Amongst all the diversity of perspective in the industry on ‘where to shopper marketing?’ – in the broadest sense, there is one thing upon which everyone seems to agree – the need for a genuinely holistic approach; resulting in real integration. Between supplier and retailer, consumer and shopper, among currently disparate marketing tactics, and around concepts of value.

Within that, four key areas are standing out in the current landscape:

1. 1.       Digital and mobile – the new black
2. 2.       Holistic marketing – from consumer to shopper and back
3. 3.       Language and vision – supplier versus retailer
4. 4.       What ‘value’ means now

The first one, in particular, is the biggest ‘buzzword’ around, and consequently gets the most attention!

1.       Digital and mobile – the new black

Speaking of flat-earthing, up until recently in Australia the importance of digital and mobile has been pooh-poohed to some extent by the argument that 90% of sales are still physical. Well, yes, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the technologies to influence and create the sale, not just to transact.

Digital/mobile is under still utilised in Australia for influence. Referencing Google’s ‘Zero moment of truth’ approach,  we’re currently undercooked at all points (Stimulus, Zero Moment of Truth, First Moment of Truth, Second Moment of Truth) given we are approximately 60% smartphone penetration in this country.

As a result of this lag, many of the Path to Purchase presentations focused very much on digital.

It is evident that many companies aren’t using digital very well. If they have it tends to be something like “hey let’s put our brand on Facebook” with little thought on how can we communicate with our audience and more importantly what do we want to communicate with this medium.

One company that is using digital media particularly effectively is Coopers. Here is a family-owned company rooted in tradition (in fact celebrating 150 yrs in 2012!) that has embraced digital and in the process shown the bigger players in the industry that you don’t need a big budget to be effective. Their Coopers Clear campaign used augmented reality to make a connection with both male and female shoppers but it was much more than that – it is one of the first examples in this country where a manufacturer has effectively utilised digital media to promote and bypass the retailer. (http://digitalmarketinglab.com.au/index.php/2011/07/17/augmented-reality-on-the-rise-in-oz/coopers-clear-ar-campaign/). One simply scans their smartphone over a symbol on the pack to see if they’ve won. Even better is that they didn’t even have to educate their shoppers on how to access the promotion. Coopers sales reps simply showed the store manager how to do it and got them so excited they were showing shoppers how to do it. “Clean store policy?” –  not a problem. They’ve also used their “order of Coopers” website to make a fantastic connection with consumers. In fact, I feel like a Coopers now.

While some are using digital effectively (Coopers obviously, Supre and Debenhams come to mind), examples of integrating it in a combined effort with other forms of marketing have historically been light on. Toby Desforges made a good point when he said that in the same way that marketing isn’t just advertising, promotions isn’t just shopper marketing. The point is that a marketing campaign needs to encompass digital, print, TV and in-store – and in fact whichever are the most appropriate marketing tactics to bring the bigger picture to life. Ann Mooney, ex P&G, shared some excellent examples of how they have been able to achieve this in the USA – which relate also to the need for a holistic and integrated approach, so we’ll discuss them under those points.

Moving forward, one of the ‘holy grails’ will be how to effectively measure the impact of digital media in the shopper process. There are lots of models around but the ones that are measured really focus solely on in-store.  Speaker Ben Grill who made a good point about the traditional ‘pathway’ approach, suggesting “we should call this the path to purchase and repurchase”.  Indeed. And this is where digital can potentially help to keep the connection with the shopper and consumer so as to encourage repurchase.

A cautionary word on social media, however…

‘Social media’ and ‘shopper’ have now become buzz words that are bandied with gay abandon but a lack of depth of understanding and strategic rationale. John Bastistich from Westfield made the point that some of the biggest brands have either closed down their Facebook online store or view it purely as brand engagement with no commercial expectations from it. Companies need a meaningful reason beyond ‘having a presence’ behind where they invest in the social media landscape, and what they invest with. When it comes to forums like Facebook, the gulf between awareness and purchase is wide.  Back to the point around influence – the acid test is how can each element of the mix influence the shopper decision-making process?

2.       Holistic marketing – from consumer to shopper and back

Back to this business of a 360 degree view.  In this era of rapid change and a fragmented marketing environment, it’s clear that a holistic whole-of-customer view is required, from consumer to shopper and back again (pre/in/post store) rather than shopper in isolation.

This is a re-emerging theme that also came up strongly in the POPAI / ShopAbility Shopper Marketing Industry Survey. That shopper is not just about in-store, and nor is it ‘just a mindset’ (as clearly stated by Ann Mooney at the Summit).

Shopper marketing involves pre, in and post-store and we need to understand the relationship between consumer and shopper.

Consumer needs and desires drive shopper purchase. At the point where those consumer desires and needs become purchase choices and decisions, we’re speaking to the shopper, whether or not they’re in-store at that point.  And there is any number of influences along this ‘path’, which is somehow no longer the right word to use, since it’s clearly not linear.  And to that point, when the shopper becomes the consumer again; using the product is also an ongoing expression of their choice.  And then there’s post purchase.

Post purchase is also currently underutilised (expressions versus impressions, to quote Ben Grill from Google).Post purchase hasn’t really been thought about for repurchase and transactions, just for ‘loyalty’.

This all points to the importance of tailoring offers based on an understanding of individuals as whole-of-customer. And technology enables us to do this now. We can find out more about our customers than ever in the history of marketing. The era of ‘mass communications’ is over, for those of us who still haven’t got the message and cling to our TVCs.

3.       Language and vision – supplier versus retailer

Another theme is the need for a common language for suppliers and retailers (and within suppliers) by putting shopper and store back, or ‘store first’, as Ann Mooney from P&G likes to call it.

It’s not just about ‘doing shopper marketing’, which isn’t a term retailers use anyway; all shoppers are ‘customers’ to a retailer.

From the successful examples given at the conference, it seems internal structure dedicated to shopper is less important than having a common language, clear vision and clearly understood process for getting things to market and using insights.

Several of the speakers, and in particular Ann Mooney (formerly of P&G), spoke of the need for genuine integration in shopper-led marketing initiatives. In order for all facets of a campaign to sing from the same hymn book (including digital) with shopper-focused messaging, this integration needs to be built in to process before a single campaign light bulb goes ‘bing’. Ann spoke to the realities involved in making that happen, including:

• Nominating lead agencies to coordinate other agencies (and the politics of that)
• Ensuring that Insights not only have a seat at the table, but that shopper insights actually inform all integrated marketing initiatives
• Building in processes for Retailer engagement from the outset (i.e. during the insights gathering stage) and a seat at the table for every stage

At this stage, the Australian market is still very tactical and for many working in the industry, the task feels overwhelming to get from where they are operating now and where they would like to be. There is a real need to get the attitude and processes (including who holds particular budgets and how they work together) within businesses right to ensure that the strategy (or in many cases tactics disguised as strategy) are not determined by company structure.

