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Starting in 2020, one of the world’s biggest CPGs expanded their use of Trax Dynamic Merchandising as a fast, flexible solution to measure and improve shelf space, enable impulse purchases, and gain control in the convenience channel during the worst months of the pandemic. Here’s how.
1.Keep shelves stocked with an on-demand, audited workforce
In total, the Flexforce delivered 27,000 hours of labor over nine weeks, with 10 cases merchandised every hour for a total of 286,000 cases stocked. The cost of the CPG brand’s investment into Dynamic Merchandising was just 10% of the revenue generated.
This was made possible thanks to the on-demand, flexible workforce (or Flexforce) used by Dynamic Merchandising. Unlike the fixed rep merchandising model, Trax’s on-demand workforce follows a three-step process to provide 100% quality assurance for every visit, giving the brand owner complete visibility and traceability over the project’s progress and results. Tasks are assigned to the rep most skilled and suitable for the job, further ensuring quality work.
Importantly, for the CPG, which was urgently seeking to avoid out of stock-induced loss of sales, Trax Dynamic Merchandising was deployed and scaled across the US in just days instead of the weeks or months it takes traditional third-party merchandisers. During one of the biggest availability crises in retail memory, Trax was ready and able to keep shelves stocked for the American consumer.
The use of Trax Dynamic Merchandising has now become the playbook for this CPG when faced with a shortage of frontline workers. In January 2022, as the Omicron variant caused more out of stock challenges, the brand once again contracted the Trax Flexforce with thousands of hours of pack-out relief.
2.Enabling impulse purchases to boost sales
With available shelf space being limited at impulse locations in store, the CPG needed to find an innovative way to grow sales for its products meant for immediate consumption. So, Trax deployed its Flexforce to drive impulse purchases at high traffic locations — the point of purchase — in the outlets of a major US retailer.
With intuitive secondary displays installed in the checkout lanes by the Flexforce, the CPG achieved higher visibility with impulse shoppers. The points of distribution rose from 1,600 to 5,000 and resulted in a double-digit lift in sales across the retailer’s stores. The CPG was also awarded Supplier of the Year by the retailer for the successful implementation made possible by Trax.
3.Gaining control in the convenience channel via real-time data from a wide-ranging annual audit
With Trax Dynamic Merchandising, the CPG was able to audit 25,000 stores across the convenience channel. The data was also received in real-time, compared to other data sources in the channel which can experience a lag of up to six months.
This data audit was of strategic importance to the CPG, enabling smarter category management decisions, reduction in wasted POS materials, and more productive resets.
3.Adapting to changing market conditions and shopper behaviors
Brands and retailers must be able to respond quickly to changes in the market. With changes in shopper behavior and increasing supply chain issues due to a growing labor shortage, both manufacturers and distributors need to rethink their merchandising models.
The major CPG featured here is not alone. Nearly 500 other consumer goods brands (from the world’s biggest CPGs to founder-led and challenger brands) have deployed Trax Dynamic Merchandising since 2020. Every month, the Flexforce calls upon 100,000 stores.
By garnering the ability to fulfil hyper-local activities with precision and measurement, brands and retailers can equip themselves with the right set of tools to win retail now and in the future.
We chose Trax because of their speed, coupled with their merchandising expertise. Trax helped us out of a tough spot -CPG retail merchandising executiveWhen the pandemic struck, a major CPG brand needed to provide additional boots on the ground as store staff couldn’t handle the elevated turns in stock needed due to increased COVID demand. The brand turned to Trax Dynamic Merchandising, which was able to cover a wide geographic area — and fast. In just one week during the peak of the pandemic, Trax reached 9,384 stores across 4,295 zip codes to restock 21,000 cases of different SKUs.
In total, the Flexforce delivered 27,000 hours of labor over nine weeks, with 10 cases merchandised every hour for a total of 286,000 cases stocked. The cost of the CPG brand’s investment into Dynamic Merchandising was just 10% of the revenue generated.
This was made possible thanks to the on-demand, flexible workforce (or Flexforce) used by Dynamic Merchandising. Unlike the fixed rep merchandising model, Trax’s on-demand workforce follows a three-step process to provide 100% quality assurance for every visit, giving the brand owner complete visibility and traceability over the project’s progress and results. Tasks are assigned to the rep most skilled and suitable for the job, further ensuring quality work.
