Study: Digital, personalized ads fuel in-store sales of CPG
CHICAGO — Locally relevant and personalized ads move shoppers from their screens into store aisles. That’s according to the findings of a recent study by G/O Digital, a provider of local, integrated digital marketing solutions.
In its latest study, “CPG Marketing Reinvented,” G/O Digital surveyed 1,000 online and mobile users in the United States. The findings highlight how personalized content and localized digital activation must be a priority for CPG brands looking to create fluid cross-screen engagement with consumers to influence in-store sales.
Furthermore, the study found that circulars are not an extinct form of advertising, but instead must be recast as an important component to the content marketing discussion. Locally relevant and personalized ads move shoppers from their screens into store aisles. In fact, 79% of moms and 75% of dads are more likely to make in-store purchases when digital circulars present locally relevant and personalized deals.
"The modern-day shopper switches between screens as much as 21 times per hour and is barraged by an influx of experiences, emails, ads, coupons and offers across both traditional and digital channels," stated Jeff Fagel, CMO of G/O Digital. "Because of these circumstances, CPG brand success rests heavily on three critical variables: personalized distribution of promotional content, approaching mobile as a behavior (not a channel) and real-time localized digital activation at national scale. In turn, brand marketers must provide locally relevant, contextually targeted content and advertising that are native to the user experience. If they don't, consumers will quickly move on to competitors who do."
Additional key findings from the report include:
• Deal content distributed across digital channels flexes more direct marketing muscle than TV ads: Digital circulars rank as the No. 1 form of advertising to influence moms (32%) and dads (29%) to buy food and beverage items in-store. Yet, TV advertising only influences the in-store purchase decisions of 6% of moms and 13% of dads.
• Mobile deals and in-app promotions bring the Web in-store: When asked about the value of digital promotions and circulars while standing in-store, 19% of moms replied that "it's very important … I regularly check websites, mobile sites and apps for brand/product-specific promotions and deals" and another 36% of moms believe "It's somewhat important … I am more likely to purchase an item in-store if I find a coupon or deal online."
• The future of retail will be played out in the digital pre-shopping funnel as webrooming helps parents track down deals: When asked if they use their desktop/laptop computer, smartphone or tablet to pre-search for "on sale" food/beverage items, 40% of moms responded "Yes, this is the first thing I do."
• Low prices trump loyalty to preferred stores: When asked if online/mobile searches for "on sale" items influence which supermarket they visit, 60% of moms and 50% of dads answered "Absolutely, I would be very inclined to visit a local supermarket that offers/advertises the lowest prices and special deals."
• Facebook trounces Twitter as king of social: 55% of moms and 47% of dads believe Facebook is the most useful social media channel to engage with CPG brands. Conversely, only 5% of moms and 7% of dads find Twitter useful.
• Local Facebook offers are in high demand: 77% of moms and 72% of dads believe localized deals/offers on Facebook are important enough to affect the food/beverage items they drop into their grocery shopping carts.
• One-size-fits-all online and mobile ads will deplete in-store sales: When asked what is most frustrating about online and mobile ads from food/beverage brands, 35% of moms and 29% of dads cited "information and promotions that are not locally relevant to products/prices in-store."
This study was fielded from July 2, 2014 through July 9, 2014 and garnered a total of 1,000 responses from online and mobile users in the United States aged 30-to-50 years old, who are interested in grocery shopping, have at least one child and own at least one desktop/laptop computer and a smartphone or tablet.