Creating online connections with your offline shoppers
Amazon can reach customers with laser-like precision. Can you?
Imagine you have a new product hitting shelves in two months. Although a departure from your existing portfolio, a year of market research says current customers will love it. And, oh man, do you ever need them to: In this new world of super-tight budgets where every line item is scrutinized, you don’t have the luxury of mass marketing. Instead, your best opportunity is to target your digital spend to reach and activate current customers.
Ready. Set. Go.
If you’re an ecomm giant like Amazon, this is a relatively easy exercise. With over 300 million active user accounts and detailed history of every online purchase, Amazon simply flips a switch and serves ads, across the entire Internet, to recent customers. But, if like most CPGs 95% of your customers are buying your products off the shelf, the task is far more daunting.
History of Intermediation Makes Activation Difficult
Retailer intermediation has always meant a disconnect between brands and their customers: If you don’t own the point of sale, it’s impossible to know who is actually interacting with and buying your product.
CPGs can turn to these retailers for help. Brands can leverage advertising on retailer platforms, or work with their media teams to target ads. However, as each retailer owns the keys to their specific kingdom, they don’t necessarily have to offer the most effective, or efficient solution… and they don’t.
And the coming of age of Amazon as a grocery giant won’t alleviate the problem, but instead will create another walled garden CPGs have to toss their media dollars over.
New Opportunity for a 1-to-1 Customer Relationship
But there are now other sources of data that are changing the game for CPGs…
The adoption of smartphones (80% of Americans now own one) and the proliferation of grocery-related tools and content has created a new opportunity for CPGs. 60% of Americans with smartphones (so over 100MM Americans) say they make their shopping list on a phone. Consumers are also also using apps to manage loyalty cards, favorite recipes, compare prices across retailers, even order their groceries.
These digital platforms provide valuable answers for brands, including: Who is adding my products to their list? What type of shopper are they? What’s the best way to reach them? What else are they interested in?
This data, especially when coupled with 3rd party attribution and foot traffic measurement, puts CPGs back in the driver’s seat, and ready to activate customers for everything from new product launches to regional pushes.
For more information on how you can activate your customers, check out AdAdapted.
