What’s the hardest thing to understand about today’s shoppers?
Laura Gordon: The hardest thing to understand about today’s shoppers is how we can help make their shopping decision easier. As people’s lives have become so busy, trip assurance plays a giant role in their decision-making. If there is a purchase you have decided to make, knowing that the item is available in your store is very important. That your time is valued is essential.
The word “integration” connotes connections, and in Shopper Marketing, connectivity must manifest itself on multiple levels: within the Shopper Marketing organization itself; between Shopper and other departments across the organization at-large; between Shopper and its retail customers; between Shopper and outside, partner brands; and between Shopper programs implemented in-store, online and on digital devices.
Shopper requires a new kind of organizational design for a number of reasons. First, and most important, the organization must support Shopper as a cross-functional brand strategy that aligns and integrates Marketing, Sales and Category Management.
Quartz: “To determine if brands have a handle on what shoppers want from digital interaction, IBM’s Institute for Business Value surveyed upwards of 600 executives from a range of global businesses currently introducing new digital customer-experience (CX) tools. It also surveyed more than 6,000 consumers about their attitudes and experiences with digital interactions. It then compared the responses of the two groups to see how well they aligned. The result: They didn’t match up well at all.”
About a dozen years ago, Shopper Marketing was conceived as a corporate, cross-functional business strategy. Our most recent research finds that a solid majority (58.5%) adhere to this fundamental, organizing principle of Shopper Marketing. A significant plurality (48%) view Shopper as a function of Marketing, as opposed to Sales (36%) or General Management (16%).