millennials create more content, products and services than any other generation before.

This results in an increased do-it-yourself mentality: “One in three millennials are taking a “self-driven” approach to beauty care, for instance, opting for at-home products vs. a trip to the spa or salon. And 38% of millennials say they “self-treat” when possible to avoid costly doctor visits“².

Though limited in financial terms by the macroeconomic situation, they leverage the possibilities of the digital age to create a virtue. Instead of visiting expensive beauty shops and health centers, they pamper themselves at home as millennials “spend more than the average shopper on hair care, sun care, cosmetic products and body scrubbers and massagers“³.

Moreover, millennials are multi-channel shoppers using digital devices to search for information, to compare products and to execute the payment at the local store. Often, they purchase online right away to circumvent traditional stores completely. They are used to having instant access to an infinite number of options and hence, expect permanent availability and accessibility from retailers and FMCG.

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Selection of retailer

According to a recent AdAge article, traditional grocery stores remain the top shopping option. But millennials prefer drugstores over convenience stores as the former offers a quick and convenient shopping experience while the latter is perceived to have a limited assortment at higher prices.

Convenience is highly important to millennials and consequently “(g)rocery delivery services, convenience stores, and online retailers are becoming increasingly important food sources“⁴.

Nevertheless, millennials also want to be entertained while shopping. According to AdAge, “fun to shop at” is one of the key attributes for millennials when selecting their retailer of choice.

See our previous post “Entertain Your Shoppers And Let Them Play” for 5 ideas on how to make shopping more fun in order to prepare your retail store for this new generation of shoppers.

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Selection of brand

Millennials feel socially responsible and demand a similar commitment from private companies. “Some 83% percent of Millennials will trust a company more if it is socially or environmentally responsible. Almost 9 out of 10 Millennials will switch from one brand to another—price and quality being equal—if the second brand is associated with a good cause“³.

Recent food scandals such as the mouth and claw disease or the bird flew made millennials sensitive to issues related to nutrition. They increasingly value freshness and organic options produced by local manufacturers.

Nevertheless, the top four criteria for selecting a FMCG brand also reflects their limited financial resources. “Item price” is the number one criterion followed by “previous product usage” (risk-averse shopping behavior).

In summary, millennials demand FMCG to be socially committed and to offer sustainable quality products. Nevertheless, due to their financial limitations they are not willing to pay a premium price.

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Outlook

Retailers are increasingly adapting to the needs and lifestyles of millennials. “Some big grocery store chains, like Safeway, are incorporating the needs of millennials into their future business plan by offering store-brand organic products, grocery delivery, and smartphone apps. Even staple brands like Campbell’s are now trying to embrace organic trends“.

So, for those retailers and FMCG companies which want to prepare for this new generation of shoppers, we recommend to keep in mind the following 5 rules:

• Ensure competitive prices
• Offer high quality goods (i.e. fresh & organic food)
• Facilitate convenient shopping (i.e. delivery, electronic payments via smart phone, etc.)
• Be active on digital platforms and participate in social media communications to engage with your millennial shoppers
• Introduce or participate in programs which demonstrate your social responsibility (i.e. Wal-Mart’s annual Breast Cancer Awareness)

Keeping in mind these 5 simple rules your company, being it a retailer or a FMCG company, will be prepared for facing this new, highly skeptical and disloyal, shopper generation. The benefits certainly outweigh the costs as companies slowly adapting to change will be driven out of the market faster than ever before.

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Sources:

¹ http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/8806-how-social-influences-millennials-shopping-decisions-infographic

² http://adage.com/article/news/millennials-spending-precious-dollars-cpgs/235960/

³ http://www.marketingprofs.com/store/product/1904/engaging-millennials-how-to-win-their-brand-loyalty

⁴ http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/07/11/156625861/wake-up-call-to-grocery-stores-young-people-shop-around?sc=tw&cc=share

shoppernewsblog

To counteract the visual pollution at the often small stores, Victoria devised 5 simple strategies that companies can apply to stand out at the point of sale to transmit their message.

