I have witnessed a single SHOPPER enter the shopping aisle and stop in front of the shelf on which my product was and pay specific attention to it – they had the potential to become an effective customer.
The amount of action that marketing has to take to make the connection between attention and acquisition action is very low (see the article on attention times). Of course, there is always the promotion “weapon”, but this does not always generate the desired effects and can often reduce to a price war, eroding margins and darkening the brand image.
The challenge today is finding alternative solutions to promote the store price. Everything communicates (G. Batheson said that we cannot ‘not communicate’), and what is the best opportunity to intercept our customers if not when they are looking and making a purchase decision?
Case study: the protagonist is a brand that enjoys good equity, is very much sought after by CONSUMERS and has a niche position (medium-high price, placement in the “Premium” segment). We kept it under observation for 9 weeks in a hypermarket panel.
This is the situation, at the time of our analysis. Brand sales in object (Brand A) are very low, but related to the evolution of the number of potential SHOPPERS. The brand is highly sought after by the customer as is the leader in the category (Brand B). This highlights that the difference between the two products lies in the sales performance, and the “search” differences are minor.
But let’s go back to our starting goal: what do we do to increase the sell-out level of brand A?
In some stores, a 5-week communication activity can be experienced. The results:
The blue line represents the number of potential SHOPPERS (those who have seen brand A); the red line is the number of effective buyers. The first sees a 5% increase; the others, an increase of even 60% and the sell-out increases by 57%!
Everything happens without “pushing” a price cut, with the help of very simple communication, which perfectly achieves what it set out to do: the “recall” of a brand already well-positioned in the mind of the Consumer. He/she, stimulated in the right place and at the right time, buys. A great marketing lesson.
