Shopper Culture

Retail Rebranding: Iceberg Ahead

This is part 1 of 10 in a series by Craig Carl, SVP Creative Director, The Integer Group Dallas

Imagine this: your agency or design firm develops your new brand identity from a "clean slate". They ignore the fact that you have hundreds of locations that are anything but clean. The operations guy who keeps grumbling about the variables across 483 stores is perceived as a road bump on the way to a bright new brand. The CFO who warns of hidden costs is considered a troll attempting to tax your creative bridge to the future. 

But rebranding moves your business forward. It's a logical and necessary process that will reintroduce your brand to the customer. So the agency produces a 3D rendering of the flagship store decked out in the new color palette, all contained within the brand guidelines. The budget is allocated. The Board and senior executives sign on, a campaign is developed, signs are designed and, with appropriate fanfare, the decision to rebrand is announced to the public.

But like an iceberg, it's what you don't see that will sink you. Grandfathered-in signage variances, community and developer restrictions, existing structural considerations and the millions of dollars worth of stuff you are not throwing out can sink the new brand even before it's launched.

Location, Location, Location...

You may have noticed the intersection of brand, retailer and shopper is no longer limited to the store aisle. Shoppers now demand immediate gratification beyond your product offering in the form of information, entertainment, coupons and special deals from their mobile devices utilizing location-based services. According to a survey of 1,000 U.S. adult consumers conducted by Luth Research in March 2010, nearly one-third of cell phone owners utilize location-based applications (most frequently to "locate nearby points of interest, shops or services"). 

What does this mean for brands? Smart location-based applications provide more intense, ongoing relationship with the prospective shopper and can collect a new spectrum of data to further identify shopper behaviors and patterns on the path to purchase. How can you engage shoppers via location-based services before, during and after they buy your product? Click here for the answers to these questions from the latest edition of the Integer Pulse.

Is Mobile a True Shopper Aid for This Holiday?

A recent release by the NRF and BIGResearch shows anticipated usage of mobile phones as a shopping tool for the holidays by smartphone owners will be significant. More specifically, we see the largest adoption of this behavior by men, higher income households, and younger users.

While smartphone penetration is only at about 23% (comScore July 2010), most predictions show smartphone ownership pass 50% penetration late next year.  So, while an app may not be the answer for every brand right now, and "check ins" or "barcode scans" may not be the promotional entry mechanism of choice yet, marketers need to start dabbling in these arenas so when they do reach critical mass, they aren't just figuring it out then.

Retail Rebranding: Introduction

This is 0 of 10 in a series by Craig Carl, SVP Creative Director, The Integer Group Dallas

Thousands of agencies worldwide specialize in the high-tension, high-stakes business of branding. Expertise is at every corner or website and all of it is offered with absolute authority. Unfortunately, with most of these brand architects, one strategic element is routinely absent: the minefield of rebranding existing stores. The stores are often given a new logo, some concept renderings and a good luck handshake. 

There are equal parts excitement and insanity in rebranding an existing store chain. Most established American retailers have built their business and stores over the last 20 to 40 years. The legacy of different store formats, landlord restrictions and logistics are like quicksand; they will suck down budgets and vision, leaving nothing behind.

A CEO that can stare down Wall Street will falter when trying to decide between warm red and cool red. A CMO that thrives on media schedules and broadcast storyboards can implode over the variables on the company price tag system. Reason is replaced with passion and everyone becomes an expert.

Simply put, rebranding a retailer is not for sissies. Future posts from Craig will explore 10 reasons why.

Next Week, Retail Rebranding: Iceberg Ahead

Panera Bread Honor System Paying Off

Good news, there is reason to have faith in the goodwill and fairness of mankind. As it turns out, people, when given a choice, will pay a fair price for a good meal. The Panera Bread non-profit experiment is proving to be a success after the chain implemented a pay-what-you-can policy for its patrons.

Operated by Panera Cares, the non-profit feeds almost 4,000 people daily. The bakery cafe suggests a recommended price for each item, but customers pay what they can or think is fair. Around 65% pay the recommended price, while the others either pay more or less. Some pay nothing at all. To date the restaurant has nearly broken even.

According to the New York Daily News, "Panera hopes to open a similar location in every community where it operates. Other nonprofits have opened community kitchens, where customers set the price, and the idea has spread among food enthusiasts and philanthropists. But Panera brings new scale to the idea—its community restaurants will use the company's distribution system and have access to its national food suppliers."