Importantly, for the CPG, which was urgently seeking to avoid out of stock-induced loss of sales, Trax Dynamic Merchandising was deployed and scaled across the US in just days instead of the weeks or months it takes traditional third-party merchandisers. During one of the biggest availability crises in retail memory, Trax was ready and able to keep shelves stocked for the American consumer.
The use of Trax Dynamic Merchandising has now become the playbook for this CPG when faced with a shortage of frontline workers. In January 2022, as the Omicron variant caused more out of stock challenges, the brand once again contracted the Trax Flexforce with thousands of hours of pack-out relief.
2.Enabling impulse purchases to boost sales
With available shelf space being limited at impulse locations in store, the CPG needed to find an innovative way to grow sales for its products meant for immediate consumption. So, Trax deployed its Flexforce to drive impulse purchases at high traffic locations — the point of purchase — in the outlets of a major US retailer.
With intuitive secondary displays installed in the checkout lanes by the Flexforce, the CPG achieved higher visibility with impulse shoppers. The points of distribution rose from 1,600 to 5,000 and resulted in a double-digit lift in sales across the retailer’s stores. The CPG was also awarded Supplier of the Year by the retailer for the successful implementation made possible by Trax.
3.Gaining control in the convenience channel via real-time data from a wide-ranging annual audit
Trax’s unique difference is their ability to react quickly, within a week, and touch the entire country -CPG retail merchandising executiveThe convenience channel is tough to manage given the pace of change and the vast network of stores and lack of reliable, timely data. In addition, COVID-19 led to a switch in shopper behavior — they started using the channel for making regular home goods purchases instead of just on-the-go convenience. Amid this landscape, the CPG needed to conduct an audit of the convenience channel to measure contract compliance by the retailer regarding space and range, and to identify equipment and point of sale (POS) opportunities.
With Trax Dynamic Merchandising, the CPG was able to audit 25,000 stores across the convenience channel. The data was also received in real-time, compared to other data sources in the channel which can experience a lag of up to six months.
This data audit was of strategic importance to the CPG, enabling smarter category management decisions, reduction in wasted POS materials, and more productive resets.
3.Adapting to changing market conditions and shopper behaviors
Brands and retailers must be able to respond quickly to changes in the market. With changes in shopper behavior and increasing supply chain issues due to a growing labor shortage, both manufacturers and distributors need to rethink their merchandising models.
The major CPG featured here is not alone. Nearly 500 other consumer goods brands (from the world’s biggest CPGs to founder-led and challenger brands) have deployed Trax Dynamic Merchandising since 2020. Every month, the Flexforce calls upon 100,000 stores.
By garnering the ability to fulfil hyper-local activities with precision and measurement, brands and retailers can equip themselves with the right set of tools to win retail now and in the future. Latest updates
Every loyal shopper knows the frustration of discovering that their favorite product is out of stock (OOS) or in the wrong location. But as the battle to win at the shelf intensifies, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are finding it increasingly difficult to keep their products in the spotlight. Retail execution has never been more important – or challenging – as a result.
What is retail execution and why does it matter?
Retail execution is a business process designed to ensure that a consumer goods manufacturer’s overall brand strategy is executed properly in retail stores. Put simply, retail execution aims to put the right product on the right shelf at the right time – ensuring CPG companies can meet their KPI targets.
Broadly, this follows a Plan-Do-Measure process cycle:
This process runs the gamut of activities, from store audits and in-store merchandizing to relationship management.
Retail execution matters because consumers make spontaneous decisions at point of sale. Shoppers may change their mind if a product is out of stock or in an unexpected location, or if a promotion makes a competitor’s product more appealing.
Successful retail execution can lead to a three to five percent sales uplift in a single category and impressive metrics. Conversely, poor retail execution can cost a business one to five percent of sales – millions of dollars – every year. Developing a strong retail execution strategy is essential to drive sales and avoid subpar customer experiences that can negatively impact the brand.
