Case Study Supports How Experiential Marketing Can be a Game Changer

Experiential marketing is proving to be the most effective form of in-store marketing in the consumer packaged goods industry. The reason that experiential marketing is proving to be a game changer is because it allows consumers to get to know your brand through first-hand experience. 

The most successful experiential marketing campaigns involve a sampling of your product through live demonstration, packaged sampling and through discounts/coupons incenting customers to purchase and try your product at a reduced price. 

A recent case study conducted by Activia provides good evidence to support why brands have big benefits to gain by engaging in experiential marketing.

In the case study, Activia underwent a sampling campaign promoting their Danone Shake Up Breakfast product. Their sampling campaign took place at key retailers over a three week period. The experiential marketing campaign leveraged highly visual communication tools to interrupt shoppers and entice them to try the product.

Through the experiential marketing campaign over 123,000 samples were distributed. This resulted in more than 180,000 people being exposed to the Activia brand and Danone Shake Up Breakfast product. The experiential marketing campaign resulted in increased uplifts of approx. 300% - 2000% per/day. What was even more interesting was that 57% of visitors said that they had never considered trying the product before trying the sample. What is compelling is that 60% of customers who tried the sample left the store not only loving the product but also indicating that they were extremely likely to purchase the product in the future.

One of the key reasons that this experiential marketing campaign was so successful was because Activia used an experiential marketing company to facilitate it. Experiential marketing is a science and should always be facilitated through companies who are experienced in experiential marketing.

There are several ingredients to a successful experiential marketing recipe, these include:

·         A strong plan – what do you want to achieve through your experiential marketing campaign?

·         Metrics to track outcomes – how will you track the results?

·         Creative communications – how will you entice shoppers to stop what they are doing and participate in your experiential marketing campaign?

·         An enticing offer – how will you deliver the experience to your customer (samples, product demonstrations, coupons, etc.)?

·         Who will deliver your message – Having the right representatives is key and having enough skilled representation to execute an effective experiential marketing campaign that has good retail coverage will be very important.

It is very important that your campaign includes representatives at the retail level who are skilled in experiential marketing. A customer who stops and engages you is not only having an experience with your product but also with your company. Representatives that represent you at the store level must be outgoing, friendly, professional, engaging and very knowledgeable about your products.

Experiential marketing truly is proving to be a game changer and a worthy investment for those who want to compete more aggressively in-store. By having a good recipe for your experiential marketing campaign and a good experiential marketing company to support it, it is bound to be a success.

For more information about experiential marketing or for more information about our experiential marketing solutions please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Retailers Give Preference to In-store Brands Through Retail Merchandising

Private labels have been immersed in a battle to compete with store brands in the consumer packaged goods space for many different reasons. This represents a huge challenge to B and C level brands. 

Store brands are more competitive than ever, offering lower prices on the backs of the brands that they compete with. In addition to lower pricing, better packaging, marketing campaigns and preferential retail merchandising has made is more difficult and more expensive than ever before to compete.

National brands with deep pockets are definitely better positioned to compete. Smaller B and C brands are in a vulnerable position and in a virtual war zone because they not only find themselves having to compete with the store brands but also with the national brands.

This is a real catch 22 because in order to sell product, private brands must maintain strong relationships with the very stores that have brands that they are competing with, and in some cases, even white label their products to. Without the retailers, brands don’t have a place to sell their products. Without strong sales, brands face having their products de-prioritized and even de-listed.

If you represent a brand, you know that you pay big bucks to have your products listed with retailers. Retailers who sell their own brands give preference to the retail merchandising of their brands which means that private brands must make a more assertive effort to control their retail merchandising at the retail level.

When a retailer gives preferential retail merchandising to their brands, what does this mean for you?

It means that they see better product placement and more effort is made to see that that product is properly priced, in stock and on the shelves.

The only way B and C brands can compete in this environment is to make more of an investment in the customer’s experience through increasing their investment in retailmerchandising at the point of purchase to ensure customer retention and customer loyalty.

So how can you do this? By knowing where you stand at the retail level at all times and having eyes on the ground at the retailers. When customers are in-store the three most common reasons that they shift brand loyalty are when products are moved, when products are not properly priced and when products are not on the shelves.

If you represent a smaller private brand you can work with retail merchandising companies to come up with a plan to ensure that your product is where you expect it to be, is not in stock but not on the shelf, is not out of stock or is not improperly priced. This could include scheduled visits by the retail merchandising company to ensure that your in-store presence is in order. Retail merchandising companies can be provided with your product so if it is out of stock, they can place more product in-store. If product is sold out on the shelf, they can go into the stockroom and place more product on the shelf. If your product has been moved, you will be made aware of it and they can even correct incorrect pricing.

These small changes can make an incredible difference in your sales. When customers visit the retailer, your product will consistently be available to them. When other brands see their products sell out now you are in a position to shift the customers’ loyalty to you because you not only offer great product but your brand is reliable.

For more information about how you can compete with store brands or for more information about our retail merchandising solutions please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.

Ipsos Survey Reveals That Store Brands Are Surpassing National Private Brands Through Improved Brand Positioning

It’s no secret that private brands and store brands continue to be in staunch competition at the retail level and that the customers’ experiences at the point of sale remain critical. 

New statistics released by an Ipsos Marketing survey that has been conducted annually over the past three years, revealed that private brands will need to step up their game if they want to avoid being overtaken by in-store brands. The Ipsos survey asked consumers to compare store brands to national brands in many different areas.  The survey revealed that: 

·         Since 2009, the majority of consumers perceived store brands to be equivalent and in many cases better than national brands.