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Stimuli And Human Processing Capacity

Much of our interaction with the environment is defined by processing the visual stimuli that surround us. Any routine act that we perform seemingly effortless consists of an infinite number of processes while at the same time the processing capacity of our mind is quite limited. According to Desimone and Duncan (1995), stimuli compete for neural resources.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) is the most advanced technology available today for studying the brain. It measures the magnetic properties of hemoglobin (red blood cell component) responsable for carrying oxygen to all body cells. When the brain is working, the greater its “fuel” consumption, and hence, the greater is the flow of oxygenated blood to the site in question.

This FMRI is typically used to diagnose tumors, strokes, joint injuries and other conditions that can’t be identified by x-ray analysis, but neuromarketers applied MRI to understand how many stimuli a person can process simultaneously. The result was that human beings can process a maximum of 3 at a time.

Currently, the excess of visual stimuli is more evident than ever. Studies have shown that the more stimuli a person is exposed to, the harder it is to attract his/her attention.

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The Traditional Channel In Argentina

Stores are small outlets averaging 40 m2 where you can buy all the groceries and are generally attended by the owners themselves. The traditional channel is frequented mainly by middle and lower-class shoppers for their daily shopping trips.

The point of sale is saturated with communication targeting shoppers, from toothbrushes to dog food. Everyone wants to sell. Communications are no different in this environment and become part of the landscape.

But not all is lost! I would like to share some simple guidelines for effective communication in the Traditional Channel.

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5 Tips For Effective Communication In The Traditional Channel

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1. Know Your Target Shoppers And Meet Their Needs

• Know your goal: Who are they? How do they buy? Example: A product for an older person should have a larger font size to make reading easier.

• Respond to their needs. Create a dialogue. This is more powerful than only promoting the benefits of your product.

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2.  Choose The Hot Spots

• Do not give the same importance to all locations.

• Traditional Channel shoppers typical behave in a similar way. They have certain detention areas.

• The area with the highest exposure time is at the counter where the shopper usually engages in a chat with the shopkeeper while paying for the products.

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3. Design In A Simple Way And Use No More Than 3 Stimuli

According to neuromarketing and cognitive science, the brain can’t process more than 3 stimuli at the same time. So:

• Keep text short and powerful: Shoppers are a captive audience. The message must be delivered at a glance. Do not assume that a buyer wants to read a lot.

• Use visual images: Our human brain processes images faster than words.

• Be direct: Each brand competes for the buyers’ attention. If the buyer needs to decrypt the message, the transaction will not take place.

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4. Consider The Power Of Colors

• High-contrast colors are most noticeable.

• Choose, if possible, the color of your category: eg, yellow for oils.

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5. Consider The Shopkeeper

The shopkeeper is the best ambassador for your products. He/she recommends products and might even achieve to make shoppers reconsider their decision for a certain product.

As mentioned above, they also occupy the most prominent hot spot in the store.

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Wrap-up

The communication in the Traditional Channel in Argentina teaches us that we must gain shopper insights and prioritize before designing a strategy for the Point of Sale.

More is not always better. Strategy requires sacrifice.

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*Article written by Victoria Casano (Casano Group Shopper Marketing) for shoppernewsblog.

Victoria’s contact details:

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Sources:

• Pictures

Introduction: viarrapida.com.ar

FMRI scan: http://thetechnologicalcitizen.com/?p=2471

Shopkeeper: http://www.cambio2000.com.ar

• Literature

Desimone, R. y Duncan, J. (1995). Neural mechanisms of selective visual attention. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 18, 193-222.

Torralbo, A. (2008) Más no siempre es mejor: procesamiento de estímulos visuales y límites de capacidad. Ciencia Cognitiva: Revista Electrónica de Divulgación, 2:2, 59-61.

Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy [Martin Lindstrom, Paco Underhill]

“El Magnifico 12″ – Principios de Pop (mdg: Martín David Gitnacht)

But rather than being a mere digital recipe book, the app actually accompanies shoppers along the entire path to purchase.