What store conditions to measure
Shelf-savvy manufacturers establish retail audit guidelines with a shopper-centric go-to-market strategy. This clear framework defines, for each occasion, the optimal brands and appropriate packages, the right prices, and the target channels.
Broadly, a store audit task list may cover:
Who should conduct your store audits?
Using your own dedicated sales teams to regularly visit retail outlets in each territory gives you greater control over your resources. It also has a high ‘ownership index’, since your teams will naturally fight harder for your brand. But the costs of coaching and motivating these teams can be very high.
On the other hand, third-party merchandising service organizations can build and train a team. But since the team’s performance is measured differently from your internal framework, evaluating success can be challenging.
Irrespective of who oversees and carries out retail execution, at its most impactful, it’s not just about auditing: it ultimately increases revenue growth by considering consumer, shopper and customer motivations.
Fields teams can also:
Tools for successful retail execution
Since different teams rely on in-store data, sales reps need to gather and disseminate data efficiently.
Unfortunately, 44 percent of respondents still use manual methods for retail execution activities, using dated retail execution software that returns error-riddled data. CPG teams miss out on the real-time data and granular insights that maximize salesforce productivity and drive better decision-making and revenue growth.
Forward-thinking CPGs are increasingly using digital image recognition and advanced analytics technologies, such as computer vision (CV), to optimize their field teams’ efforts and increase field sales. By capturing images of the shelf and digitizing these for data and insights, CV provides a real-time view of how products are performing on the shelf – as well as when products are out-of-stock, where they sit and how this affects purchase – allowing CPGs to swiftly correct issues.
Also, by automating monitoring, CV-enabled audits cut auditing time by as much as 60 percent. This means that sales reps can visit more stores, interact with sales associates and store managers, gain insights into in-store activities, and focus on getting their company’s products in front of shoppers.
What’s next?
CPGs depend on comprehensive, timely insights into what’s happening on the shelf to succeed at retail execution. But with thousands of SKUs to track, sales reps risk spending more time on audits and less on other valuable retail execution activities. Solutions such as Trax Retail Execution can ensure your teams are equipped to measure and perfect in-store execution.
Download our report, “Perfecting In-store Execution,” to learn more successful strategies to optimize your retail execution. |Every loyal shopper knows the frustration of discovering that their favorite product is out of stock (OOS) or in the wrong location. But as the battle to win at the shelf intensifies, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are finding it increasingly difficult to keep their products in the spotlight. Retail execution has never been more important – or challenging – as a result.
What is retail execution and why does it matter?
Retail execution is a business process designed to ensure that a consumer goods manufacturer’s overall brand strategy is executed properly in retail stores. Put simply, retail execution aims to put the right product on the right shelf at the right time – ensuring CPG companies can meet their KPI targets.
Broadly, this follows a Plan-Do-Measure process cycle:
This process runs the gamut of activities, from store audits and in-store merchandizing to relationship management.
Retail execution matters because consumers make spontaneous decisions at point of sale. Shoppers may change their mind if a product is out of stock or in an unexpected location, or if a promotion makes a competitor’s product more appealing.
Successful retail execution can lead to a three to five percent sales uplift in a single category and impressive metrics. Conversely, poor retail execution can cost a business one to five percent of sales – millions of dollars – every year. Developing a strong retail execution strategy is essential to drive sales and avoid subpar customer experiences that can negatively impact the brand.
What store conditions to measure
Shelf-savvy manufacturers establish retail audit guidelines with a shopper-centric go-to-market strategy. This clear framework defines, for each occasion, the optimal brands and appropriate packages, the right prices, and the target channels.
Broadly, a store audit task list may cover:
Who should conduct your store audits?
Using your own dedicated sales teams to regularly visit retail outlets in each territory gives you greater control over your resources. It also has a high ‘ownership index’, since your teams will naturally fight harder for your brand. But the costs of coaching and motivating these teams can be very high.
On the other hand, third-party merchandising service organizations can build and train a team. But since the team’s performance is measured differently from your internal framework, evaluating success can be challenging.
Irrespective of who oversees and carries out retail execution, at its most impactful, it’s not just about auditing: it ultimately increases revenue growth by considering consumer, shopper and customer motivations.
