Reaching, retaining NGM consumers

What can retailers do to create a better proposition for the New General Market? Where are the opportunities? How can retailers and brands work together to cultivate New General Market consumers and foster their success? How can they innovate with purpose and meaning with the common goal of connecting with the New General Market consumer?

These were the key questions executives at the third annual New General Market Summit, held April 4 in Minneapolis, faced in a series of vendor panel discussions. Co-produced by Drug Store News and Mack Elevation, the summit brought to light a number of avenues retailers can pursue in catering to New General Market consumers and fostering their own success.

Rely on influencers

“Connecting with doers and influencers is the key to driving sales in usage occasions,” said Audra Robinson, senior shopper marketing manager at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. She used the example of a partnership with Pfizer and Kimberly-Clark, maker of U by Kotex, to help make Pfizer’s Advil brand more relevant to New General Market shoppers.

A digital and social media campaign that reflected the fashion-forward, sexy-but-cute look of U by Kotex packaging was created to position Advil as more than a general pain reliever — for example, as a solution for monthly menstrual pain. Harnessing U by Kotex as an influencer gave Pfizer “permission” to “play in fashion, and to speak to the Advil brand differently,” appealing to a new audience of females in the tween-and- older age group who use the feminine hygiene product, Robinson said. Key to the success of the program was “taking Advil out of the aisle” and assigning it prominent shelf space.

Bob Wiltz, chief customer officer at Paris Presents, corroborated Robinson’s comments about the importance of influencers in cultivating new general market shoppers. “The influencer approach is critical in building a brand,” Wiltz said. Paris Presents was ahead of the pack with influencers, tapping makeup artists Samantha and Nicola Chapman — founders of YouTube beauty channel Pixiwoo — a few years ago. They were not only influencers, but helped create the Real Techniques line.

Wiltz also said retailers would do well to reimagine “what speed looks like” because New General Market consumers want to see the items they want on retail shelves — when they want them. Decreasing the amount of time needed to empower decision-makers to bring product in-store and online, along with establishing a consistency of consumer messaging across both platforms, will go far, Wiltz said.

For Allegro, a division of Conair that manufacturers fashion-forward cosmetic bags, the key influencers of its designs are its customers. Allegro is a design house, VP of sales John Rizzo explained, which has built its business around cocreating exclusive brands with its retail partners.

“We think of our customer relationships like a consultant — first understanding their needs and interests, and then doing our best to include the most updated fashion trends into their beauty solution,” Rizzo said. “We believe all retailers should ask their manufacturing partners to include knowledge of emerging cultural and fashion trends into all their beauty and personal care lines. Brands must stay fresh, current and distinct. Think fashion for all — customization for the consumer and staying on-trend with anything having to do with beauty or personal care.”

Embrace the omnichannel model

While influencers clearly have an impact on how New General Market consumers engage with brands and retailers, meeting demands for a convenient shopping experience — largely by embracing the omnichannel retail model — is equally paramount, panelists observed.

“Consumers are placing more and more of an emphasis on convenience, and more importantly, are turning to digital channels to fulfill their need for that convenience,” said Cheryl Winston, VP and general manager at Kimberly-Clark.

Kimberly-Clark has found that 80% of consumers who have taken advantage of the opportunity to shop via “click-and-collect” become repeat customers. Once they have tried “click-and-collect” to complete their shopping three or four times, they become regular users and hence, even more loyal. This is especially true when the “click-and-collect” shopping experience hits the magic target, requiring no more than five minutes for customers to find and click on the items they wish to pick up in store.

Morgan Mulvihill, Procter & Gamble’s associate brand director, emphasized that an increased online presence is essential to delivering convenience. “It’s our job as brand-builders to show up where our consumers are most receptive,” she said. “It’s our job to think about changes in consumers’ lives to drive planned and unplanned purchases alike.”

Mulvihill backed that up with research conducted by P&G that shows that the number of consumers who shop on multiple devices exceeds the number of consumers who own toothbrushes. In addition, 3-in-4 consumers are omnichannel shoppers, according to P&G’s data.

Natalie Gillquist, shopper marketing manager at Unilever, said she believes tying into the convenience factor is paramount for any brand or retailer attempting to succeed in the New General Market. “There’s a lot changing in the landscape of the consumer shopper journey,” she said, adding that according to one study, the average mom has just 37 minutes of free time in her day.

The old days of making shopping lists are over, she said. “The definition has changed; convenience now means having the brand present at the right moment” for the individual consumer, whether on store shelves or online, she said.

But for retailers, adopting omnichannel and engaging the New General Market consumer necessitates paying close attention to the “essentials basket,” said Laura Hyland, VP of e-commerce for Henkel Consumer Goods. “The winners online are winning with the essentials basket, making it easy to obtain its contents there” by knowing how consumers shop their websites and designing these accordingly, Hyland said. In some European markets where this has become the norm, such as France, the average online shopping basket contains €167 worth of purchases; the average in-store shopping basket contains a mere €35 worth of purchases.

Collaborate with brands

Yet another New General Market imperative for retailers is collaborating with brands to enhance the store experience, panelists said.

One piece of the puzzle is working together to promote human interaction with brands in the retail space, said Heather Warnke, marketing director at Kao USA. “Eighty-three percent of people under the age of 35 say they are lonely” at some point or another, Warnke noted. “Manufacturers and retailers can cooperate to create a human connection in the store, … and retailers that will win [will foster] actual interaction” in the way they configure store space.

Kim Washington, VP of consumer brands at Medline Industries, would like to see retailers do more to “meet consumers where they are” by offering relevant product assortments in store, as well as online. “Consumers look to [retailers] as a trusted resource for the products they need,” Washington said. It also is the key to forging the emotional connection with brands that the New General Market expects to have.

“Consumption of health care at retail will only continue to i