Shopper-centricity, meaning everything revolves around the customer

It's 1543. Nicolaus Copernicus publishes his famous work On the rotation of the celestial sphereswhich revolutionizes the approach to the solar system and science. A few centuries later-keeping the scale of the phenomenon correspondingly smaller and letting go of the eye to you, that is, to the recipients of this article - appears ... shoppercentrism.

"Oh, how pathetic..." - you thought” Of course, yes. This is a deliberate redraw to draw attention to how important a person in today's FMCG market is not so much the consumer as the buyer of our products. Understanding their motivation, buying habits, or lifestyle is key to creating (in collaboration with the retailer) a store space that is convenient for making purchases.

The product needs 360 support

We have a good product, we invest in communication that increases product awareness, but Nielsen-despite a high weighted distribution – still does not show an increase in staff turnover. The product, in our opinion, has potential, because it meets the trends. What should I do then? Time for some activity in the store!

Let's say we are running a promotion and its goal is to increase the volume. How can I make sure that the investment in the additional newspaper module and the discount generate incremental sales, and the store does not have problems with expired goods?

Stand out or dieas the title of Jack Trout's iconic book says. Yes, a significant number of customers get information about promotions from the newspapers, but without a properly designed purchase path and highlighting our product on the shelf, the buyer will not reach it. So what do behind-the-scenes negotiations on the manufacturer-retail chain line look like? What does it matter if our goal is to influence the buyer?

First: shelf

Shelf is always number one-the constructed distribution is the basis. We can't move on without her. If the product is not on the shelf at the moment, we should count on a really deep loyalty of our customers-only approx. 20% will go to another store just for our product, the rest will choose another replacement due to lack of time.

A carefully designed shelf based on the decision tree of the category we are considering will make shopping more intuitive. Here we must listen to the needs and motivations of the buyer, who does not have much time for shopping today; they are quite unpleasant for him.

Second: POSM, i.e. materials that support sales

We all buy with our eyes, so it is very important effective merchandising. As the classic says: "running a business without advertising is like looking at a girl in the dark. No one else knows what we're doing” " so they serve us to reinforce the advertising message. near-surface materials, whose main function is to highlight the product on the shelf. Simple? No, no!

The customer is "attacked" by hundreds of messages when making purchases, and it is not so easy to direct their attention to our product. Our selective view sees only contrasts, shapes, and symbols. Thus, the additional material must be distinctive in order for it to fulfill its role. True, their effectiveness is difficult to measure, but it is not impossible.

Material that has some value for the customer or that will help them momentarily immerse themselves in the world of the brand (Customer Experience), even if it does not lead to an immediate purchase of the product, it is likely to contribute to this in the future. In fact, it is in the back of our heads that we should always have the old marketing rule AIDA, czyli Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, refers to the process that occurs in the mind of the buyer or consumer when making a purchase decision.

If I had to rely on my own experience, I would say that products that provide visibility are best suited shelfstoppers, moldings, treye blocking shelf space, and floor stickers. However, their implementation is often expensive-and while the category leader finds a budget for them, it is not necessary to have an "unfinished" shelf. In the second case, you can use our product packaging architecture.

Third: secondary placement

You should give the buyer the opportunity to "stumble" about the additional exposure of the advertising product – the more points of contact, the better.

When creating displays, two design principles are reflected: "less is more"and" make the logo bigger". Minimalism, consistency with the brand's strategy, and a simple call to action (Call to Action). The store area is the place where trade marketing implements its branding marketing strategy, but you should remember that this is not a space for transmitting marketing communications 1:1. It should definitely be easier here: "no time for unnecessary thoughts, put our product in the basket!”. 🙂

Fourth: evaluation

Time to take stock stocks - one of the most important stages. It is here that we will answer the question of whether all our efforts have brought the desired result. Of course not every promotion needs to have a sales goal - some can promote the introduction of new products, others can increase the frequency of purchases, penetration, and awareness of the product; others, in turn, can have some strategic goal that only the manufacturer knows about.

It is important, however, not to miss the most important stage of the flask cycle – reflection. A good promotion – book or newspaper-is worth repeating. As my great control lecturer at AGH used to say, "investments must be profitable”" so it's only at the end of the day that we know if we've made any money at all.

It's hard to be together

Each element of a complex store ecosystem is like connected tableware-manufacturers and retail chains compete for customer attention. Both sides of the market are well aware of the importance of buyer attention. Suppliers are investing increasingly large budgets, looking for points of contact with the so-called customer journey-all in order to ensure that at the end of the day it is their product that will be in the buyer's basket.

Networks that don't like to be left alone encourage producers to work together for resale, such as during research such as Advantage, an important element of which is m.in. customer marketing. The key to the success of both parties is partnership - in promoting sales and managing the most important place in the store, namely the shelf.

To be friendly with technology

Finally, let's go back to the fifteenth century,when the heliocentric theory, despite initial hostility, was widely accepted and changed the perception of the world. In the case of shopper-centricism, however, it seems that the main stakeholders are aware of its existence from the very beginning of consumerism, but still underestimate its role. Thus, data - based analysis of customer behavior and an attempt to influence it in PSD is currently an important competitive advantage.

With baking on my face, I also look at and use modern technologies to make it easier to interpret customer behavior, such as IoT, VR, AI, or eye tracking, which in the long run promise to ease stressful – as if not – purchases. However, I am concerned about one thing: is it really the customer at the center, or is it the one who is leading the nose around the product?