The question now is will the community sustain a concept like this indefinitely?

Will those who can afford to pay more feel obligated to pick up the tab for those less fortunate?

What other channels of trade might pay-what-you-can business model support? Grocery? C-store?

 

- Contributed by Paul Ballew

Driving Impulse Sales With Innovatively Themed Displays

The Integer Group's Paul Ballew, VP Insight & Strategy, presented Driving Impulse Sales With Innovatively Themed Displays at the NACS trade show in Atlanta last week. The presentation was created based on convenience store research conducted in 16 stores and a total of 400 shopper intercepts. The study highlights the effectiveness of merchandising displays in engaging shoppers and driving incremental purchases. Click here to download the presentation.   

Campbell's & Stickybits

Getting consumers to interact with your product in the store is quite an accomplishment. But getting a consumer to drive to the store, search the aisle for your product, download an application, scan the barcode, and take a picture of the new product label is an even greater accomplishment.

Campbell's is the first CPG company to use Stickybits as a sweepstakes component. Campbell's was looking for a way to get consumers to discover their new soup labels. By using Stickybits, an application that allows consumers to attach information and pictures to barcodes, Campbell's gives consumers a way to interact with their new product labels. 

This promotion generates a lot of interesting questions.

Will consumers jump through hoops for a chance to win a $500 prize?

Will the publicity of Campbell's being first to use Stickybits, an emerging technology, drive consumer interest?

Are consumers more willing to engage with a brand if it's on a social level with their friends and peers?

This sweepstakes clearly gets the consumer to interact with the product and helps get the word out about Campbell's various new product labels. And most shopper studies show that if you can get the customer to interact with your product, he or she will be more likely to buy it.

It will be interesting to see some data on how well this sweepstakes was received. 

- Contributed by Leslie Young

Shopper Marketing Expo: The Tenets of Shopper Marketing

Integer's Craig Elston, SVP Insight & Strategy, spoke this week at the Shopper Marketing Expo at Navy Pier in Chicago. Craig presented The Tenets of Shopper Marketing, six tenets, supported by case studies and proprietary data, that help shift mindsets about the possibilities of shopper marketing and what it can do for manufacturers and retailers alike. The presentation is available for download here.

Hispanic Shoppers Trading Down or Moving Out of Categories

Hispanic shoppers are more likely than the general public to switch brands, a trend that looks to continue into the near term. A contributing factor to the higher propensity to switch is the acceptance of family members to private-label brands in the household.

While the general market is gradually trending toward sticking with tried-and-true brand names, Hispanic shoppers are becoming more comfortable with switching brands. The question remains whether shoppers will return to their familiar brands given an economic recovery or if their switching behavior will become the new status quo.

In addition to switching brands more often, Hispanic shoppers are also buying fewer and cheaper goods. The silver lining is that some Hispanic shoppers are sticking with familiar brands despite having to occasionally buy less often, and, when they do switch, they often choose store brands. 

For Hispanics, have store brands become the new reality? While the number of general-market shoppers switching to store brands seems to have reached a plateau, Hispanic shoppers show few signs of slowing their hunt for better bargains and report that the best bargains come from store brands. Of those buying fewer or cheaper items, nearly three-fourths (73%) indicate that they are also brand switchers. 

Store brands continue to gain strength with shoppers and their families. While most shoppers continue to consider name brands as offering greater variety and innovation (at a higher cost), among Hispanics, that figure is much smaller. Significantly more Hispanic shoppers perceive less difference in product quality, and their families are becoming more used to having store brands in the shopping basket. This is even more pronounced at higher income levels ($75,000+). 

For more Hispanic Shopper data, click here to download the The Checkout - Issue 5.10

Planning-ness Conference: Using Science and Technology to Influence Shopping Behavior

Yesterday at the Planning-ness Conference in Denver, Craig Elston and Ethan Decker presented in a session entitled Using Science and Technology to Influence Shopping Behavior.

Summary: While as marketers we tend to chase the latest trends and technology to find new ways to connect with our audiences, we also need to take a step back and remember some basic laws of human behavior that guide the everyday decisions consumer make. These are laws around the ways people process information and make and justify everyday decisions.

For those interested in downloading the presentation, it’s posted on shopperculture’s slideshare here.