·         From 2009 to 2010, store brands slipped in all areas including value, convenience and meeting the needs of the customer.

·         From 2010 to 2011, store brands gained ground in consumers’ minds with regard to quality, innovativeness, uniqueness and packaging. 

“It is really not that surprising that consumer perceptions toward store brand quality, innovativeness, uniqueness and packaging have improved. Retailers are investing more heavily into the development and merchandising of their store brands,” summarized Gill Aitchison, President, Ipsos Marketing, Global Shopper & Retail Research.

 

Customer loyalty and retention is what will make or break the success of any brand. One vital component of effective merchandising is ensuring the best customer experience. Filling gaps at the retail level to increase customer retention of those who are already loyal to your brand should be a top priority. The most common reasons a loyal customer will shift their loyalty from one brand to another brand are: price, quality of product and product accessibility.

“Our data indicates that store brands still pose a formidable threat to national brands – perhaps now more than ever,” Aitchison says.

Outside of offering a quality product and unique packaging, if national brands want to gain ground on the very competitive store brands they will have to ensure that when the customer is shopping, that their products are easy to find, in a consistent place, with prices tagged, in-stock and on the shelves.

In an extremely competitive retail environment, when a product is out of stock or has been moved, customers often don’t have the time or patience and will simply try the next, most comparable brand available. This is dangerous because if they like the new product, their loyalty could shift permanently. This why merchandising is key for private label brands, which includes ensuring that sufficient resources are in place to make sure that inaction on the part of the retailer is not resulting in a shift in customer loyalty because products are not accessible.

Many private brands do not have the same level of in-store merchandising support that the store brands do. This is why it is so important for private brands to invest in merchandising support services or risk being over taken by the less expensive and more competitive store brands.

This trend does not seem to be subsiding, so it is crucial that private label brands reinforce their point of differential in order to win over the shopper and influence their buying habits and regain the position as far as strongest sales.

Aitchison concluded by saying that “National brands must now battle store brands on all fronts – it’s not just a value game anymore. National brands must vehemently protect their image for providing higher-quality and more innovative products than store brands. With retailers focusing more on the product development and marketing of store brands, national brands are going to need to work even harder to differentiate their brands with breakthrough innovations, more standout packaging and true product superiority. Bringing in the voice of the consumer, digging for deeper consumer insights, and leveraging leading-edge marketing techniques will be instrumental to winning over the shopper at the critical moment of point of purchase in order to win the ongoing battle against store brands”.

If you would like information about cutting edge merchandising solutions that could drive your brand at retail ensuring the best customer experience please contact Storesupport at 1 (877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca. To read the full press release, us this link http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5612 .

White Paper Reveals How Mobile and Social Media Have Major Influence Over Your Brand’s Customer Retention and Brand Reputation Management

Mobile technology and social media have revolutionized the way that we share, communicate and influence one another. With the rise of mobile and social media and the ‘like’ phenomenon, mobile and social media has led to a significant increase in how your customers’ and prospects’ buying habits are influenced. This can be positive for brands when they are doing everything possible to ensure a positive customer experience and at the same time can be devastating to brands that do not.

With over 65% of people owning either a tablet or a smartphone, social networking is no longer static. Rather, since these devices can go virtually anywhere, social media is now much more fast-paced and on the move. Recognizing this trend and its impacts is critical if you want to maintain your brand’s customer retention and reputation.

A recent survey conducted by Ipsos Reid uncovered some important statistics that demonstrate just how important mobile and social media is as far as brand recognition and social influence:

-          49% of Canadians surveyed said that they were either strongly influenced or somewhat influenced by what members of their social network had to say about brand or product recommendations.

-          41% stated that if someone in their social network “liked” a product or a brand they were more likely to try it than if it was not.

-          Almost half of those surveyed said that they “liked” at least one brand or product, with the younger generations (18-34) following an average of 5.

 

Taking into consideration just how crucial tapping into mobile and social media resources is, it is important to remember that just because someone likes a product or brand initially does not mean that they will continue to do so. The same survey found that almost 30% of respondents stated that they have ‘unliked’ or stopped following a brand if it no longer held their interest of if their loyalties switched.

Clearly these stats illustrate just how important it is to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves through mobile and social media. Knowing all of this, how can you make sure that your followers or customers are ‘liking’ your product or brand, and how you can you maintain this following?

Ensuring that customers have a good customer experience at the point of purchase is vital. As easy as it is for a customer to “like” your brand, it is just as easy for customers to take to their social media when they have a negative experience. Consumers who love and rely on your brand as an important component of their shopping list can be extremely inconvenienced when they attend retailers who have moved your product or allowed it to go out of stock. It becomes frustrating because now they have two choices, be inconvenienced seeking out your brand or shift their loyalty to a brand that is more readily available.

As recently as last week we had a consumer post on one of our LinkedIn Groups about an bad experience they had at a retailer where changes to a floor plan and out of stock products led them to post on their Facebook about their experience, influencing their social networks’ opinion of the brand and retailer and lighting up a firestorm of controversy about this issue. The customer’s experience at the point of purchase can make or break a brand and social media and mobile create a platform for you not only to lose their business but also that of those in their social network.

Investing in merchandising and working with suppliers who can improve your customers’ experience at the point of purchase stops you from being impacted by changes retailers make in-store and a lack of organization at the retail level.

Ignoring the importance of social influence can be detrimental to your bottom line. For more information about the rise of mobile and social media or about our merchandising services please contact Storesupport at 1(877) 421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.