What ‘value’ means now

Low price is not a differentiator anymore, it’s a given. There is a need to define the types of value different shoppers look for, and this  means retailers will need to move away from a ‘lowest price’ to defining what ‘value’ actually means or find a different platform altogether.

Jon Bird of Ideaworks delivered a brilliant presentation which spoke to 8 Paths to Value; being:

1. Basic Buys
2. Proven Performer
3. Creative Solutions
4. Expert Advice
5. Built to Last
6. Affordable Chic
7. Small Indulgences
8. Everyday Heroes

Arnaud Frade from TNS also spoke to Values and Concepts being beyond price, and certainly in our own experience of category strategy and the development of category drivers, there is a need for a holistic approach to what value means to our customers, just as there is a need for a 360 degree view on the points we’ve mentioned earlier.

Ann Mooney also made the valid point that packaging is underleveraged for shopper communications and activations, not just as a brand platform. Packaging is often the only guaranteed communication medium there is. So, what are we communicating on it and how does that address this broader concept of ‘value beyond price’?

And… finally, back to being human.

Simon Small of Nestle Switzerland reminded us of the fundamental truth that ultimately it’s all about emotional connection. Which can be easily forgotten while trying to navigate what ‘shopper’ means now in an increasingly fragmented and complex communication world. Simon’s stories of powerful emotional connections between shoppers and brands in surprising environments, such as developing nations where retail channels are unsophisticated at best and chaotic at worst, prove that when you hit the emotional ‘sweet spot’ with shoppers, the dividends can be enormous.

So, in summary:

1. All tactics need good reasons
2. Shopper marketing is about whole human beings, who are consumers, shoppers and seek ‘value’ (whatever that means for them), and are influenced by a wide range of communication mediums before, during and after purchase
3. Real integration happens via common language, vision and meaningful process change
4. Emotion is at the heart of all good shopper marketing.  Actually, at the heart of everything, really.

Hosted by the US Path to Purchase Institute, the 2012 Shopper Marketing Summit was held in Chicago on the 16-18 April 2012. The summit boasted “a boat load of critical insights, information and solutions to help better connect with shoppers”. I attended the conference to gain a greater understanding of the level of sophistication of the US market in the discipline of Shopper Marketing, to uncover examples of best practice and evaluate how the Australian market compares. While I came back confident in the level of skill, thinking and leadership within the Australian market I do think there are things we can learn from our American counterparts especially in the areas of integration, execution and measurement of Shopper Marketing initiatives.

The Shift from Trade to Shopper

To set the scene for the three days the first session of the conference, a panel based discussion, explored the key differences between traditional Trade Marketing and Shopper Marketing. The panel included representatives of thought-leading manufacturers and agencies such as Nestle USA, Kimberly-Clark, Millward Brown and JWT. They outlined the key differences as per the following table.

The panel acknowledged that the increased complexity associated with a shopper-centric activities meant that campaigns involved a greater number of stakeholders, required longer lead times, required a new approach to budget allocation and in many cases were more difficult to measure. They did however also acknowledge that, if executed well, shopper-led campaigns had the ability to deliver more than just increased sales (e.g. improved retailer relationships, new occasions for a particular category or brand, increased household penetration, increased incidence of trip types, increased foot traffic, etc.).

The first day of the conference focused on two key elements of Shopper Marketing: Insights and Measurement, which are the bookends of any good Shopper Marketing campaign. Yet, these two elements are often those that are glossed over in the race to bring an activity to market. The truth is these elements are vital and can make the difference in elevating a basic trade marketing initiative to a true shopper marketing campaign, delivering exceptional results for a brand, category and/or retailer.

Throughout the conference the importance of quality insights was highlighted through the case studies presented by market leading organisations, including The Coca Cola Co, Pepsi Beverages Co., Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark Corp. These companies demonstrated how insights into shopper attitudes and behaviours helped them to develop new products and campaigns that had been highly successful meeting, and in many cases, exceeding their campaign objectives.

The Path to Integration

While Shopper Marketing has existed in the US longer than it has here in Australia it is encouraging to know that we are keeping up with the level of thinking the US is demonstrating. That said, the head start the US market had in the field of Shopper Marketing has meant forward-thinking organisations have had the time to experience initial success of activating against shopper-related insights and have now set about fully integrating shopper into their business. Some have progressed further down the path of integration than others but all of the organisations presenting at the summit indicated that full integration was their end goal. Many spoke of the challenges in making such a fundamental change within their business but all recognised the benefit that would result once it had been achieved.

It is important to note that those organisations who have integrated shopper have not walked away from traditional consumer marketing, and nor will they. Rather, they have built shopper into the strategic business, category, brand and channel plans alongside consumer marketing, understanding that there is a place and need for both to sit side by side.

The more sophisticated have realised that their budgets are through-the-line rather than above and/or below. They believe that funds should be allocated to the points along the path to purchase where they will have maximum effect, driving business efficiencies. For many businesses this requires a fundamental shift in thinking which must take place from the top-down with cultural change led by a determined senior management team. Those who have made it work are singing the praises of a fully integrated strategy that elevates the shopper to the same status consumers have long held in the hearts and minds of marketers.

The Impact of Technology on the Path to Purchase

The two subsequent days split sessions into four streams:

• Digital Path to Purchase
• Big Picture
• Insights into Activation
• Mobile Solutions

It will be no surprise, given that two of the four streams relate to technology, that the impact of digital and mobile on the path to purchase was a hot topic with many manufacturers and retailers seeking to understand the impact that technology is having on the way shoppers interact with their stores and brands. It was encouraging though to hear repeatedly that the shopper path to purchase is not isolated to the four walls of the store with universal acknowledgement that the shopper exists pre, in and post store.

The idea that technology has meant that active search (otherwise defined as ZMOT or Zero Moment of Truth by Google) is crashing with the FMOT (First Moment of Truth, a phrase coined by Proctor & Gamble) is being embraced by some who are working on ways to encourage the use of technology at the shelf.

Piers Fawkes, President of PSFK, who spoke on the topic ‘The Future of Retail’ gave the example of retailers such as Neiman Marcus, Mercedes Benz and Burberry who have digitally enabled their staff to enhance the shopping experience making them better equipped to address any questions their customers may have regarding product availability, technical specifications, etc. as well as to help them customize the shopping experience of their regular customers.