Fields teams can also:
Tools for successful retail execution
Since different teams rely on in-store data, sales reps need to gather and disseminate data efficiently.
Unfortunately, 44 percent of respondents still use manual methods for retail execution activities, using dated retail execution software that returns error-riddled data. CPG teams miss out on the real-time data and granular insights that maximize salesforce productivity and drive better decision-making and revenue growth.
Forward-thinking CPGs are increasingly using digital image recognition and advanced analytics technologies, such as computer vision (CV), to optimize their field teams’ efforts and increase field sales. By capturing images of the shelf and digitizing these for data and insights, CV provides a real-time view of how products are performing on the shelf – as well as when products are out-of-stock, where they sit and how this affects purchase – allowing CPGs to swiftly correct issues.
Also, by automating monitoring, CV-enabled audits cut auditing time by as much as 60 percent. This means that sales reps can visit more stores, interact with sales associates and store managers, gain insights into in-store activities, and focus on getting their company’s products in front of shoppers.
What’s next?
CPGs depend on comprehensive, timely insights into what’s happening on the shelf to succeed at retail execution. But with thousands of SKUs to track, sales reps risk spending more time on audits and less on other valuable retail execution activities. Solutions such as Trax Retail Execution can ensure your teams are equipped to measure and perfect in-store execution.
Download our report, “Perfecting In-store Execution,” to learn more successful strategies to optimize your retail execution.
This process runs the gamut of activities, from store audits and in-store merchandizing to relationship management.
Retail execution matters because consumers make spontaneous decisions at point of sale. Shoppers may change their mind if a product is out of stock or in an unexpected location, or if a promotion makes a competitor’s product more appealing.
Successful retail execution can lead to a three to five percent sales uplift in a single category and impressive metrics. Conversely, poor retail execution can cost a business one to five percent of sales – millions of dollars – every year. Developing a strong retail execution strategy is essential to drive sales and avoid subpar customer experiences that can negatively impact the brand.
What store conditions to measure
Shelf-savvy manufacturers establish retail audit guidelines with a shopper-centric go-to-market strategy. This clear framework defines, for each occasion, the optimal brands and appropriate packages, the right prices, and the target channels.
Broadly, a store audit task list may cover:
- Stock levels (shelf and back stock)
- In-store location of products (ambient vs. coolers, gondola vs. end caps, etc.)
- Planogram compliance (shelf location, number of facings present, number of SKUs present, missing/inaccurate shelf tags)
- Quality of in-store displays and execution of promotional materials
- Competitor adjacencies and activity
- Pricing compliance
Who should conduct your store audits?
Using your own dedicated sales teams to regularly visit retail outlets in each territory gives you greater control over your resources. It also has a high ‘ownership index’, since your teams will naturally fight harder for your brand. But the costs of coaching and motivating these teams can be very high.
On the other hand, third-party merchandising service organizations can build and train a team. But since the team’s performance is measured differently from your internal framework, evaluating success can be challenging.
Irrespective of who oversees and carries out retail execution, at its most impactful, it’s not just about auditing: it ultimately increases revenue growth by considering consumer, shopper and customer motivations.
Fields teams can also:
- Upgrade the number of product lines in an account by nurturing retailer relationships
- Educate retailers about planogram changes
- Build displays, reset coolers and display items to increase visibility
- Measure the impact of merchandising resets on sales
- Replicate successful merchandising strategies across stores
- Ensure inventory management is up to date
Tools for successful retail execution
Since different teams rely on in-store data, sales reps need to gather and disseminate data efficiently.
Unfortunately, 44 percent of respondents still use manual methods for retail execution activities, using dated retail execution software that returns error-riddled data. CPG teams miss out on the real-time data and granular insights that maximize salesforce productivity and drive better decision-making and revenue growth.
Forward-thinking CPGs are increasingly using digital image recognition and advanced analytics technologies, such as computer vision (CV), to optimize their field teams’ efforts and increase field sales. By capturing images of the shelf and digitizing these for data and insights, CV provides a real-time view of how products are performing on the shelf – as well as when products are out-of-stock, where they sit and how this affects purchase – allowing CPGs to swiftly correct issues.
