I bet reading this question most CPG marketers will immediately respond with a chorus of “Hell no, I determine my own brand strategy!”. But before you get too excited, let’s just think about the facts: For most, if not all, consumer goods companies, retail expenditure is the number one cost after cost of goods. In many cases 60% of A&P budgets now go “below-the-line”. Most companies struggle to contain a widening gap between gross and net sales. In many markets, getting a listing in key retailers is essential to ensure the success of a brand. [Read more…]
Who gets the Shopper Marketers’ ‘Best Retailer’ award?
I’m often struck, when visiting consumer goods companies, by the number of awards on display and I’m most drawn to those given by retailers for being the “best supplier”. It’s funny though that I’ve yet to come across “best retailer” awards given by their suppliers. I thought it might be fun to think about this from a shopper marketing perspective. I think that the following four criteria could be used by Shopper marketers in judging who would win their Best Retailer award . [Read more…]
How Shoppers, Shopping Behaviors And Retailers Have Changed
When Mike Anthony and I started writing “The Shopper Marketing Revolution” in 2009, the world was a very different place. In our book we set out to define a new marketing model for the consumer goods industry. In 2009 we felt the need for this change had become extreme. We saw that most companies with whom we worked with were applying a classical approach to marketing their brands. This traditional model seeks to create massive awareness through traditional media and to convert this awareness into sales through extensive retail distribution. By the end of 2009, this model was under extreme stress as media had become ‘hyper-fragmented’ and retailing had become dominated by a small number of global players. [Read more…]
The Future Of Shopping (Part 2)
In my last post, I discussed some recent retail casualties and covered just some of the reasons WHY shopping has to change in the future if retailers of tomorrow are to survive. Today, I’m looking into WHAT I believe that we will see this happening in 2013 and the years to come
If the future of shopping is more online, more globalized and more fun what are the implications for retailers and brands? [Read more…]
The Future Of Shopping (Part 1)
This week one of my favorite retailers died. I used to love HMV! When I worked of Piccadilly Circus I spent many happy lunch hours checking out movies and music. But that was in in 1997 and the way we shop has moved on. Today my kids and I browse movies and TV shows on Netflix and Singapore’s pay-per-view Mio TV system, we sample tracks on YouTube and download what we like from iTunes. [Read more…]