Aligning Manufacturer and Retailer Objectives

Often it is easy for manufacturers to concern themselves wholly and solely with their driving growth and sales of their brand, creating activations that deliver on their internal objectives with limited consideration for the retailer, their objectives and how this activity may fit into the retail environment.

A number of speakers at the conference spoke about the importance of aligning the manufacturer and retailer goals. April Carlisle, a Leader of Shopper Marketing at Proctor & Gamble said, “it has to work for everyone, or it works for no one”. She gave the example of Tide laundry detergent within mass merchants.

P&G recognised that laundry detergent category was a low priority for these retailers who were much more concerned with achieving growth in higher margin categories such as apparel. With this retailer objective in mind, they developed a campaign which supported the positioning of their brand, based on a shopper insight relating to the shoppers desire to get longevity out of their clothes.

They created a campaign for Walmart, in conjunction with Levis jeans, which communicated to shoppers that Tide was the washing detergent they should buy to protect their new jeans. They achieved off-location displays in the apparel section of the store and saw a dramatic increase in the sales and trial of Tide laundry liquid. This campaign was initially executed in Walmart but was extended to Target, linked with an alternative brand of jeans, once the results of the Walmart activation proved so successful. This campaign has been repeated a further three times in Target based on the success and the link to a retailer-critical category.

Another session presented by Kellogg, Proctor & Gamble and Ubisoft emphasized the huge opportunity that exists in cross-category promotions. They identified six key principles for a successful partnership:

1. Start early and be transparent
2. Align shopper targets
3. Bring a valuable offer
4. Leverage unique partner assets
5. Activate around the path to purchase
6. Execute with excellence

They gave examples of two campaigns that linked the release of gaming titles Madden NFL and Just Dance 3 with Gillette and Kellogg cereal brands respectively. Both campaigns were hugely successfully in driving awareness of the release of the game, which was the objective for Ubisoft, and achieving the brand objectives for Gillette and Kellogg.

The Future of Shopper Marketing

When asked what the future held for Shopper Marketing, speakers observed a number of trends and challenges they thought have an impact in the next few years. Amongst these were the rise of digital technology, the emergence of a multichannel shopper, shoppers who expect access and engagement wherever they might be, further embedding shopper into the DNA of business, retail-tainment, price transparency and a more holistic approach to the path to purchase. If this short but diverse list is anything to go by, the world of shopper is only going to get more interesting and the one thing that was made abundantly clear at the summit was that those who are along for the ride and are taking shopper seriously are those who will reap the rewards in the future.

Until next time!

Well this is the 2015 store and the largest in the Group, their ‘Coles response’, their ‘Costco response’ and the general footprint moving forward, Phew, that’s quite a bit to live up to!

So did it? Not in my opinion or that of another three long-term experienced industry executives.

Sure it was BIG, sure it was neat and tidy and well stocked for opening day. But where were the new initiatives, where was the theatre, where was the step change that pushes Woolworths past Coles? A nice store but the changes were certainly not evident to us.

Fresh was good but not great, and at least Woolworths know how to cross merchandise using barrels and baskets. The layout is crisp and clean, but does it have  a market place feel to it – no.

Sure it is a bigger store but with more facings of a larger store range fixes the “what do I do with the added space” question.

My Kitchen (thanks for the idea Bernie) was good but hardly “new”.

One chilled case for seafood looked undercooked, especially when:

• There is no specialist seafood retailer in the entire complex apart from Costco
• Coles do it way better

Chilled/ Dairy adjacent to Fresh is not new, but sliding doors for Butter and Margarine? Then leaving Frozens all by itself at the end of the store looked incongruous.

Health and Beauty had the same purple treatment and included the shop-within- a-shop concept readily seen in many (and not just Woolworths) stores including Big W and Target.

There are larger pack sizes available with due deference to the Costso competition, but for all intensive purposes it was  a regular Woolworths revisited.

Visiting Woolworths Eastgardens one week later, which is a recent refurbishment, the theatre of the Sushi  Shop and the Berry Farm was missing , and the Seafood offer at Eastgardens was better merchandised and more interactive than the 2015 offer at Majura Park – a couple of good examples of what is sorely needed to drive the point of difference between them and Costco and Coles.

Keeping in mind it was opening day, but it appeared to be a soft opening possibly due to the rest of the centre not being completely ready. But photocopied tickets advertising their new Fresh Guarantee would not have been tolerated under previous regimes.

Nor would Dick Smith being closed (again on opening day) at 5.30pm, no doubt because that was the time on the trading hours ticket at the front entrance. There was a day…..

In both cases you get what you accept and in the latter case, maybe Elvis has already left the building!

By comparison, we were there around 6pm on opening evening, the competing Costco was trading hard with most registers open and a good flow of trolleys in the store. Woolies had idle cashiers – and one thing missing – Shoppers with big trolleys willing to part with their hard-earned cash!

Apparently the weekend trade was much better, with a very high basket size driving a good sales result. The impact and draw has been more local rather than across Canberra which is alos interesting, as Majura Park is seen as a real destination site.

We’ll see how it’s trading after a month or two and things have settled down to a steady rhythm.

Meanwhile, for a change of pace, I revisited La Mana last week whilst in Melbourne after a disappointing visit mid last year.

How things have changed, what a great offer and a dynamic place to shop. The Fresh was sensational with fabulous displays, tastings, recipe suggestions, creative menus, different ranges and stock….and the size of the baskets!

Do yourself a favour and visit the next time you are down there, it out-trades the Coles opposite in the carpark, and you can see why. Try to leave without being sorely tempted to buy something!

During a recent trip to New York I visited the Whole Foods store on Union Square (on advice of a local who said it was a “must see”). In a busy city filled with young professionals this Whole Foods store definitely hits the mark offering an extensive range of meal solutions, with a focus throughout the store on health and wellbeing, service and the environment.

This store is set over 3 levels. The top floor is a dining room, ground floor (street level) is filled with convenience offers while the basement level houses traditional grocery categories.

The selection of ready made and self serve food is seriously impressive with the majority of the ground floor dedicated to meal solutions which include ready-to-eat fruit salads, sandwiches, wraps, a self serve soup bar, make your own salad bar, a wide selection of prepared hot dishes offering everything from noodles to curries and roasts.

While not cheap, these food offers represent good value for SINK/DINK households who would find it more expensive to purchase all of the ingredients required to make these meals at home. They are also extremely convenient to pick up to eat on the go or take home for an easy dinner…not to mention the fact you could easily eat something different every day for a year with the huge selection on offer.

