One book inspired the change in my shopping habits, including brand preference and choice of retailer. How might supermarkets harness this same power?
The supermarket industry knows that shoppers make purchases based on a complex set of variables. A custom content marketing strategy is another tool to reduce those variables.
In choosing which business, consumer and custom magazines I most admire, it was as easy as checking the stack on my nightstand. I chose my grad school alumni magazine because I’ve always admired what it pulls off with fewer resources than bigger, flashier magazines. Plus its mission is similar to the type of magazine I edit here at Pace. The other two magazines were chosen because they always continue to surprise me with content that makes their topics—business and travel—seem less distant and much more approachable than other titles with more name recognition.
Shopper marketing aims to understand shopper behavior and to make it easier to make purchase decisions. This will be beneficial for shoppers only if the shopper’s purchase decisions result in consumer satisfaction. So it's all about giving shoppers the correct reason to buy a product that they will potentially like.
Grocery shopping is typically a predictable experience. Most any supermarket you visit looks the same: a perimeter with produce, bakery, meats and dairy surrounding the central aisles and, if it’s really fancy, a coffee shop, floral department or dining area.
Grocery store marketing is fairly predictable, too, consisting of weekly specials promoted through ad circulars, point-of-purchase displays and customer loyalty programs that may provide product discounts or free gifts for spending a certain dollar amount. The names of the supermarkets might change, but these grocery marketing strategies are essentially identical.
Wes Isley
Wes is the editor of American Cancer Society Triumph.