Supermarket Savvy

Innovative supermarkets tap into emotional and functional desires.

The latest Reveries.com survey asked a savvy shopping crowd whether today’s supermarkets are innovative. What we heard back was how shoppers want us to innovate today’s shopping experience.

What do they want? Well, as one respondent succinctly said, “I want it all.” And today, to get it all, shoppers go everywhere.

When asked, our shoppers reported that they patronize an average of three different supermarkets, making one or two trips per week. But that’s not the whole story. When we dig into where they are shopping, we unearth an eclectic, channel-blurring list that includes traditional supermarkets, specialty stores, club, mass and drug.

What drives them? From a functional perspective, shoppers want:

Product selection. Provide affordable, one-stop shopping without sacrifices. This starts with providing quality produce — including both local and organic choices. It extends to value-added product options, with shoppers looking for specialty, gourmet and prepared-foods offerings.

Implications: Provide an array of quality products that meet their needs and their wants to build baskets. Be consistent in your product offerings and eliminate the critical out-of-stocks that drive shoppers out of your store.

Convenience. It’s not all about location, location, location. It is about time: Get shoppers in, get them out — fast, with everything on their list. Provide them with helpful and happy personal service.

Implications: Improve navigation — beginning in the parking lot and continuing through the store and checkout. Create a shopper-centric store layout with intuitive assortments and adjacencies in an uncluttered environment.

Fix the broken carts. Smooth the checkout experience — if not with technology with good, old fashioned, helpful, happy, engaged employees.

Relevant Rewards. This means delivering more than price incentives in a format that is relevant to today’s shoppers. It is about innovating both in terms of content and delivery. It is about informing and motivating shoppers along their paths-to-purchase.

 Implications: Provide relevant, convenient rewards and tools that are customized to shoppers’ needs and localized to their markets. It is about consistently reinforcing that membership in retail reward programs has privileges.

To do this, retailers need to build in additional value and convenience. To help communicate, augment outbound retail email campaigns with innovative product information, planning tools, recipes and a link to coupons. Consider extending to mobile applications.

From an emotional perspective, shoppers connect with retailers and brands that:

Understand them by having the right assortment, right offers and then something extra. Strive to understand the cooking-shopping-nurturing connection that drives both the function and emotion around many shopping trips. Don’t underestimate shopper commitment to more sustainable and green solutions, even in a down economy.

Implications: Understand your shoppers and their preferences. Become a resource for more than merchandise, and become a partner that helps provide innovative solutions that entertain and nurture their families.

Engage them personally with communications that inform and educate — before and during the shopping trip. Shoppers are looking for information that provides ideas and inspiration. Ask them their opinions!

Implications: Understand your shoppers’ paths-to-purchase and engage them along the way. Don’t undervalue the role of personal service. Create simple, relevant planning tools that integrate with how they plan today. Engage them visually in-store with attractive displays and signage — remembering that value is much more than price.

Entertain them. Take the mundane out of the shopping experience — make shopping an event. You have a live audience. Make it fun for them and for family members in tow.

Implications: Add music, demonstrations, sampling, wine tastings, product specialists and good, old-fashioned customer service to add a personal element. Introduce them to new products and invite them to explore.

Success requires solutions that drive the mutual goals of both the retailer and the manufacturer. This means listening to the shopper and delivering against multiple shopper needs.

Manufacturers need to find connecting points between their brands and the retailer. If your product benefit is about convenience or speed, partner with retailers to deliver convenient solutions and services. For example: This checkout or checker brought to you by Brand X.

If your product makes folks smile, sponsor an employee recognition program that delivers improved customer service that engages shoppers and improves convenience. If your brand entertains, find a way to bring that into store in a way that builds on both the brand and retail platform.

Listen to the voice of the shopper and understand the impact of changing shopper behavior. Irrespective of any shortcomings, 70 percent of our survey respondents say they like shopping and discovering new things.

So, create events that encourage shoppers to go on a “treasure hunt.” Purposefully drive consumers throughout the store to fulfill their missions to discover something new — it both engages and entertains.

Shoppers are pre-planning as never before, but according to this survey 60 percent of them are not using retail circulars and 74 percent are not leveraging retail websites.

Engage consumers where they plan by integrating into relevant online activities like popular cooking (Epicurious, Food Network) and couponing sites to build on planning behavior.

Build programs to deliver against shoppers’ multiple needs. For example, when we create programs that inform and educate (e.g., recipes, meal plans, activities, in home entertaining tips, healthy living guides, etc.) We show that we understand that our shoppers are looking for ideas and solutions.

When these ideas include complimentary (and potentially private-label) products, we are building baskets in a way that leverages the retailer’s product selection. When we overlay incentives in a tips booklet, or through shopper targeting, we are providing relevant rewards.

By collaborating with retailers to develop in store “solution centers” with attractive fixtures and informative signage, we maximize convenience while engaging shoppers. Add an educated, animated demonstrator, and we entertain the shopper, as well. When we bring these elements together, we are on the road to true super marketing.                

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SIDEBAR

Truly Super Markets

In survey respondents’ own words, here’s what makes supermarkets super:

Whole Foods: Product Selection; Convenience (Store Layout and Service); Engagement (Communications and Causes).

Trader Joes: Product Selection; Convenience (Checkout and Service); Entertainment (Sampling and Surprises).

Wegmans: Shopping Experience; Product Selection; Convenience (Layout and Signage); Engagement (Communications, Causes, Recipes
and Service); Entertainment (Sampling).

Tesco Fresh & Easy: Product Selection; Convenience (Checkout Options and Layout); Engagement (Social Media).

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RANDI MOORE is vice-president and account director with Marketing Drive. She leads the agency’s shopper-marketing practice.