Shopper Marketing Trends Report 2016

When the editors of Shopper Marketing and the Path to Purchase Institute met in mid-September to set the course for our Trends 2016 survey, we knew we would include a handful of budget/funding questions as usual. And there are always important questions to ask about in-store/brick-and-mortar versus digital and e-commerce.But our recent experiences conducting these surveys have told us that some of the most intriguing results have come when we ask the CPG/brand marketing executives we survey to rate the retailers.Participants are guaranteed anonymity when responding (save submitting their email addresses if desired for a chance to win an Apple Watch Sport), so we believe we’re getting honest responses. And participants are directed to only answer for the retailers they’ve worked with in the last year.Our Trends 2016 effort – fielded from Oct. 22-30, 2015 – garnered 121 fully completed and 75 partially completed surveys. And 62 of the respondents identified “shopper marketing” as their primary job function/area of responsibility.In the survey, we had the participants rate 10 major retailers on their willingness to collaborate, their business prospects heading into 2016, and their success in building alternative fulfillment models.Additionally, we asked which digital elements (from a list of 10) those same retailers typically request/prefer – from digital coupons and promoting on the chain’s website to working within the chain’s mobile app and paid search.But it was two questions we asked about Walmart specifically that really grabbed our attention when the editors met in early November to discuss the results. We had asked just how much impact two recent statements/policy changes from Walmart were having on the manufacturers.Fortunately, we also asked the participants to explain their answers. In return, we received a plethora of pithy, sometimes emotional comments. With some minor editing, we present many of those responses below – alongside complete survey results and analysis from our editors.Budgets/Funding/StructureINSTITUTE ANALYSIS: It’s interesting to note that survey participants who identified themselves as shopper marketers said a higher percentage of their programs contain both in-store and digital elements – 59%, versus 50% for all respondents. And while just over 30% of respondents said at least half of their digital shopper marketing activity is devoted to driving e-commerce sales, that number jumped to 72% for participants who classified their products/services as in the “specialty” category, which includes consumer electronics.INSTITUTE ANALYSIS: Keeping in mind that we haven’t asked the question in the exact way each year (e.g., for 2015 we asked how “path-to-purchase budgets” have changed), we’ve seen similar results in each of the last five years for how shopper marketing budgets have changed. Consistently, only 10-15% have indicated their budgets are decreasing. Take into account that in answering the budget questions, participants likely don’t have the actual numbers on hand and are answering in general terms. Where funding is concerned, it’s apparent that smaller companies are less inclined to have dedicated shopper budgets, but rather have shopper funded by sales or marketing. Our results indicate that a shift has occurred with shopper marketers now reporting into marketing more than sales. By comparison, GfK’s 2013 Futurescope study showed that 37% of shopper marketers reported into sales and 20% into marketing.Working With RetailersINSTITUTE ANALYSIS: Last year we asked the same question about who drives shopper marketing programs more, retailers or brands, and the results are nearly identical. If forced to make a distinction, we see that the percentage of programs completely driven by retailer objectives has dropped slightly. We also asked the question in our Trends 2010 report, though, and the true collaboration number was higher (42%) back then while the completely driven by retailer objectives (7%) and brand objectives (3%) numbers were lower. Perhaps the biggest takeaways from the “rate the retailers on their willingness to collaborate” and the “business prospects” questions are that Kroger is trending upward and Walmart is trending downward.View full-size image.INSTITUTE ANALYSIS: There are a lot of numbers to digest in the “digital elements” chart, so we thought we’d direct you to a few. Digital coupons pretty much lead the way across the board, with Walmart lagging in that category. Promoting on a chain’s site and working within a chain’s app follow in popularity, with Walmart standing out for its site and CVS, Target and Walgreens noteworthy for their apps. Where the retailer’s social media is concerned, Dollar General leads the pack and Kroger is notably low. Additionally, Dollar General’s mobile ad buys percentage is comparably high. For the question about alternative fulfillment models, we suggest the main takeaway is pretty much everyone has considerable room for improvement, and that Walmart is perceived as leading this pack.Bricks & Clicks/DigitalINSTITUTE ANALYSIS: Monitoring online-to-offline sales attribution? We sense we might be a little early in asking this question, but considering that 65% of respondents say their company is either interested in or already has developed a capability, we know this will be an important topic going forward. And, “What’s programmatic?” A year ago the Institute’s editors felt much like the 24% of respondents who aren’t in the know. Interestingly and understandably, 37% of insights/analytics respondents provided that answer while none of the digital/mobile/e-commerce ones did. And take it from the digital/mobile/e-commerce group (100%), let’s wait and see on ad-blocking.

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

You May Also Like

Special Report: Path to Purchase Trends 2024, Part 2

P2PI 2024 Trends Report: RMN Ratings & Insights