• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, October 16, 2007

It's no surprise to marketers that the retail environment is far more important than it used to be. But a new study from the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), conducted by Deloitte Consulting, finds that both marketers and retailers are committed to sharpening their "shopper marketing" knives.

While the concept of shopper marketing has been in vogue for several years, the study points to an increase in awareness and sophistication, as well as spending. As overall marketing budgets grow at a rate of just 2% per year, marketers expect to see an increase of 21% in shopper marketing plans through 2010, and retailers expect to see an increase of 26% in the same period.

"The way you capture the consumer's share of mind in the decision process is so fragmented today," says Stephen Sibert, senior vice president/industry affairs for the GMA. "That brand impression and equity may happen electronically or in print, but it's stabilized, reinforced and executed at the store. There's just a tremendous blending of the way marketers are getting their message through."

Consumer experts now say that about 70% of purchase decisions are made in grocery stores, and that what little shreds of brand loyalty and awareness consumers still have get left behind the minute they step through that automatic door. About 68% of purchases are made on impulse, and just 5% of shoppers are loyal to one brand. Only 26% are loyal to one store, and 73% of consumers shop in five or more channels.

The report defines shopper marketing as "all marketing stimuli, developed based on a deep understanding of shopper behavior, designed to build brand equity, engage the shopper and lead him/her to make a purchase." Stores should be thought of like any other marketing media, the report says, but potentially more far-reaching. While 127 million Americans visit a Wal-Mart each week, only 68 million or so watch the network evening news.

The report also quizzed companies about the obstacles to executing shopper-centric plans, and found that most marketers are still struggling with how best to influence shoppers on the verge of a purchase. Companies are wrestling with how to generate shopper insights, how to pay for those insights, and how to build marketing teams that can address store-focused questions. And for many, issues about how to oversee any in-store executions, including whether to handle the shopper marketing function in-house or hire outside sales organizations, are still unclear.

Too often, though, companies allow such logistics to distract them from the central issue, the report says: The shopper's point of view is the only one that matters. "Shoppers do not care whether the marketing stimulus they are receiving is an advertisement, consumer promotion, trade promotion, product package, or store placement. They do not categorize these stimuli; they do not care what the industry calls them and they certainly do not care who funds them," the report says. "They just want relevant information, a pleasant store experience and an easy purchase."

Manufacturers included in the survey say that overall, Wal-Mart, Kroger, Target, Publix and Wegman's are the most effective retailers at executing shopper-marketing plans.

And retailers--somewhat more sophisticated in their shopper research--are increasingly looking to work with companies that have better-aligned marketing plans, cohesive relationships with retailers and that can develop unique and exclusive programs. Retailers in the report say that the five companies that have the best shopper marketing plans, overall, are Kraft, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Unilever and Coca-Cola.

The explosion of store marketing across many types of stores has also been an eye-opener. "One example is convenience food, which is just everywhere today," says Sibert. "So you have a store like the Home Depot trying to sell microwavable chili to a hungry contractor."

But the biggest emerging channel, he says, is non-store. "Look at how much time we spend in the office, at our desk--we're not in stores as much," he says, adding that companies like amazon.com are also looking at ways to sell convenience food online.

Regardless of the channel, the report finds that there is no need to implement Cadillac-level planning. Neither marketers or retailers "need to do everything to develop better shopper marketing," the report says. "Just do something."