The basement houses a full range of grocery categories with everything from traditional centre store categories to a wide selection of fresh fruit, cheese, meat and seafood. The focus is on better-for-you offers with a 10% discount on offer for members of the Whole Foods Wellness Club. Even the health and beauty aisle has a health food feel about it with the focus on ‘Whole Body’.

The entire store has a delicatessen or market ambience that engages the shopper and encouraging them to try new things and discover new foods. There are expert staff and sampling areas located throughout the store adding to the experience.

The registers, all 35 of them, are located on the ground floor and allow shoppers to get out of the store quickly, further emphasising the focus this retailer has placed on convenience in an effort to satisfy its shoppers.

Oh, and for those of you wondering how you get a full trolley from the basement to the registers on the ground floor, they’ve thought of that too. There is a purpose-built trolley escalator that transports your trolley up to the ground floor as you ride the regular escalator beside your groceries.

Coles and Woolworths may be slowly embracing the idea of ready-made meals and convenience based offers but they have a long way to go before they are even close to the same league as Whole Foods.

The launch comes after industry intelligence suggested there was a need for a locally based operation covering end-to-end shopper research, shopper strategy and related industry training.

“Both our manufacturer and retailer clients told us that just servicing NZ from Australia by flying back and forth across the ditch wasn’t enough”, said Norrelle Goldring, joint director of ShopAbility in Australia and NZ. “They want locals on the ground who know the market and how NZ culture influences shopping behaviour here. We are thrilled to have appointed someone of the calibre of Annette Piercy to head up our NZ division. She has a depth and breadth of senior experience across multiple roles, categories and channels. She also understands the specific trends, directions and needs FMCG and retail environment in NZ , so she’s the perfect person to head up the division’.

Annette Piercy has a background in shopper marketing campaign activation, in shopper data with Nielsen and client side experience in liquor with Corbans wines, among others. VIEW ANNETTE PIERCY’S PROFILE HERE.

ShopAbility specializes in activatable shopper and trade research and translating it into sound category, channel and point of purchase strategy based on how shoppers think and behave.

As originators of the annual POPAI/ShopAbility Shopper Marketing Industry Benchmark Survey, ShopAbility are thought leaders in shopper marketing theory in Australia. Team members regularly attend shopper marketing and shopper insights events across the globe, continually scouring for shopper marketing best practice case studies to bring back to the local market.

ShopAbility will be bringing some of this global information to New Zealand in July. Team member Alison Sinclair recently attended the US Shopper Marketing Summit in Chicago, and joint director Peter Huskins was one of a select few on the Westfield World Retail Study tour covering best practice retailing in destinations as diverse as Tokyo, New York, Paris, Milan and London. Alison and Peter will debrief participants on the key takeouts for successful shopper marketing programs and best practice retailing.

Furthering the success of its shopper marketing training programs running in Australia and throughout Asia the past 12 months, ShopAbility will run its first NZ shopper marketing training course in Auckland in August.

The course features numerous local and global best practice case studies, including up-to-the-minute examples of use of emerging shopper marketing technologies such as QR codes and Augmented Reality. Modules covered in the course span topics such as shopper marketing scope, the path to purchase cycle, touchpoint prioritization and messaging, shopper behaviour fundamentals, shopper insight development, measurement, and integrating shopper marketing in your organization.

Expressions of interest for either of these events can be made to Annette Piercy annette@shop-ability.com There are discounts for FMCG magazine readers (see breakout box).

ShopAbility started as a category and channel strategy and training consultancy in Australia in 2007 and quickly added shopper research to its portfolio, becoming one of the more well known players in the Australian space in the process. Company director Norrelle Goldring has been involved in shopper research for 12 years, which is nearly as long as the discipline has been around (according to Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy in 1999 and generally considered the ‘father’ of shopper research).

ShopAbility team members are from the trade, with a variety of backgrounds in sales, marketing, category and channel roles with retailers, with manufacturers and in agency. Being from the trade means that recommendations are kept real and applicable.

ShopAbility works cross channel with both manufacturers and retailers and has a broad offer but all focused on the shopper. Group Account Director NZ, Annette Piercy, said she was excited to be able to bring an end to end offer to NZ clients.

“There are companies who specialize in research, companies who do training, and companies who do various aspects of strategy, but there are very few who offer them all seamlessly like we do as experts in shopper,” she said.

“We look forward to working with clients to exploit the idiosyncrasies of the NZ market and tailoring our offer to suit”.

UPCOMING NZ SHOPABILITY EVENTS – REGISTER YOUR INTEREST

Register your expression of interest for either of both of the following value add events with Annette Piercy, email annette@shop-ability.com or call her on 027 300 8010.

When you register Annette will send you more detailed information.

1. 1.    Shopper Marketing Summit/Westfield Retail Study Tour Debrief

July, Auckland

Free for FMCG magazine readers when you quote code ‘FMCG’

1. 2.    Shopper Marketing Training

1 day course $795

August, Auckland

10% off for FMCG magazine readers when you quote code ‘FMCG’

CONTACT DETAILS

Annette Piercy : NZ                                Norrelle Goldring: AU

M: 027 300 8010                                    M: + 61 411 735 190

Freecall: 0800 300 8010

E: annette@shop-ability.com          E: norrelle@shopability.com.au

W: www.shop-ability.com                       W: www.shoability.com.au

Going down to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in Mid-March, I had a chance to come face to face with Melbourne’s food trucks. What started as 1 or 2 mini-kitchens in a truck driving around the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne (c’mon south of the river Councils!) has now turned into something quite remarkable. At last count there were 10 different trucks including: Beatbox Kitchen, Cornutopia, Taco Truck, Gumbo Kitchen, Dhaba, Grub Food Van, Le Sausage, Massive Weiners and Grill’d Airstream.

Fortunately for me, the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival managed to organise Food-Trucks-Unite. On the day I went, the Taco Truck, Dhaba and the Beatbox Kitchen all converged in the same place on the Northbank for an afternoon of food tasting.

While the Curry Truck and Beatbox Kitchen looked inviting, there was only one place I was interested in – the taco truck. Unfortunately, so was everyone else! Luckily I just beat the rush because by 3pm they had sold out of fish tacos, by 4pm there was no chicken and by 4:30pm they had sold out of absolutely everything.

So what is it that makes these so attractive, is it the new format? Is it just a fad? Well not in my opinion. There are a number of reasons that the Taco truck has every reason to succeed. The food is fresh, it’s made right in front of you and the lemon and limes are right in front of you. It feels reasonably healthy, well, better than our other take away friends anyway. It feels authentic – fish tacos, chipotle mayo, Tapatio salsa all on the menu. It’s simple, there are 5 things you can order and that’s it. You can customise your heat for those of you that like your habanero sauce. And yes there is something intangibly cool about being able to park on the side of the road and serve food.

