Brand marketing money shifting into stores for digital, other tools

August 12, 2011 by Dave Haynes

The shopper research firm GfK Interscope has released its 2011 Futurescope survey of  consumer packaged goods and retailers, with the results showing more and more see in-store marketing as critical to their bottom lines.

Ninety-five percent of the 300 people who did the survey this spring said they’re actively engaged in shopper marketing, with more than 80% saying the emerging discipline is vital to their company’s success.

Two years ago, 56% of the people asked said they were putting at least 5% of their marketing budgets into shopper marketing. Now the number is 75% putting at least 5% in.

“The survey found that financial investment in shopper marketing continues to increase. This upward trend will likely continue,” said Alison Chaltas, executive vice president with GfK Interscope, in a news release.

The survey also found half of respondents expected to up their investment in-store over the next two years.

The research found that usage of digital and mobile technologies are growing fast – specifically things like digital coupons and mobile websites. Two-thirds of the respondents agreed digital and mobile were going to transform shopping over the  next four years, and that the balance of power is shifting from the seller to the buyer (consumers).

In the release, Chaltas said shopper intimacy is a big part of shopper marketing success, but is elusive. The industry has gone from its ideas of a simple, linear path to purchase to “a multi-stage web of evaluating, sourcing, selecting, maximizing and advocating.”

Along the way, there is a “dizzying array of shopper touch points” from online, mail, in-store and word-of-mouth.”

“All of the touch points are impacting that shopper throughout the day — pre-shop and post-shop — and you need to think about these not as consumer touch points, but shopper touch points,” she said.

So what does this mean. If you run a Digital OOH network based on retail venues – the 7-Eleven network for example – this research is suggesting brands see increasing value in moving money off other marketing efforts and putting it right into the store – hitting shoppers as they make buying decisions.

If you are a retailer running your own digital signage network, it means allocations are shifting. The interest seems to be in mobile and online, but as has often been written, screens in retail cab be and are the catalyst for this kind of   engagement. Something has to drive and reinforce the value of mobile and online apps and programs.

Good luck finding the actual survey releases. I tried. Gave up. The GfK website is one of those minimalist agency things.