By Mort Aaronson, Chairman/CEO, PlaceWise Media
It wasn’t long ago that shopper marketing was a discipline that was limited to the store. But thanks to mobile technologies, shopper marketing is expanding rapidly into just about every facet of our lives. We’re witnessing the birth of a new kind of shopper marketing — we’re witnessing shopper marketing’s Big Bang.
It’s easy to believe that as shopper marketers we’re prepared for whatever comes next in our industry, though after about 50 years of status quo, we are all challenged to keep current in our wireless world. Even “innovations” as recent as five years ago such as emailed or texted receipts or digital notifications of sales and promotions are hardly considered innovative today. Over the last couple of years mobile has been revolutionizing the way people shop, but we’re all consumers in addition to being marketers, so we should be able to figure it out, if not get ahead of it.
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But the fact is, we haven’t.
To be successful in the wake of shopper marketing’s Big Bang, marketers need to change their mindset. We need to move away from the idea that shopper marketing is a place-based concept and embrace the fact that shoppers can jump on the path to purchase wherever they may be thanks to the ubiquity of mobile devices.
Up to 94% of purchases are still made in a physical store (U.S. Census, Q4 2013), and it’s a nearly universal practice for shoppers to research products on a mobile device in or near the store. Since mobile devices are more likely to be used as a jumping-on point to the on-premise path to purchase, shopper marketers should spend more time and energy creating an engaging platform for this behavior…and less on trying to combat the perceived threat of showrooming. The branded, controlled digital on-ramp that helps steer shoppers through the Research Online, Purchase On-premise (ROPO) is the next frontier in shopper marketing. And it’s a tremendous opportunity for physical retailers.
But all too often digital marketing’s default mode is to drive people to digital destinations. That’s yesterday’s thinking. Shopper marketing needs to assert itself digitally, because more and more that’s where the path to purchase is beginning but not necessarily ending. Your digital and mobile presence needs to make it as simple as possible for the shopper to find your store, find your inventory and create a powerful in-store mobile experience.
That’s what we’re spending our brain cells on now at PlaceWise Media: how to help retailers, brands, CPGs and advertisers recalibrate their shopper marketing so it’s more aligned with the way people are actually shopping today. The Zero Moment of Truth has been extended beyond the aisle. The Big Bang brought on by the ubiquity of mobile technology is driving our marketing discipline into mobile wallets, beacon technologies, geo-location, hyper-targeted messaging and in-store mapping. The path to purchase now has “billions and billions” of on-ramps — literally everywhere the shopper is — be it in the home, on the go, or of course, in the store.
Our new shopper marketing universe is full of promise. The explosion of mobile is creating an in-store experience married with technology that can bring in more informed, high-value shoppers with intent to buy and ultimately drive sales. The shopper marketing Big Bang also connects the digital store with the rest of the consumers’ shopping universe —presenting opportunities to drive revenue through outside ad sales and co-marketing. Everybody knows the Big Bang creates stars — take full advantage, and you can be one of them.
Mort Aaronson has 30 years in senior management roles for public and private corporations in tech, energy, media, advertising and food. Aaronson was an early pioneer in Internet community building, consumer bundling, mobile wireless and experience marketing. He is responsible for the strategic direction of PlaceWise Media with specific focus on capital, content, communications, partnerships and sponsors.