Oh and they are also fully integrated with social media, if you want to know where they are at during the week get onto Facebook or twitter. You can even try www.wherethetruck.at, which looks like it is trying to assemble them under one roof.

Now to find that Gumbo Kitchen…

It appears that the face of health and beauty is changing. Skin care value was up 6.5 percent last year, and volume up 18 per cent. Given that related categories like Personal Care grew at 2.3, and Sun Care actually declined, it’s an interesting result. What’s going on?

The first thing we look to is NPD and line extensions. Was there much of it? Not really. Simple introduced the new Kind to Skin range of wipes and moisturisers in February, Garnier followed with Miracle Skin Perfector daily moisturiser in August, and Innoxa with SOS Skin Tissue Oil in November. Compared to the amount of NPD in 2011 for cosmetics, which were therefore unsurprisingly up 18+ per cent in both value and volume by year’s end; skin care seems to have performed despite itself.

Is it about media spend?  That’s possibly part of it. According to Nielsen, advertisers spent $88M on skin care, up 5 per cent on the previous year, with share of main media spend going to the usual suspects including L’Oreal and Unilever. But advertising alone doesn’t explain the volume change of 18 per cent. People are buying more skin care in grocery.

CHANNEL SHIFT IN HEALTH AND BEAUTY

It would appear that some things have changed long-term in shopper behaviour in health and beauty categories, post GFC. One of them is channel choice.

Where some shoppers previously looked to specialty (such as salons), and pharmacy for skin care, and also for cosmetics, those shoppers are now prepared to consider supermarkets for these purchases.

Why? It comes down to value – value not being price alone, but total value proposition. Which leads to our next point.

VALUE BEYOND PRICE ALONE – WHAT SKIN CARE BRANDS ARE OFFERING

Recently, at the 2012 Path to Purchase Summit, Jon Bird of Ideaworks discussed the concept of ‘The New Value Equation’, involving 8 ‘paths to value’ that brands can take:

1. Basic Buys
2. Proven Performer
3. Creative Solutions
4. Expert Advice
5. Built to Last
6. Affordable Chic
7. Small Indulgences
8. Everyday Heroes

While each of these deserves their own explanation, we’ll explore just the ones we’re seeing in skin care that are helping to drive growth in a retail landscape where shoppers increasingly seek greater value (in a holistic sense, not price alone).

Looking at the subcategory brand shares, in Facial Cleansers we have Neutrogena highest at 15% brand share. Why? According to Jon Bird, a ‘Proven Performer’ is loved and trusted for many years, offers authenticity and integrity – a guarantee for shoppers. Neutrogena offers all that, and also taps into another trend: the desire for simplicity, honesty and not to be blinded by science or unbelievable claims.

Moving to Facial Moisturisers; we have another Proven Performer at #1: Olay. At #2 we have L’Oreal Dermo Expertise. Products in this category that are ‘salon style’, with a focus on scientific claims and skin technology, but are sold in grocery, can be considered ‘Affordable Chic’. Like Target offering designer clothes in limited edition runs at everyday prices, these brands offer a more premium product, at a lower price point. There’s an abundance of this value proposition in hair care, too. At a macro level, the desire for the most scientifically advanced product for the price is at the other end of the spectrum to the trend towards simplicity and authenticity – and smart suppliers are catering to both shopper orientations with different brands.

In Facial Treatments, we have Clearasil at #1. They offer ‘Expert Advice’ in the business of acne. Expert Advisor brands guide shoppers through something tricky, and we all know spots are no fun. Clearasil have a… bm tish…. clear and narrow focus on what they do best as experts.

When it comes to Body Lotions and Hand and Nail Care, there are a range of players doing well, some of which could be considered ‘Small Indulgences’. Like Bio-Oil and Du’it. They offer affordable ways to treat oneself – in this instance to a quasi day spa at home.

So, in terms of what drove growth in Skin Care in 2011, it really came down to:

Having a value proposition beyond price alone

Post-GFC channel shift in the category (back to point 1 – the value proposition creates permission to shift)

Media investment (again, back to point 1 – communicating the value proposition).

It will be interesting to see what 2012 has in store. The Category has potential for double-digit value growth (not just volume) on the back of some clever NPD playing to macro consumer trends. We’ll have to wait and see if that happens!

As category growth goes; vitamins have been a consistent performer in grocery in recent times. In 2011, volume was up 16.4 percent and value up 9.4%. Which is great news for retailers, but the landscape is somewhat more complex for suppliers.

Historically, health food stores were the original champions of the category, followed later by pharmacy. In recent years, the decline of the health store channel and the emergence of discount pharmacies has presented more than a few challenges for suppliers in the vitamin category.

How do you retain value in your category when your products are being used as loss leaders in baskets at the front of store, or in below-cost catalogue promotions? And how does that educate shoppers in the category who were previously prepared to pay full price?

Then, enter the grocery channel. Whilst grocery has always had a few basics, in recent years the vitamin and supplement category in grocery has grown exponentially, in response to macro consumer trends around health and wellbeing. The tricky part for suppliers: some of that expansion has involved 50% off price promos in supermarkets which have then effectively killed category sales in other (higher value) channels for up to a quarter, and annoyed a bunch of loyal-to-supplier, non-grocery channel retailers who believe their role as ‘expert advisors’ to shoppers in the category provides the encouragement to trial that starts many shoppers on the vitamins journey in the first place.

There’s no doubt it’s a complex category, and the role of ‘advice’ is a differentiator versus more standard categories in grocery.

Where’s it all heading? Like other high emotional involvement categories, playing in the grocery channel does present a ‘race to the bottom’ risk, and the devaluing of the category. Is there any way around that? It’s a tricky question.

One way to look at it is that it is now inevitable that some sub-categories within vitamins have now become commoditised. Looking at the segment shares for grocery sales in 2011, the top #3 are Multi-vitamins, Vitamin B and Fish Oil. Together, those three alone account for more than 53% of value, and 52% of volume. Fourth on the list is Glucusamine. Fish Oil and Glucosamine in particular have also become commoditised because of the sheer volume of it that needs to be taken on a daily basis to address long-term, chronic conditions like arthritis. Hence bulk packs doing so well as loss leaders in discount pharmacies.

It seems that suppliers, in order to survive the channel / category killer conundrum, need to apply channel-specific strategies to their product ranging. Primarily, offering only the major, commoditised lines in grocery (preferably in grocery-specific pack formats) and saving the specialised lines for pharmacy and health food stores, complemented by advertising and marketing support for each of the channels and their tailored strategy. It’s clear the larger players are already on this track.

