It has been awhile since we visited the pages of Willard Bishop’s Competitive Edge. In the September edition, Craig Rosenbloom writes about the proliferation of Shopper Marketing Practices and how shopper data is evolving as a force in the 21st century. Having this opportunity to intimately know the consumer is certainly a great tool for tailoring on-line and at-retail consumer promotion, but as Rosenbloom asks, “Why are we only using shopper data for such limited applications?”
As the eyes and ears, as well as the arms and legs, of CPG manufacturers and retailers around the country, NARMS members are uniquely positioned to play a vital role in both the gathering of shopper data and the execution of any resulting at-retail plans. Because of this, it’s important to know in which direction that these trading partners might be headed with the application of information.
Although Rosenbloom offers three additional ways that marketers can use shopper data beyond target marketing, there is one that jumps off the page in the eyes of at-retail merchandising and marketing companies. That is the application toward assortment and space. With the perimeter of the store growing with necessary offerings to service the customer, that space has to come from somewhere. In most cases, it means that the center of the store is shrinking. Having less space makes each facing and end cap that much more valuable to our customer. Competitive Edge says that trading partners would be wise to use shopper data to optimize assortment offered in the dwindling space.
The article also introduces a term called, “affinity score.” An affinity score helps you decide what additional items a shopper is likely to buy with the purchase of a given item. This all leads to the creation of unique product placement. He uses the example of a, “breakfast center,” where milk, eggs, bacon and cereal are all available in the same place.
Knowledge is power. Shopper marketing data is power for trading partners and knowing the application of the data is power for our group of service companies. A deep understanding of what is driving our customers is invaluable in the evolution our service offering into a valuable go-to-market partnerships.
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