Shopper Culture

Buy then fly, provides bright spot

In all the doom and gloom around at the moment, there is inevitably a silver lining or two. One of those is shown in a new report by Verdict research in the UK that states that global spending at airport retailers has doubled between 2002 and 2007. As a market it now accounts for US $27.1bn in spending. The report points out that passenger numbers are still growing in air travel in spite of the difficulty many airlines are experiencing due to the credit crunch and other economic factors. In fact Verdict are anticipating an 11% increase in 2008 taking spending to over US $30bn.

Europe accounts for 40% of that spend, with strong growth expected from the Middle East (currently 12%, growing to 14.5% by 2012) and China (expecting to see a doubling of sales to US$612m in the next 5 years).

Yet the continuing credit crisis and the expected yo-yoing of oil prices in the near future could easily put paid to that buoyancy of these shopper havens.

And this all begs the question as to why this area of the retail sector should be performing well. What is it about going on holiday or just walking through an airport that has us reaching for our wallets and purses? Is it a rational thing, all factored into the cost of our trip so no need to cut it back? Or is it more emotional, about the possibilities of the journey we are about to embark upon and the thrill that can deliver which makes us succumb? Why are we still spending at airports?

In-Store Marketing Expo

Las Vegas plays host to the In-Store Marketing Expo this year from November 12th to 14th. The Integer Group will be presenting two bodies of recent work.

Our Dallas office will be presenting some of the findings from their Consumer Electronics work. Their presentation is entitled "The Consumer Electric: How and Why People Buy Electronics" and is at on Thursday, November 13, from 2:30 – 3:30 PM.

Our Denver office will be presenting some of the recent work undertaken on the Convenience Store Channel.  Their presentation is entitled "Redefining the C-Store:  Moving from Functional Convenience Stores to Creating Convenience Stories" and is on the same day in the morning from 10:45 – 11:45 AM.

If you are travelling to Vegas, then do drop by, catch the presentations and say hello. If you can't make it, we hope to make the presentations available here later in the month, so check back.

Muse & the Master

Shopping used to be the great American pastime, and a cure-all for economic woes — remember the president’s call to action after 9/11 and those recent stimulus checks? But with the current problems on Wall Street and Main Street, how do you communicate with wary shoppers? It’s key to move beyond what your brand or product is all about and consider how motivations for shopping have evolved.

Read more on the latest Shopper Pulse from our Integer Midwest office here.

Branding & Selling

"According to OgilvyAction, nearly 40% of U.S. shoppers wait until they are in store to decide what to buy. This is why branding is so important; it's what makes you matter to a consumer... But the greatest brand awareness and preference alone do not always connect through the purchase path to result in a sale." Click here to continue reading the latest Pulse from our Midwest office.

Barcodes and Cell Phones

Because most cell phones now have cameras, the ability to access information quickly by reading barcodes is becoming more common. Viewing an image of a barcode can take a person to a website for more information about products, to enter sweepstakes, to get online coupons, and many more functions based on the type of phone and available software.

There are many types of barcodes that can be used by cell phones with some examples below.

Many of these 2D codes were originally used for tracking parts, packages, envelopes, and more. However the problem with this technology is that many camera phones cannot get an accurate view of 2D barcodes to read them properly. Many bar codes are too dense, and the camera cannot focus at close proximity.

ScanLife and sem@code and are two companies developing 2D barcodes and software especially for mobile devices to read. sem@code has only Facebook integration for now, but ScanLife can be used anywhere, anytime. ScanLife barcodes are low density, and can be easily read by mobile devices. They have software for most of the popular phones available today. As you can see in this graphic, the ScanLife code is a low density, easy to read 2D barcode.

ScanLife EZ Codes can be created by individuals or companies. Once the code has been generated, it can be downloaded and be used on web pages, magazines, packaging, point-of-sale displays, bulk mailings, and many other types of media including billboards. Scanning this barcode with a phone does require processing by the ScanLife server, which may take a few seconds depending on connection speed.  It also requires a small software application to be installed on the phone. A list of compatible phones and more information is available here.

As cell phone cameras get better and connection speeds faster, 2D barcodes will become common to give shoppers the information they want, and will work as an incentive to make purchases in an increasingly mobile environment.