Since its initial launch in 2008, Kraft Foods constantly improved the iFood Assistant application which is currently available for free for iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Windows 7. The integrated tools provide guidance for shoppers along the entire path to purchase and are geared towards solving a common shopper problem: What to cook for my family tonight?

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At home & on-the-go

Shoppers can browse iFood Assistant´s vast library of 7,000+ recipes for inspiration.

Recipes are ordered into categories and according to their difficulty of preparation which allows shoppers to navigate easily among options in order to find the right dish for any occasion. Alternatively, users can look for ideas based on what’s still in their fridge thus, positively contributing to reducing wastage of perishable food. Real enthusiasts can also purchase special recipe collections from professional chefs.

Once a shopper found a recipe, the app helps him/ her to prepare a shopping list not to forget any essential ingredients. Based on the shopping list, the iFood Assistant also shows shoppers any coupons available for the products to purchase. They can be saved using the app, send via email to family and friends, or be printed at home.

Shoppers on-the-go can use Kraft Foods’ app to locate the nearest store stocking exactly the ingredients and products they are looking for.

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In-store

In-store, shoppers can check off items from their shopping lists while adding these to their cart. Hence, the app provides a powerful reminder of all the necessary products and helps shoppers to avoid the common annoyance of missing an essential ingredient. Scanning the bar code of certain items automatically completes this step and shows alternative recipes using this very same product.

At the cashier then, customers can make use of the coupons they stored previously and this way benefit also in financial terms from using iFood Assistant as a shopper assistant.

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Postpurchase

Returning from the grocery store, shoppers can now access how-to videos or 1-2-3 push cards with step-by-step instructions for preparing the specific dish they have chosen. After enjoying the meal, customers are encouraged to review and comment on recipes or upload their very own ideas to win prizes thus, further increasing shopper engagement. The next day then, they can return once more to their iFood Assistant app to find in the Recipe of the Day category the next inspiration.

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Benefits for Kraft Foods

Apart from being a really helpful tool for shoppers by solving one of their everyday intriguing puzzles, iFood Assistant also provides enormous benefits to Kraft Foods. Users are encouraged to register online entering their personal data to get full access to all available tools. This way, Kraft Foods gets access to data on millions of shoppers which allows the food giant to analyze behaviour, preferences and effectiveness of price promotions (i.e. coupon retention). Moreover, the store locator provides a powerful tool to drive traffic to retail partners and hence, contributes positively to fostering bonds with retail partners.

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In our previous Chapter “Clash Of The Titans – How FMCG Can Compensate For Retailers’ Head Start In Shopper Marketing” we discussed the importance of manufacturers access to unique shopper insights. Also developing a platform just like Kraft Foods’ iFood Assistant helps manufacturers to raise their bargaining power with retailers.

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Conclusion

Kraft Foods’ holistic approach to solving shoppers’ real-life problems by providing them with a consistent set of tools along the entire path to purchase convinced shoppernewsblog to award them the Shopper Solution Of The Month.

Kraft Foods achieved to develop one of the most succesful apps developed by a manufacturer so far by paying close attention to their shopper needs. Although their products take a backseat in the application to not ward of customers, there is no doubt the app positively affects sales, brand indicators and customer loyalty. According to the food giant, “after six months, 60% of users are still using the app regularly“¹.

Congratulations to Kraft Foods for developing an outstanding tool which makes optimal use of technology to drive real world sales by helping shoppers to solve concrete problems!

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View all winners per month:

Shopper Solution Of The Month

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For more information on Shopper Solutions, please consult our introductory chapter or click on the tag Shopper Solutions.

For similar websites and mobile applications, please read our post on Best Practices For Digital Shopper Marketing.

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What’s your Shopper Solution Of The Month? Please comment so we can take it into account for future awards.

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Sources:

¹ http://www.getthefive.com/articles/the-marketeer/kraft-foods-ifood-assistant-is-a-mobile-success/

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/media/ifood.aspx#

http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/node/2156620/mobile

http://adage.com/article/digital/mobile-marketing-kraft-launches-ifood-assistant-2-0/140823/

http://www.visualise.ie/blog/?p=348