YOUR CASHIER HAS MORE POWER THAN YOU THINK

“If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.” so said one of the legends in advertising David Ogilvy. Yet how strange it is that marketers continue to nod to creative work that is sold to them as “intended for raising awareness of the brand” (read “it won’t get sales up …but it sure is going to get alot of people talking about your brand).

Who cares if the guys from Timbak 2 share a glass of milk whilst mulling for hours on length over the warmth/humour/crystal clear messaging of your advert…if your communication isn’t going to get them to buy your product then don’t buy that creative strategy from your marketing agency….don’t buy what you can’t use to sell your product: creativity too must sell!

Now you know that, that’s a reality,  you as a service provider do not want to deal with more so now because of the wider variety of retail choice which is to date greatly fueling this behaviour in customers.

Yet, as obvious as that should be to most of us, I often wonder whether businesses have a check list they use to make sure that each and every facet of their business’ touch points, which a consumer is likely to have access to when consuming their product/service, reflects impeccable service standards.

Picture this – it’s a typical Saturday morning and I walk into my local supermarket outlet to do my grocery shopping. As I fill up that trolley deluxe, I’m humming away for the store, its layout and its cleanliness is just such a mood lifter…hey even that moody house wife’s glare who finds shopping such a bore..doesn’t get to me…until I get to the till.

I watch this interplay between the till packer, the till cashier and the shopper who is paying for her groceries. “Hello Ma’am – would you like some plastic bags…how many?” and boy oh boy…don’t get me started on the sense of urgency and efficiency as the till packer furiously puts purchases into the bought plastic bags and packs away the parcels into the trolley for this shopper.

Did I mention how the till cashier keeps grinning at the shopper stupidly. I read it as smiling of course (proof of the fact that the manual of “don’t forget to smile @ the shopper” is alive and kicking and has been read by this cashier).

Okee dokee it’s my turn now and so I gently push my trolley forward to pay for my groceries.

“Plastic?” I get asked.

Oh no she didn’t plastic me.

So I respond with a wide smile, “Iyenzeni…iphuma nama sweetie or is it buy one get 1 litre full-cream milk bottle for free?” (What about it?). Then wait for it….”Uya i funa na?” (Would you like one?). So I pleasantly respond “Oh yes I would love a plastic bag please.”

The till cashier’s question of course is said with a tired looking face as if to say “Ayi sisi, please understand I really am tired, but I have no choice but to work at this miserable place….”

Now as a sister I have all the understanding in the world. I know how little cashiers earn, but as a shopper and more so as a marketer, I detest bad service.

As your sister, I identify with and perhaps know what it took to get you here this morning, but let’s chat about that when we back ekasi or waiting for taxi’s @ Bree Street, shall we?

Right now as I stand in front of you,  I am a shopper and the reason you get paid at the end of the month.

7 out of 10 shoppers who stop buying from an outlet, leave and cite no reason why they left.

If you think a cashier’s unprofessional demeanor in enquiring about my need for plastic bags will not get you to loose me as a customer, then trust me on this one, it will. I know a number of my dear sisters who have stopped frequenting certain retail outlets because they couldn’t stand the cashiers’ or sales personnels’ demeaning attitudes when serving them. And indeed “plastic” demeaning questiniong by cashiers was cited as one of the reasons why my dear sisters stopped visiting these outlets.

Global researchers in fact calls this kind of service “Shopping While Black” where black shoppers are made to feel unwelcome or unappreciated when shopping in retail outlets. A number of retail outlets who had been found to in fact instruct their sales personnel to have such demeaning treatment to certain races have experienced the wrath of expensive lawsuits in America. http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/story?id=7131333&page=

YOUR CASHIER HAS MORE POWER THAN YOU THINK

So, dear retail owners perhaps it is time to invest in “racial diversity in customer service” training for your cashiers. Please revisit that check list again and get rid of habits which are affecting your bottom-line negatively…but please, pretty please….

Don’t plastic me ever again!

Better yet, in putting your brand on “Special”, should one reduce the price across the board using Shelf Price Reductions or should one dispense coupons at point of purchase?

Again, its not so much what we, as marketers think will work best – it’s what shoppers perceive to be effective in talking to them about the latest deal or special.