- Contributed by JR Hayden

Happynomics

Check out Integer Des Moines' latest post on "Happynomics" in the Integer Pulse section under Our Thinking. Happynomics explores an insight that consumers who have a greater sense of belonging are happy, confident, and thus more willing to open their wallet, which in a recession-scared economy is no easy task. Find out which brands are creating a "culture of happiness" when you walk through their doors, creating feel-good, inclusive experiences that create a sense of belonging and increase spending potential.

White Paper: Women and consumer electronics: A love story

Our team in Dallas have just produced a new white paper based on the Consumer Electronics Study undertaken in 2007.  The paper looks at the needs and wants of the female shopper in the Consumer Electronics category and offers some thoughts on how to effectively engage them.  Click here to download the paper.

Healthy Foods International Conference and Expo Recap

We recently attended the Healthy Foods International (first ever) conference and expo in Dallas. While we are waiting for conference materials to get posted to their website to deep dive on a few topics, we wanted to provide a top line summary of a few interesting things that were discussed between the manufacturers, retailers, distributors and marketers in attendance.

From the consumer side of things, a few interesting topics that arose were around mindsets and understanding. Going into this year's economic slump, consumer wallets are often a consideration. But, as stated at the conference, healthy living and sustainability are a "state of mind not state of wallet." Advocates that are committed to the lifestyle will prioritize spending and rationalize price in the category. What marketers and manufacturers should be concerned about is the average consumer's confusion around organic, natural, lean and enhanced foods. Only around a 5th of the general population really understand healthy and sustainable living, and they're the ones that will cause true growth and profit. Simple education and communication needs to be clearer, including store signage and placement.

To the general population, brands in the healthy/organic/natural category matter less than the industry would like to believe. We tend to think that smaller, local companies are the valued leaders, and big business are merely followers. While this maybe true for the opinion-leading 5th of the population, the general market just notices whether its says organic or not. And when it comes to price, where larger brands oftentimes offer lower prices, they can win.

On the manufacturer end of the spectrum, it was interesting to see the mix of home grown companies to huge corporate entities. Kraft, PepsiCo and Clorox were all there showcasing their latest healthy or green or natural products. On the smaller end of things were companies like Four Sisters and a Brother - Natural Bread Crumbs , a company started literally by four sisters and a brother from their own homes. There were a great many of these companies who were looking for their big break at this show to get distribution in new, larger retailers. Key talking points revolved around all-natural, organic, short ingredient lists (with nothing you couldn't pronounce), and X servings of X. Surprisingly, weight watchers points values were a focus as well.

Another interesting trend readily apparent at this conference is the growth of pharma foods. Whether its milk with Omega-3s or pro biotic cheese, products are definitely aiming to do more for consumers than simply fill them up. This has led companies, like Cargill for example, to develop ingredients that can be added to any food to increase/add nutritional value. Will consumers start buying buy ingredient rather than by food or by brand?

Lastly, from the retailer angle, aside from what products to carry, the biggest debate seemed to be where to put them in the store. While there is a consumer demand for these products, it varies depending on the shopper of each individual retailer. Opinions seemed to be split of whether the store within a store approach is best or simple category integration is the right road. One argument is that shoppers are less likely to buy natural/organic when the price tag is twice that of the regular option. The other is that those who shop organic want to find it all in the same place.

All of these topics seem to beg the question - Is this category ready for the mainstream? Have we gone far enough with our core consumers that we can begin to focus on the general population? As this begins to happen with companies like Pepsico, who have the dollars to make anything mainstream, it will be interesting to see how the category will change and adapt in retail

- Contributed by Armand Parra and Darcey Kramer

Integer Pulse

Click the Integer Pulse tab under the Our Thinking section for a monthly update from our Midwest office. They explore some really interesting topics surrounding the shopping world. This months issue uncovers a trend/counter-trend they call "Get Real|Unreal World" which dives into the mindset of today's consumers. Getting real about spending habits while at the same time longing to escape to an unreal world.

easySHOP: Scan and bag groceries as you shop

In the eyes of Giant Super Food Stores, easy shopping means eliminating check-out lines. Their new "easySHOP" technology lets people scan and bag items as they shop throughout the store, then pay at a self-service check-out kiosk and leave. In other words, groceries go into your cart from the shelves and don’t leave until you get to your car.

easySHOP requires Giant’s BONUSCARD loyalty card. The system aims to empower customers by putting more control in their hands.  Further, the perception is that scanning one’s own groceries is faster than having them scanned in a check-out line. Finally, the scanner lets people keep a rolling tally of their bill, helping them stay within their budget.