Looking at the new line introductions in grocery during 2011, they all belong to the ‘commoditised’ subcategories. We had Blackmores launch Liquid Fish Oil into the channel in August, Centrum Advance with a Multi-vitamin line extension also in August, and Caltrate launching a new Vitamin D supplement in September.

Compare and contrast with some of the more specialised lines, like Gingko Biloba for brain function or Evening Primrose for women’s health. One thing that stands out is, again, the role of advice. It has now become common knowledge that Fish Oil and Glucosamine are good for joint health, Multivitamins are a good general insurance, and Vitamin B is good for stress.

But when it comes to the herbals and more specific products, more advice is often sought, and also desirable, given the possible contraindications with other medicines. Back to specialised products in channels where more advice is available, and commoditised, mainstream products only in grocery.

This category really is its own animal. And analysis of its performance also raises interesting questions about the future of other health-related categories where products are available in other channels that are more advice-driven, but then price promoted (without the advice part) in grocery.

Interesting times ahead. The ‘healthy’ part, as far as a genuine holistic vision for the category is concerned, is going to be a tricky balance to achieve. A bit like health in general, really.

Previous articles we’ve written have discussed convenience channel segmentation, role and trip types. Here we’re going to look at some of the trends in shopper behaviour driving, or arising from, some of the newer technologies and some ideas for leveraging them in the convenience channel.

Let’s start with some macro themes are amalgamated from a number of conferences we’ve attended over the past 12 months in Australia, in Asia and the USA as well as numerous trade publications and articles.

Table 1 summarises some of the major shopping and retailing shifts.

Table 1: Major shopper behaviour trends and preferences, 2012 © ShopAbility 2012

CUSTOMISATION

The abundance of choice means shoppers are looking for ‘curated’ collections by experts that will make their choice both easy and special. This isn’t purely about range rationalization, it’s about tailoring to various needs. Boots for women with larger calves. Gluten free meal components. Accessories to match specific outfits. If you’ve collected data on your customers via loyalty programs and your POS system you’ll be able to figure out what they buy with what and what the curated collection opportunities might be. Using your customer data, customization is also about tailoring offers to certain segments of the market rather than trying to be all things to all people with every promotion. Customisation provides a means for you to differentiate yourself from competitors so that everyone is not flogging exactly the same stuff.  In convenience if you have customer loyalty data you can analyse it to see what they’re buying and offer specific bundles, and it may not just be on snacks and drinks. It might be on services, auto etc.

EMPOWERED SHOPPERS

There’s a lot happening here. Consumers and shoppers are voicing their opinions on products and companies (customer service, corporate citizenship and behaviour etc) via social media like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and forums. Corporations are no longer in control, the game has become about responding quickly to and leveraging social media for advocacy. Monetizing social media remains a challenge for many (Facebook ecommerce pages are yet to set the world on fire), but some enterprising manufacturers and retailers are running social media exclusive promotions, using social media for new product research ideas, and distribution gaps.

Social media is formalizing traditional word of mouth and this means that it is becoming part of the path to purchase – both prestore (Zero Moment of Truth – active search) and post purchase (Second Moment of Truth – expressing your opinion of the product once you’ve purchased and consumed it).

Shoppers are also empowered by technologies like self scanning and mobile price comparison tools such as GetPrice, which are impacting their channel and retailer choice.

SHOP ANY TIME, ANYWHERE

We mentioned this in our previous article about virtual shopping walls. The game has changed from fixed time and place (bricks and mortar) shopping to shopping from my mobile wherever I am (including sitting on the couch watching TV – 60% of consumers now multitask eg use their mobiles or tablets whilst doing something else). It’s not just about PC-based ‘online’ shopping, the rate of shoppers shopping from their mobile devices is increasing exponentially.

Multichannel is becoming a shopper expectation. They want a choice of research in store, buy online (this is called ‘showrooming’), research online buy/collect instore (Coles Click & Collect is an example), research online and deliver to my door (eg Amazon, Light N Easy et al), research instore and deliver to my door (eg consumer electronics, furniture), research o

So even if your physical store is closed, you need a mechanism for having customer conversations and converting sales outside of your bricks and mortar trading hours.

GLOBAL SEARCH IN THE GLOBAL VILLAGE

Many retailers are now not just competing with the retailer down the street who may have item X cheaper than them. They are now competing globally. More than 10% of Australian shoppers’ retail sales went to overseas online retailers in 2011.(And that doesn’t take into account travellers physically shopping overseas in places like the USA whilst the Aussie dollar is strong).

Shop anytime, wherever you are translates into ‘from wherever I can get the product’. And it’s not just about the cheapest price (which is becoming a given, see below). It’s tied into Customisation … something that’s not available to me in Australia, something that is special because it came from somewhere else (there are some bragging rights attached to this … a pair of boots from Turkey are somehow more exotic and special than a pair purchased in a mall here).

This means you need to consider your range and how it can be globalized … not just parallel importing, but rather what will make your range more global, more exotic, more interesting, more special. Not just ‘snacks and drinks in the sin channel’. And it has impacts on your opening hours as well. Do you have an opportunity to adjust your hours to be open earlier/later as a point of difference?

AUTHENTICITY

This is another big one, encompassing a number of things. Concepts like slow food. Food miles. Provenance. Sustainability. Real food (natural, not processed).

This ties into the curating thing. What’s the retail translation of ‘Cootamundra Lamb’, ‘Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc’? Can you communicate that the milk you range comes from Farmer Brown’s cows in paddock X in Smithville?  Should you add more ‘authentic’ products to your range? (Again, mitigating the ‘convenience as sin channel’ perception).

DISCOUNT FATIGUE

Low price is becoming a given, and it’s deflated the value of categories and stripped profit margins out of businesses. But we are where we are. You need to figure out what ‘value’ actually means for your various shoppers, and communicate that. As Jon Bird from Ideaworks says, 70%off is the new 50%off, and where do you go from there? EDLP, or forms of it, are becoming the cost of entry or cost to play, rather than a differentiator.

The definition of insanity is throwing more money at discounts, trying to trade your way out of a hole via lower prices, when price is just one of a number of shifts in shopper behaviour.