According to research conducted by research agency, Markinor (September 2007):

80% of shoppers find coupons effective in influencing them to buy brands they did NOT intend to buy.

60% of shoppers are likely to switch brands and purchase those promoted as discounted offerings as a result of a coupon promotion.

What about Shelf Price Reductions? Are they not just as effective?

Well, Shelf price reductions talk mostly to shoppers who were going to buy the product irrespective of the discount. So, any incremental purchases there – are likely to come from these loyal one’s pantry loading.

Couponing on the other hand enables a 2-pronged effective advertising strategy of brand switching as well as awareness of brand at point of purchase in that:

Firstly couponing encourages 60% of brand switching purchases to your coupon-promoted brand.

Secondly, a shopper merely looking at your brand increases consideration of your brand by 30 – 120% and so shoppers get to be made aware of your brand visually, given the distinct packaging of your product on the couponed pop message on shelf.

So, with 86% of shoppers stating that coupons encourage them to buy promoted brands and 64% of shoppers citing that coupons help them buy brands they could not afford ….when is your next coupon promotion?

This is according to the latest insights provided by TGI 2007c – which enables us for the first time to truly answer the question on price sensitivity levels of shoppers.

With the rate hikes in the last year affecting shoppers’ pockets greatly – the need to
understand the sensitivity of South African shoppers has become even more important
part of our marketing function. In all our minds, the big questions are:

Will they still be loyal to my brand – or will they be swayed to buy another because of price?

Will they consider my brand, now that money is too “tight to mention”?

The current perception making shopping rounds of course is that shoppers are not that brand conscious when it comes to household groceries – in fact – a greater percentage of them will switch to a cheaper brand, even more so know given the status quo of our economy. A great worry for most of us managing brands within such a category.

MYTH OR FACT?

Well, a few facts to consider:

57% of SA main shoppers budget for every cent when doing the household shopping.

However only 38% of SA main shoppers tend to buy the cheapest household cleaning products.

And whilst 62% average shoppers buying well-known household products…

49% average shoppers are willing to try new household products.

So, whilst your average shopper is likely to be looking out for the cheapest household cleaning product – a certain type of a shopper is still looking to buy their favourite brand, hopefully at a discounted price.

What about other categories? How do shoppers who always use money off coupons and vouchers feel about discounting within these categories?

So, what type of shopper are you talking to?

With 68% of shoppers always looking out for Instore promotions when instore – is it not time to revisit your Instore advertising strategy – to make sure that your message ties in with their budgetary need or is it constraints?

In the burbs on the other hand, there is an abundance of outlets like Fruit and Veg city – in fact the brand has become synonymous with quality & fresh produce to shoppers frequenting these outlets. So whilst brands like this one may be scarce if not even absent in the township – fact is consumers there are consuming products sold in their outlets too AND there is a shopping environment that caters to shoppers wanting to buy these products!

It is also no lie that every seller would like a piece of growing spending of “so-called black” consumers – the question is are marketers aware of these yawning opportunities taking place in these townships to capitalise on?

How could one capitalise on such? Well, through CSI strategies we (fresh produce brands) find ways of partnering with these young men using a single-minded ROI business concept. Or even better yet enter this market by firstly piggy-baggin on this existing distribution strategy where we up the means of selling tools used by these guys whilst branding them to create an awareness of our fresh produce brand as endorsers of services rendered by these men?

It is, as I’m certain most of us are also aware, the compass citing direction to be followed in managing the growth of a brand within an industry, in spite of the environmental challenges faced by that brand’s business.

Unfortunately, some of the “big brands” have assumed “eternity leadership on market share” in their categories (read relaxed and thought they knew and owned the consumer better than their competitors). Yet with evolving/fragmentation of the media landscape and consumer behavioural patterns – your business strategy has to change for your brand to remain top of mind. It has to fight to be positioned as being in touch with what’s happening in patterns of consumption by your customers and able to meet the needs of these customers.

So, brands that are dying – are dying because they have continued to rely heavily on service providers/think-tanks, that like them, have not kept up with global trends/changes shaping this “emotional economy” we live. In turn strategies developed have been out-dated!

Their death is as result of brand strategies that are packaged with no or very little relevance, thoroughfare thinking and engaging of these global market insights.