Are there ulterior purposes of this system? Is this a way for Giant to better monitor customer behavior in store?  If the scanners contain RFID or GPS, Giant could track exactly how consumers shop the store: the route they take, the time they spend in each aisle or even at each shelf, the items they put in their cart (and those they put back).  Another potential benefit to the store is a reduced need for cashiers.

Shoppers might actually spend equal or more time in store doing all this scanning. But the time might not seem as long since they’re so busy scanning and bagging.

Find out more at:  http://www.giantsuperfoodstore.com/easyshop.cfm



Images from giantsuperfoodstore.com

What's in your handbag?

Cause and effect

A few of us sat through a presentation today that started with a bit of a love story. It involves Louis, a giant Pacific octopus who lives at the Newquay Blue Reef Aquarium in Cornwall, UK.  We were told that Louis had been pretty miserable, until at Christmas he was given a Mr. Potato Head to play with in his tank. He loves it.

Louis was used in this presentation in the context of shopping in order to demonstrate how a small change in our environment can lead to a dramatic change in behaviour. However, when you look into the story some more, it turns out Mr. Potato Head is not only an interesting, colorful, tactile toy to enrich his existence in a tank, but it is also a way to deliver tasty treats to Louis. There was further license taken in the story told as it's not exactly clear that he was that miserable before hand! Among the brightest of the cephalopods, Louis needs mental stimulation and Mr. Potato Head delivers.  So what has caused his excitement and interest is under question. Was it the addition of the interesting toy, or the addition of the treats? 

Either way, it was an interesting metaphor (in the context of the presentation, perhaps less so here) for us to consider in shopping environments, where we need to introduce new stimuli in order to engage people and change behaviours. This little story also highlights the difficulty of isolating effects when more than one variable is changed at the same time.  We also need to be mindful that in changing one thing, we may have another as yet unknown or undesirable affect somewhere else in close proximity - after all, we don't know how his other tank mates feel that he gets all the great toys!

- Image courtesy of bluereefaquarium.co.uk

Why the price of everything is going up

An interesting article on the impact of the rising costs of Chinese manufacturing.  This means that American shoppers will soon be paying more for a wide variety of goods and that the era of the cheap Chinese import, long a factor in the US shopping landscape is under threat. Well worth a read.

- Thanks to Morgan Bryant.

Family and friends have greatest influence over our shopping

In an article in Advertising Age today, Zenith Optimedia are about to release some data that shows:

a) Friends and family are the most influential touchpoint when it comes to influencing our shopping decisions

b) TV is still top dog for creating brand associations.

What Zenith have done is create a database of all the studies they have undertaken using the Market Contact Audit (MCA) methodology, a proprietary research and analytics methodology belonging to Integration Marketing Communications that is used by many brands around the world (many agency groups have licenses to sell and use the MCA).

Being one of those agencies and having used the MCA with a number of clients as part of our Connections Planning approach (we're fans), these aggregated findings that Zenith are going to make available don't really surprise.  The level of detail they share though will be interesting.

One mistake that I've seen clients make when using the MCA is to look only at the surface level measures - like those shared in the AdAge article. What gives the most 'clout' in this category? How is our brand performing in each channel (through the association measure)? This is to miss a great deal of the value in the methodology and is a superficial look at the findings. The MCA delivers so much rich insight into the return that channels are generating, messaging effectiveness and competitor strategies amongst other things. It is a great single source approach when you know how to read it and apply it properly.  If you have any interest into how your marketing is performing and the return it is bringing, you should consider it.

Really looking forward to what the is shared by Zenith and their aggregation exercise

FNAC Video Wall

Interesting idea. Engaging use of sound and motion. Interesting way to sample music.  Disappointing when it doesn't respond properly.  When you touch the CD in the wall it is supposed to change tracks, and it doesn't do that quickly enough, look what happens. 

- Contributed by Ian Whitney