WHAT ARE DIGITAL, MOBILE AND SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING, AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

What does this have to do with me? you ask. Here are a few statistics for context:

• Australia is second only to Singapore in leading global smartphone penetration. According to DigitalMarketingLab, Australian smartphone penetration is currently above 50%, it will be 60% by end of 2012 and 90% by 2015. So it’s not just teens using smartphones, it’s actually more likely currently to be professionals and mums, who are heavy users to stay connected
• Tablet (Ipad etc) penetration in Australia is above 15% and expected to reach 25% (or 1 in 4 Australians) over the next 2 years
• Within the next 12 months, more Google searches will be done using mobile devices than desktop PCs
• According to Yahoo/Nielsen, 86% of web users now use a mobile device while watching TV
• Australia is the global leader in per capita Facebook subscribers and time spent per week
• An average 3-6 digital touchpoints per week are influencing shopping decisions
• ‘Showrooming’ is on the rise (off a small base), where shoppers research a product instore and then go home and buy it online.

So there is a shift from desktop PC-based web usage and surfing to mobile.

So bricks and mortar retailers are competing not just with other physical retailers or with ‘online’, they are now competing for mcommerce – shop anytime anywhere.

Social media (things like Facebook and Twitter) are increasingly being used by consumers for reviews, opinions, recommendations and content. Social media provides options for smart marketers for social media specific/exclusive deals and coupons/codes.  Ben Grill of NewsLife media lists 8 social media platforms impacting the shopper path to purchase: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, 4Square, Group deal sites such as Groupon, Yelp and other review sites, Communities and forums, and blogs. This means shoppers are also now more likely to be influenced by what friends (and strangers) say about something than what retailers and manufacturers say.

The macro shift is from traditional command-and-control retailer and manufacturer based marketing to consumer-empowered marketing where the consumers are creating their own conversations.

HOW IS IT IMPACTING SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR AND THE PATH TO PURCHASE?

So shoppers can now buy instore (fixed hours), online (at home, any time), or mobile (on the go, any time).

For many types of retailers this means just being the closest or most local – and relying on your location for store traffic – isn’t good enough anymore, as shoppers are on the move and can shop from anywhere.

Conversely, they are becoming more planned in their shopping behaviours.

As fuel prices increase and shoppers’ discretionary spend on traditional ‘impulse lines’ in convenience reduces, fuel sites’ ‘front of store’ category sales will be challenged. The question is how to maintain the role of impulse categories, or at least to mitigate reduced sales in these by increasing the profile of ‘distress’ categories or to be known for something specific (ie auto). This will depend on your site type ie promoting breakfast if you’re an inbound arterial site, quick meals if you’re outbound arterial, or drive traffic via services and/or promoting extended opening hours for distress purchases if you’re a local/neighbourhood site. Using various mobile offers for front-of-store categories, coupled with instore complementary selling skills, theoretically would mean an additional sale once the shopper is in your store.

LEVERAGING THE NEW BEHAVIOURS

There are lots of different models for the path to purchase. Forrester Research, who run a lot of studies into online behaviours and shopping, describe the stages as discover, search, purchase, networking, and advocacy.

Loosely you can divide these into prestore (advertising and marketing stimulus, ‘zero moment of truth’  shopper-driven active search); instore (purchase, ‘first moment of truth’), and post store (‘second moment of truth’  – product usage, networking/socialisation, advocacy).

The good news about the path to purchase is that mobile and social media give you opportunities to market to your shoppers along each of the stages of the path to purchase.

Mobile marketing, such as text and email offers and mobile website exclusive offers, can not only be used prestore to drive traffic, they can be used as retention and loyalty tool.

Best Buy, an American equivalent of JBHiFi, has established a Twelpforce (play on Yelp), an online and mobile specialist customer service team which provides instant after-service updates for its computers and other equipment.   Or you may have received SMS texts from your car service provider post-service asking to rate their service. This is a form of post-purchase mobile marketing (or at least, customer service based) … their next step would be to provide an offer, or prompt the next car service.

So mobile can be used as a retention and loyalty tool as well and therefore as a repeat traffic driver. This has applications for convenience stores that have an auto offer … database marketing for post car registration check services for instance.  This assumes you have developed a customer database and have their details already, which you can achieve a number of ways … collecting details when they bring their car in for a check, or by running a promotion where they have to provide their details to enter the draw.

Social media can be used to provide ideas, content, and offers … it’s not just about being ‘liked’ on Facebook. The trick is to monetize it and create conversions in a way that is non-exploitative. You can use social media prestore, instore eg for social sign on and ‘check in’ and obviously post-purchase for testimonials and recommendations.

Some shoppers will Tweet/Facebook or word of mouth your store/their shopping experience … the majority of the time this is positive, it’s not just haters venting (and negative posts are an opportunity for you to turn the disgruntled shopper around and into an advocate).  Ask for a testimonial.

One person’s recommendation (second moment of truth) becomes the next person’s active search result (zero moment of truth).

APPLICATIONS, EXAMPLES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Who’s doing stuff in this space? Some examples:

• Mobile only offers with the redemption code in the email/text you send (so you don’t have to print or mail physical vouchers). Queenspark apparel here do this well
• Mobile phone app enabled rewards (loyalty program based) – Macys and ShopKick (similar to GetPrice here) run joint promotions for points for mobile only
• In pharmacy, script renewal services with mobile prompts  – Boots (UK), Superdrug (UK), CVS (US) and RiteAid (US) all do this as a matter of course
• Boots and CVS pharmacy chains offer mobile order placement with collection instore or home delivery
• Day-of-week specific promotions run by a large Indian department store chain called Shoppers Stop. They promote their Thursday ‘master classes’ via Facebook and Twitter

Some other ideas:

• Use your website and mobile for relevant category content (auto for fuel based sites for instance, particularly those with a mechanic offer for rego checks etc)
• QR code/app-based loyalty card (no need for physical loyalty card) … I’ve seen independent coffee shops in Melbourne do this and in 4 months have transitioned most of their buy 9-get the 10^th free- coffee drinkers to mobile redemption … saves them the costs of printing coffee cards. Could you do an app based loyalty card buy 9 get 10^th free for your destination categories, such as beverages?
• SMS vouchers for instore traffic/acquisition … that they can forward to a friend (or neighbor, in the case of local/neighbourhood store types)
• Online mini-catalogues set up for mobile – ‘what’s new’ or ‘what’s seasonal’ … could be menu based, summer bbq bundles etc
• Develop applications, where relevant (ie automated script renewal and prompt)
• Use mobile content to promote services – trailer hire, gas refills, Moneygram etc.

And the beauty of all of it is that it’s relatively cheap to do, it’s as applicable for a single store enterprise as for a chain, and you build relationship with your shoppers in the process.

It’s about changing your thinking from having to be cheapest or shouting loudest to one of one-on-one connection with your shoppers … wherever they are.

Taken together, you can see that the new retail game is about leveraging digital, mobile and social technologies for a more one-on-one relationship with your shoppers based on a solid reason for being, rather than leaving traffic to chance.