The Break-up video in this article says it all!

So, perhaps the question here should not be is brand strategy headed for extinction – but rather who/what is to blame for golden brands of yesteryears not being relevant today!

Nothing out of the ordinary in that – as consumers we are looking for “haven spaces” when feeling vulnerable.

This though, does not mean that businesses have to play it safe. Unfortunately though, that has become the norm with more and more businesses continuing to play it safe - cutting budgets, watching, waiting, not wanting to make the first move,, until….so and so makes the first move.

Funny thing though is that it is in that “cocooned safe business-centric strategy” approach we embark on as marketers and business owners, that “we forget” that consumers and alike are seeking consumption of experiences and products that make them forget for a little while about this instability.

The Freedom emotional driver becomes so so fundamental in the positioning of brands to such a vulnerable audience – why? Because these consumers seek escape, breaking out, feeling un-burdurned. Marc Gobe in his book Brand Jam speaks of the fact that “freedom brands will connect with people who are in need to explore…and the consumer motivation is to break out.”

Question is, will you as a business owner continue to play it safe – in your product packaging and marketing thereof?

OR will you be different and meet the unmet need of “freedom gratification” currently a yawning gap felt by a growing segment of consumers out there!

Just think of the successful brands who have in fact flourished in the last 2 – 4 years by taking this positioning to heart in their business models…

Here’s a tip-not-to-be-forgotten: your business has to redefine this “freedom” into its business-model though – after all you cannot sell what you do not live as a value…

To be free OR not to B free….that is the question…

Sad to say  - absolutely not.

So – what factors should you avoid which often lead to poor execution of marketing strategies:

NUMBER 1: PLANNING

We are continuously being taken to task for submitting thick wads of paper outlining our “poetic summation” (as sum would refer to our strategic efforts) of how to position brands. Yet we do no leave behind succinct, clear, simplified versions of how to action the proposed strategies.

That’s why strategy as a field continues to be belittled as we ourselves are not often rising to the benchmark standards of providing actionable plans to those who will be implementing – if we are not going to be there!

NUMBER 2: PROFITABLE STRATEGIES

Again execution whose measurement is not tied into an ROI Branding Solution proposition – will be poor when assessed by those whose single-minded concern, as should be ours, the bottom line.

You provide a strategy that highlights how change should be implemented but do not align that change to benefits of profits – then execution in the real business sense will be judged as poor as it has not truly met those business needs.

NUMBER 3: FRUIT BASKET STRATEGY SERVICE PROVISION

We are good at walking into our clients’ offers with the “intent” of getting a clear understanding of what are the true challenges of their businesses. But the real truth is that we drag out that “Fruit basket service provision’ of ours as we walk into their offices already having concluded that we know what they need even before we EVEN begin to engage with them.

By fruit basket – you know that set mindset of thinking – somehow proposing the same strategic solution albeit you’re dealing with a different business!

Seth put it quite well the other day and said “No business shuld buy a solution for a problem they don’t have.”

And yet, how often have we seen activated strategies allowed by marketing heads which you can tell has been the result of “allowing your marketing service provider 2 convince u that they “have the solution” without taking the time to truly understand yo problem. And a couple of wasted rands later the poor client is still sitting with your problem which they r still not getting!

So poor planning, strategy that’s not a profit-dirver and not business centric are must-avoids if you want to satisfy your client’s with executions that get everyone hearing the k’ching sound of profits!

The million dollar question to ask is how can we as marketers reduce the time wasted by shoppers when they are instore?

Before we answer this question though, what is it that it eating up shoppers’ time instore?

• Up to 60% of the shopping trip is spent in “visual cruising”, when shoppers look frantically up and down, left and right to locate their intended purchase.

• Up to 42% is spent in “visual facing of the shelf”, where the shopper looks from left to right to centre – again, looking for something or other.

It is shoppers’ battle to locate our products when instore that is responsible for all that wasted time.

With up to 80% of wasted time instore resulting from shoppers’ simply trying to locate your product, you can forget about driving incremental sales.

All your shoppers end up with is: increased ANGST whilst trying to locate your product;spending more TIME than they intended resulting in less MONEY being spent to buy that product in the end. Because the faster you sell to a shopper, the more you will sell.