Also, by automating monitoring, CV-enabled audits cut auditing time by as much as 60 percent. This means that sales reps can visit more stores, interact with sales associates and store managers, gain insights into in-store activities, and focus on getting their company’s products in front of shoppers.
What’s next?
CPGs depend on comprehensive, timely insights into what’s happening on the shelf to succeed at retail execution. But with thousands of SKUs to track, sales reps risk spending more time on audits and less on other valuable retail execution activities. Solutions such as Trax Retail Execution can ensure your teams are equipped to measure and perfect in-store execution.
Download our report, “Perfecting In-store Execution,” to learn more successful strategies to optimize your retail execution. |Every loyal shopper knows the frustration of discovering that their favorite product is out of stock (OOS) or in the wrong location. But as the battle to win at the shelf intensifies, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are finding it increasingly difficult to keep their products in the spotlight. Retail execution has never been more important – or challenging – as a result.
What is retail execution and why does it matter?
Retail execution is a business process designed to ensure that a consumer goods manufacturer’s overall brand strategy is executed properly in retail stores. Put simply, retail execution aims to put the right product on the right shelf at the right time – ensuring CPG companies can meet their KPI targets.
Broadly, this follows a Plan-Do-Measure process cycle:
This process runs the gamut of activities, from store audits and in-store merchandizing to relationship management.
Retail execution matters because consumers make spontaneous decisions at point of sale. Shoppers may change their mind if a product is out of stock or in an unexpected location, or if a promotion makes a competitor’s product more appealing.
Successful retail execution can lead to a three to five percent sales uplift in a single category and impressive metrics. Conversely, poor retail execution can cost a business one to five percent of sales – millions of dollars – every year. Developing a strong retail execution strategy is essential to drive sales and avoid subpar customer experiences that can negatively impact the brand.
What store conditions to measure
Shelf-savvy manufacturers establish retail audit guidelines with a shopper-centric go-to-market strategy. This clear framework defines, for each occasion, the optimal brands and appropriate packages, the right prices, and the target channels.
Broadly, a store audit task list may cover:
- Stock levels (shelf and back stock)
- In-store location of products (ambient vs. coolers, gondola vs. end caps, etc.)
- Planogram compliance (shelf location, number of facings present, number of SKUs present, missing/inaccurate shelf tags)
- Quality of in-store displays and execution of promotional materials
- Competitor adjacencies and activity
- Pricing compliance
Who should conduct your store audits?
Using your own dedicated sales teams to regularly visit retail outlets in each territory gives you greater control over your resources. It also has a high ‘ownership index’, since your teams will naturally fight harder for your brand. But the costs of coaching and motivating these teams can be very high.
On the other hand, third-party merchandising service organizations can build and train a team. But since the team’s performance is measured differently from your internal framework, evaluating success can be challenging.
Irrespective of who oversees and carries out retail execution, at its most impactful, it’s not just about auditing: it ultimately increases revenue growth by considering consumer, shopper and customer motivations.
Fields teams can also:
- Upgrade the number of product lines in an account by nurturing retailer relationships
- Educate retailers about planogram changes
- Build displays, reset coolers and display items to increase visibility
- Measure the impact of merchandising resets on sales
- Replicate successful merchandising strategies across stores
- Ensure inventory management is up to date
Tools for successful retail execution
Since different teams rely on in-store data, sales reps need to gather and disseminate data efficiently.
Unfortunately, 44 percent of respondents still use manual methods for retail execution activities, using dated retail execution software that returns error-riddled data. CPG teams miss out on the real-time data and granular insights that maximize salesforce productivity and drive better decision-making and revenue growth.
Forward-thinking CPGs are increasingly using digital image recognition and advanced analytics technologies, such as computer vision (CV), to optimize their field teams’ efforts and increase field sales. By capturing images of the shelf and digitizing these for data and insights, CV provides a real-time view of how products are performing on the shelf – as well as when products are out-of-stock, where they sit and how this affects purchase – allowing CPGs to swiftly correct issues.
Also, by automating monitoring, CV-enabled audits cut auditing time by as much as 60 percent. This means that sales reps can visit more stores, interact with sales associates and store managers, gain insights into in-store activities, and focus on getting their company’s products in front of shoppers.