Back in September last year we discussed here in Retail World the new path to purchase and the role of prestore stimulus vs active online/mobile search (the Zero Moment of Truth), its impacts on instore behaviour (traditionally the First Moment of Truth), and how conversion can now be happening prestore.

The need to explore the impacts and opportunities of this was confirmed with last night’s news story on the Woolworths virtual shopping wall at Sydney’s Town Hall station. This was preceded the day before by a front page story in the Sydney Morning Herald (18 Feb) on Sportsgirl’s use of QR codes in virtual shopping wall ‘billboards’.

Virtual shopping walls really started with Tesco’s Homeplus subway-located virtual shopping wall in Korea in December 2010 , where shoppers standing in the subway station could scan products on the virtual shelf and the products were delivered to them by the time they got home.  The technology is a simple QR code, a scanner for which is downloadable as an IPhone app.

During 2011 a number of companies have started to explore virtual shopping walls, with US-based department store Sears focussing on toys for Christmas via virtual shopping walls in airports, cinemas and bus shelters ,  and in September 2011 Procter & Gamble commenced activating a P&G brands-only set of virtual shopping walls in the Czech Republic with fulfillment provided by the Czech Republic’s largest online retailer, thereby bypassing that country’s traditional bricks and mortar retailers.

Virtual shopping walls will by their nature likely be temporary executions, a form of pop-up retail. Pop-up retail itself has been around for more than 10 years. And whilst likely to nip at the edges of top-up and dinner tonight shopping trips in grocery, the limited range provided on a virtual wall and the impulse/time bound nature of the virtual shopping location means they’re not suitable for longer stock-up shops.

So from a grocery store point of view we wouldn’t expect virtual shopping walls and pop up retail to cannibalise ‘mainstream’ sales, more to kind of nibble sales around the edges a bit. And depending whose statistic you use, online grocery shopping is still at fewer than 10% … it remains to be seen how well CatchoftheDay/Scoopon’s GroceryRun online grocery store does.

However, whilst still in their infancy, virtual shopping walls mean the advent of shopping anywhere (not just instore or online). Not only can shoppers receive and look up shopping related products and offers anywhere they are, they can order them anywhere they are. This throws up both commercial and marketing opportunities.

So the ‘where do I get it from’ options, from a shopper’s point of view, are becoming:

• Buy it in a store
• Buy it online and have it delivered to me
• Order it online and pick it up instore
• Order it instore and have it delivered to me
• Buy it from a temporary store (pop up retail, temporary)
• Buy it from somewhere that’s not a store or online (ie virtual shopping wall, temporary) and have it delivered to me.

What the advent of virtual shopping walls and pop-up retail does is to get shoppers comfortable with the notion they can shop from anywhere. Which in theory means they’re open to offers and communications anywhere. And this is where technology developments mean you have communications opportunities outside of traditional media such as television and catalogues.

PRESTORE

Anyone remember the 2002 movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise winds up wearing a Japanese man’s eyes (long story), and as he walks around retail centres various anonymous voices address ‘Mr Yamamoto’ (or whatever his name was) with various tailored offers?

This is location based marketing, or geo targeting. We’re not doing it with eye retinas (yet), it’s happening with mobile devices where location based media deliver multimedia and content directly to the device. A number of digital and online companies in Australia have been offering these services for a year or two.

This can be used to drive traffic to your store as the field of the geo-target is not limited to within store, it can be up to 1 km or more. It’s great for local and community based stores with regular clients who go to their ‘local shops’ frequently and thus are likely to be ‘in range’ eg if a shopper is on a shopping strip or shopping centre, and your store is located on that strip/in that centre, they can receive offers from you.

Shoppers (well, people in general) are already actively, albeit unknowingly, helping you with this – telling you where they are – by ‘checking in’ where they are on Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp etc. (Feels like an opportunity for a location based media application that links the checkin sites with offers, if that hasn’t been developed already).

INSTORE

As we’ve discussed in other articles, grocery shoppers are crying out for information, education and entertainment (not just simplicity via range and space). A number of technologies and tools are available that can provide shoppers more information at shelf via their mobile device, without the need for paper-based pamphlets.

QR Codes are basically a re-routing application where the shopper scans the QR code with their smartphone and are taken to a specific website or landing page where the additional content is held. They can be used for product and process information, recipes etc. In consumer electronics for instance, the JBHiFi equivalent store in the USA, Best Buy, uses QR codes for product and technical specifications at shelf. But they can also be used to educate shoppers on health regimes, access promotions etc.

Augmented Reality is sort of the next step on from QR codes, where shoppers with smartphones and tablets scan an icon on a pack or shelf, such as Blippar, and additional ‘real-life’ content appears on their phone screen. Heinz have trialled this in the US with recipe books that ‘appear’ from their tomato sauce bottles when scanned. Augmented reality is also being used for promotions as the content is dynamic, in video format. Kit Kat Chunky have run augmented reality interactive promotions in other markets. Tablets like Ipads mean larger screen applications such as apparel where you can scan an item of clothing and it virtually ‘tries it on’ for you by placing the item over a head-to-toe image of you.

Words don’t describe it very well; you need to see it in action. Check out www.blippar.com as a starting point, or there are quite a few videos on YouTube.

With both QR Codes and Augmented Reality, as with any at-shelf promotion or information, the basic rules of communication apply. It needs to be made clear to the shopper that the additional information, via whatever technology, is available … just putting it on the pack of a specific brand may not make it visible enough. This will still require at-shelf signage to promote the information.

NOT ONLY FOR THE YOUNG

So what’s all this got to do with me, you say, because you run an IGA and the majority of your shoppers are people over 55 aside from the schoolkids who come in for drinks in the mornings and afternoons? Well, location based media is perfect for you, for a start.

Smartphones and tablets aren’t just for the young. Whilst the generational shift means that those under 25 don’t operate ‘offline’ (if you’re not digital, you don’t exist for under 25s) the penetration of smartphone users will be at 60% in Australia within 12 months (ie nearly 2/3 of all mobile phone owners will have a smartphone within 12 months) and the current penetration of tablets is around 15% (1 in 6) and rising quickly.

Many sectors are getting in on the act. A personal example was in Hobart’s MONA museum over New Year, where all exhibits have codes and you are given a smartphone with scanner on entry (a visual version of the AV ‘listening sticks’) to use to scan exhibits for artist and artwork details. My 75+ year old parents took to it like ducks to water.

The retail revolution is not just to ‘online’ retailing, it’s to mobile … anytime, anywhere. And this gives you more opportunities to communicate with your shoppers, not fewer.