TNS Sorensen shared these invaluable insights at the Instore Marketing Conference held in Las Vegas last November.

They visually deconstructed these three shopping currencies – angst, time, and money – which influence how much shoppers spend instore, to help explain the importance of POP media in: • Helping shoppers locate your products instore – thereby reducing time spent to meet their needs.

• Helping shoppers complete their shopping with less if no angst from aggravation caused by the effort taken to make a decision whilst trying to locate your product.

• Enticing them to buy more whilst instore as a result of having completed the first purchase a lot quicker.

As if that’s not enough of a challenge, we have to deal with brand extensions instore. We all know the old marketing adage: Give shoppers options on shelf to choose from and they will DEFINITELY select something out of what we are offering them instore. Right?

Wrong.

Research conducted using two tables displaying jam varieties for tasting with the intent of selling the jams proved this one fact: the table with half the varieties of jam led to 30% more jam purchases.

This study helps us conclude that a large array of options may actually discourage shoppers because it creates an increase in the effort needed to make a decision.

Fewer purchase options lead to ten times more purchases.

If you can’t do anything about your brand-extension strategy however, you can at least do something to ensure that you do NOT confuse the shopper, or better yet, you can actually help them buy your product using instore media.

So, invariably you should be thinking of instore advertising plans to help shoppers locate your product instore in less the time and less the angst whilst ending up spending more!!!

This is according to the International 2008 Trends Report (www.instoremarketer.org) which asked marketers about the role of POP in their budgetary planning; their reasons for using POP and of course the sort of research insights shaping their activities instore.

It is interesting to note when looking at the data in the report, how buoyant senior execs & directors of marketing departments are about the current and future use of POP media (more so when compared to junior management).

The senior guys are now walking the talk when it comes to the value perceived in instore media.

What creative elements are mandatory in 2008 when creating POP displays?

The top four elements noted were product imagery, price promotion, description of product benefits and features. A seemingly obvious fact, often overlooked by some of us in South Africa is that instore advertising has to command attention in a cluttered environment, deliver a strategic message and close the sale in seconds.

Pretty obvious fact right?

While that may seem obvious to most of you, we could all do with these reminders:

Time is not your side – shoppers don’t have the time to “ponder” over your message to get it.

Shoppers are in a “what’s in it for me” mood – so your offer or benefit has to register within seconds in order to close the sale.

You want the shopper to look at your brand – after all international research cites that a shopper merely looking at your brand increases consideration of your brand by 30 – 120% and of course this POP message is intended to get them to notice your brand.

So, why we sometimes want to talk to shoppers like they are lazing about as couch potatoes beats me sometimes and I know I’m not alone on this one.

So, what else did these trend-setters have to say about this environment and the importance of advertising in it?

to “Sales/scanner data research results has the most influence on the marketing and sales departments’ decision-making when implementing POP activities.”

54% of those interviewed placed more emphasis on POP displays in 2007 – rating this media third after packaging (60% and internet marketing (59%) with traditional media following with 42% for print ads and 14% for TV ads.

54% of marketers are allocating more dollars to more displays vs. 20% who are placing only more dollars on fewer displays.

32% use POP displays primarily for driving communication on new product innovation, whilst 30% use it for brand building communication.

There was a time when the marketer’s first objective for driving POP activities instore was “to lift sales.” Ultimately, that’s everyone’s ultimate objective. But if these results are anything to go by, then marketers are starting to understand that just like traditional media, instore POP has a role to play in continuing (not just once-off bursts per year) to entice, remind and sway shoppers to buy their brand/s. Marketers are realising that losing market share is not because a competitor has stolen the market share away from them, but largely because they need to continuously maintain their brands in the minds of these shoppers.

That is brand building. And when you do it in the instore environment, you get the added benefit of enabling your brand-building POP message to close the sale.

So, with top management putting their stamp of approval on the increased use of instore media we should see companies charging ahead and achieving their ultimate objective – closing the sale with incremental purchases.

There is only so much money out there and when international trends are showing there is “greater emphasis on instore vs. outbound media”, it’s only a matter of time before we Mzanzi guys follow suit with what makes sales sense.

Interesting times ahead of us!