Personalized, Localized Deals Influence In-store Grocery Sales

Consumer packaged goods brands must harness personalized content and localized digital activation to create consumer engagement and boost in-store sales, according to a study conducted by digital marketing firm G/O Digital.

According to the study, "CPG Marketing Reinvented," circulars are not an obsolete form of advertising, but must be redeployed as part of a brand's overall marketing strategy.

In fact, 79 percent of moms and 75 percent of dads are more likely to make in-store purchases when digital circulars present locally relevant and personalized deals, the study found.

“The modern-day shopper switches between screens as much as 21 times per hour and is barraged by an influx of experiences, emails, ads, coupons and offers across both traditional and digital channels,” said Jeff Fagel, CMO of G/O Digital.

Fagel made note of three critical variables, including personalized distribution of promotional content, approaching mobile as a behavior (not a channel), and real-time localized digital activation at national scale.

"Brand marketers must provide locally relevant, contextually targeted content and advertising that are native to the user experience. If they don’t, consumers will quickly move on to competitors who do," Fagel said.

Among the other key findings in the report:

• Digital circulars rank as the top form of advertising to influence moms (32 percent) and dads (29 percent) to buy food and beverage items in-store. Yet, TV advertising only influences the in-store purchase decisions of 6 percent of moms and 13 percent of dads.
• When asked about the value of digital promotions and circulars while standing in-store, 19 percent of moms replied that “it’s very important," and another 36 percent of moms believe “it’s somewhat important."
• The future of retail will be played out in the digital pre-shopping funnel as webrooming helps parents track down deals. When asked if they use their desktop/laptop computer, smartphone or tablet to pre-search for “on sale” food/beverage items, 40 percent of moms responded “yes, this is the first thing I do.”
• Some 55 percent of moms and 47 percent of dads believe Facebook is the most useful social media channel to engage with CPG brands. Conversely, only 5 percent of moms and 7 percent of dads find Twitter useful.
• Local Facebook offers are in high demand. Some 77 percent of moms and 72 percent of dads believe localized deals/offers on Facebook are important enough to affect the food/beverage items they drop into their grocery shopping carts.
• One-size-fits-all online and mobile ads will deplete in-store sales. When asked what is most frustrating about online and mobile ads from food/beverage brands, 35 percent of moms and 29 percent of dads cited “information and promotions that are not locally relevant to products/prices in-store.”

The study was fielded from July 2-9, 2014 and garnered a total of 1,000 responses from online and mobile users in the U.S., aged 30-50 years old.