E-marketing: Painless profit for endless gain

Step 2: Understand the Interaction between New and Traditional Media
BrandSpark International’s Canadian Shopper Study reveals shopper's trends and how they embrace multi-media.

Understand shopping behavior:  Marketers need to get their products in shoppers’ consideration sets before the store.

• While 37% have a standard shopping list they each week, only 15% decide most of their purchases in store.

• Planning begins at home with 96% reading supermarket flyers at least occasionally, and 93% reading drug store

flyers.  More than 90% are looking for low priced specials and more than 7 in 10 are comparing prices between stores.

• Once in-store, 25% rush to get the items on their list and get out, while 66% indicate that they walk all of the aisles

to be sure not to miss anything they need.

• Shopping for multiple categories is common on most trips: 62% of shoppers buy most of their food products on

dedicated shopping trips, while 48% of shoppers say the same for personal care products, and 37% for household

care products.

• A segment of shoppers agree that they often make impulse purchases: 23% in food

Shoppers are interested in new products:  68% say they are willing to pay more for a new product that is better than what is currently available.  Consumers believe that research and development really is leading to better products: 71% believe for health, 67% for household care, 61% for personal care, and 56% for food.

Leverage social media and out-of-home ads:  Shoppers indicate again that ads in TV are most successful at capturing their attention (92% always/sometimes pay attention), followed by those in out-of-home ads (87%) and magazines (85%).  Internet ads are “always or sometimes noticed” by 79% of shoppers, with online display solidifying its’ position as a cornerstone of many if not most campaigns. 

Product samples, retail flyers, TV, direct mail coupons, and magazines ads are considered the most useful ad channels for learning about new products.  Paper coupons remain popular with 70% having used direct mail coupons in the past year, 70% a newspaper coupon, and 50% used coupons from magazines.  Digital coupons are challenging print coupons with 50% having used digital coupons acquired from retailer or brand websites.

Optimize Social Networks and Peer Recommendations:  Facebook dominates the social media universe and must be the social media starting point for any brand: 76% of shoppers are on Facebook.  Twitter and LinkedIn membership have both grown significantly among principal grocery shoppers, now at 21% and 17% of shoppers.  54% of shoppers admit to paying attention to ads on social networks, and this increases to 67% of Early Adopters.   36% of Canadian shoppers are fans of a CPG brand on Facebook.

Peer recommendations are becoming even more common, both in terms of being given and being accepted. 80% agree that “If I find a product that I like, I will encourage friends and family to purchase”, while nearly 90% agree that if “I get a deal on something, I love to tell my friends and family about it.”  70% say they are likely to choose a product based on the recommendations of others.