What’s next?
CPGs depend on comprehensive, timely insights into what’s happening on the shelf to succeed at retail execution. But with thousands of SKUs to track, sales reps risk spending more time on audits and less on other valuable retail execution activities. Solutions such as Trax Retail Execution can ensure your teams are equipped to measure and perfect in-store execution.
Download our report, “Perfecting In-store Execution,” to learn more successful strategies to optimize your retail execution. 
An effective retail marketing strategy generates consumer interest and drives in-store sales.
In order to ensure your marketing strategy proves effective, it should be tailored to garner awareness for your product and capture the attention of your target audience. Determining the elements of your retail marketing strategy is fairly simple; the challenge lies in forming a cohesive message across all channels that guides consumers along the path to purchase.
Developing an Effective Retail Marketing Strategy
When it comes to developing a retail marketing strategy, brands should aim higher than simply raising awareness. The end result of an effective retail marketing strategy is customer loyalty. Here are four steps to consider.Step 1: Offer an Incentive
Many consumers are driven to make a purchase when they feel they’re getting a deal. But for brands, offering discounts or reduced prices doesn’t promote loyalty. Instead, they end up targeting those consumers looking for a lower price, which dilutes margins in the long run. One way to offer consumers an incentive to shop—without having to lower prices—is through rewards. Utilizing a program, like Shopkick, that rewards shoppers for doing the things they already do in stores, such as browsing the shopping aisle for products, makes it easier to achieve participation. Shopkick users receive “kicks” (reward points) for walking into the entrance of participating stores, participating in an in-store scavenger hunt for products, scanning barcodes and interacting with products at shelf, making purchases, and watching branded videos. Shopkick users can then exchange these reward points for free gift cards—an incentive for consumers to do even more shopping.Step 2: Incorporate Mobile in the In-Store Experience
Shoppers are increasingly turning to their smartphones to make purchases, allowing them to shop at their own pace and carefully consider all options without pressure from a pushy salesperson. Yet, nothing tops the ability to touch and see a physical product in a brick-and-mortar setting. The best way to leverage this is by creating an immersive retail experience that eliminates all distractions, allowing the consumer to focus on a product. Additionally, nearly half of shoppers simply like the satisfaction of receiving their purchases immediately, without having to wait for shipping. In order to reach those consumers who choose to use their smartphone both at home and in-store throughout their shopping journey, consider partnering with a mobile shopping app. Tyson decided to partner with Shopkick to develop a campaign that would drive engagement and sales. At home, a pre-shop look-book and branded video content were used to drive awareness and pre-shop consideration of Tyson Chicken Wings & Bites. In store, Shopkick drove shoppers directly to the Tyson products at shelf and incentivized product interaction, which ultimately increased purchase likelihood. The two-month campaign received over 4.5 million impressions and drove over 57,000 in-store product engagements at Sam’s Club. A whopping 62% of the foot traffic was from new or infrequent customers of the Tyson brand, and 25% of those who scanned the product went on to purchase. The total sales impact exceeded over $193,000 with 14,000 units sold and a campaign return-on-investment of 4:1.Step 3: Use Data to Personalize Interactions
Consumers want to do business with companies that understand them; this is where personalized marketing comes into play. By gathering data willingly submitted by consumers via surveys or other methods, brands can create individualized content. Personalized marketing sets off a domino effect. Once a more effective message is created, the targeted recipient engages more frequently with that brand, loyalty and affinity develop over time, and they are more likely to purchase again. That satisfied individual is also likely to evangelize and encourage their family and friends to engage with that brand, expanding the scope of marketing.The end result of an effective retail marketing strategy is customer loyalty.
Step 4: Inspire User-Generated Content
One study found that 86% of Americans trust fellow shoppers for honest opinions in online reviews. Free word-of-mouth advertising is coveted gold for retailers, providing greater impact for your marketing dollars. Marketing materials enthusiastically produced by fans of a brand feel more organic and are typically shared more often, gaining a greater reach than retailers could ever hope for on their own. Using a photo reviews app, DockATot, a baby product’s brand, asked new parents to share product ratings, reviews, and photos. Thanks to the spike in user-generated content, more than 1,200 DockATot lounging docks sold the first day of their sale. Over the next three years, sales continued to balloon 2,000%. Effective mobile marketing strategies help build consumer trust and reach them at the right time. Whether a brand is testing out new mobile marketing apps or embarking on a long tail campaign, these efforts establish confidence which leads to consumer loyalty. Knowing consumers well enough to target ads creates credibility, which keeps them coming back to brands for years to come.
As gaining shelf space becomes more competitive for brands, marketers should be looking into leveraging one of the various types of product positioning strategies. A long-time staple of in-store marketing, product positioning strategies are tied to how items are displayed in the shopping aisle to maximize sales. Unfortunately, CPG brands may find they have little control over their placement in the store without a hefty investment. Mobile marketing offers a path to cost-effectively enhancing in-store placement.
There are three standard types of product positioning strategies brands should consider: comparative, differentiation, and segmentation. Through these strategies, brands can help their product stand out by targeting the right audiences with the best message. Mobile marketing enhances all of these strategies and helps guide consumers to products in the shopping aisle.
3 Traditional Types of Product Positioning Strategies
Conventional models of product positioning strategies center on catching the eye of consumers. While there is a wide range of options for brands to consider in product positioning, most can be broken down into one of three categories.- Comparative: Comparative positioning strategies work by placing products right next to other brands to highlight their competitive edge. A typical example of this occurs when stores place a white label value brand next to a more expensive name brand product. Often, the label includes a “compare to X brand” statement to show the consumers that the products are similar, but the value brand offers a better price.
- Differentiation: Sometimes, the uniqueness of a product can’t be duplicated, making it ideal for a differentiation strategy. An excellent example of a product easily differentiated is Barilla’s Pronto pasta. While the pasta aisle is competitive, Pronto offers a unique selling point in that it requires no draining. As such, this is the primary focal point that the brand highlights on its packaging to gain consumer attention.
- Segmentation: Sometimes, helping a product stand out requires focusing on multiple audiences with different needs, but with the same product. Consider a simple product like Bayer aspirin. The brand offers bottles of its tablets in the pharmacy aisle at the grocery store, but they also provide smaller, on-the-go packs for purchase at the convenience store. Through this, they target consumers buying bottles of medication for their households for use in the future, as well as travelers or individuals dealing with an immediate ache or pain they want to take care of right away.
Updating Traditional Product Positioning Strategies With Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing can be used to guide consumers to products in the aisle even when shelf space is not optimal. These strategies work well in conjunction with rewards programs where consumers receive points for seeking out and interacting with participating items. When leveraged through an in-store mobile app, these programs:- Incentivize interaction for comparative positioning: Brands that don’t wish to rely on discounts to compete with value brands often look to rewards programs as a way to provide value without cutting prices. Consumers often view rewards points as having a higher value than their simple face amount as rewards points are earned. Apps which provide a way for consumers to receive rewards points for scanning UPCs or receipts can be an excellent way to help products stand out even against lower-cost competitors.
- Leverage mobile video to differentiate products: Barilla partnered with Shopkick to gain attention for their new Pronto pasta product. Shopkick provided the brand with a platform to share a mobile video announcing its unique selling point: convenience. Consumers received kicks (aka rewards points) for viewing the mobile video which helped them to remember the product when they went to the store. Overall, it was a success, with 50% of viewers of the video choosing to purchase the product. These promising results are why many brands choose to contact Shopkick to enhance in-store marketing.
- Offer data-driven personalization for segmentation: Mobile apps provide a unique opportunity to cater to consumers by location, which creates an automatic kind of personalization brands can leverage to enhance sales in a specific area. These programs work off GPS, beacons, and other devices that push notifications to consumers when they enter a location.
Traditional product positioning strategies can gain a significant boost from mobile marketing.Traditional product positioning strategies can gain a significant boost from mobile marketing. By using incentives, engaging content, and location-enabled messages, brands reach consumers when they’re about to make purchase decisions. The primary goal of product positioning is to increase sales by boosting visibility and Shopkick enables this without requiring optimal shelf placement. Shopkick improves our partner’s sales in the store by using mobile marketing to enhance the traditional types of product positioning strategies.