Chapter 2:
Meet Customers on the Digital Path to Purchase to Drive CPG Sales Amid COVID-19
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"We all know it’s going to be a blend between brick-and-mortar and online. But online grocery is here to stay.”
John Carroll, Founder of Creative Commerce Solutions and Former VP and General Manager of Ecommerce at The Coca-Cola Company
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As the online grocery space continues to surge, brand manufacturers must ready themselves for constant change — between shifting buying behaviors and markets, the only certainty is change. For leaders within the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space, success requires action for navigating this “next normal.”
CPG Commerce Experts Outline Best Practices to Navigate the COVID-19 Market
John Carroll
Founder of Creative Commerce Solutions
Carroll, founder of Creative Commerce Solutions and the former VP and general manager of ecommerce at The Coca-Cola Company, brings more than 30 years of experience in packaging and manufacturing, food and beverage, and CPGs. Today, his company consults retailers and brands working on merging their physical and digital customer experiences.
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Stacy Thomson
VP of ebusiness at Scrum50
Stacy Thomson is the VP of ebusiness at Scrum50, an advertising agency focused on developing agile solutions for digital brand campaigns. With over 15 years of digital and business development experience, Thomson’s past clients include Benjamin Moore Paint., Mars, Nestlé Waters, Revlon, and others.
Jeff Jarret
Jeff Jarrett
VP, Head of eCommerce Mondelez
Jeff Jarrett is the VP of U.S. ecommerce for the snack giant Mondelēz International, where he oversees vision, global strategy, and the continued growth of its ecommerce services. Jarrett brings over 20 years of experience, serving in digital leadership roles at Kimberly-Clark, SapientNitro, Leo Burnett Worldwide, and Euro.
Few are better suited to talk about this unprecedented shock to the digital CPG market than experts Jeff Jarret, Stacy Thomson, and John Carroll. They were expert speakers at the Digital Shelf Virtual Summit, presented by The Digital Shelf Institute (DSI), where they weighed in on leveraging emerging ecommerce platforms and other CPG brand best practices to navigate this new world.
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While the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic’s long-term effects can make forecasting difficult, Carroll’s cited projections from Business Insider Intelligence indicate that by 2022, the figure could be as high as 62% — nearly tripling in just three years.
Online Grocery Predictions: Continued Penetration Growth
62%
By 2022 Online Grocery Shopping could grow by 62%.
Carroll shares his insights on online grocery forecast data amid COVID-19.
“I think what’s really important here, and the discussion that we should all be having as an industry, is that the shopper penetration — the amount of people that are actually using online grocery — is increasing dramatically,” Carroll said.
Those fast-moving trends are important to keep in mind as marketers consider how to meet their customers’ changing lives, both during — and likely following — a global pandemic. Brands that are slow to adopt new commerce platforms won’t be doing themselves any favors, Carroll warns. “These platforms are hungry to build business with you,” he concludes. “So I say: open your eyes up and have these discussions [with them].”
ePacks: A New Opportunity for Online Growth
One method to retain these newcomers are ePacks. These bundled online sales, typically priced around $15, can provide consumers with a number of products in a single sale, at a price point attractive to both the shopper and business alike. Companies that consider offering ePacks should carefully rely on customer data and feedback to determine which brands will work best together, Jarrett stressed. When correctly executed, the method can increase sales and drive brand awareness of new products.
“Research showed that people love Ritz, and they love Oreos — why not put them together?” Thomson added. “It’s an opportunity, [and] not how it worked in the offline world.” ePacks are most effective when used to bundle together brands that, can collectively provide a new customer experience that is greater than the sum of its parts: For example, a “makeover kit” used to sell beauty products, a family meal kit, or a fun bundle of activities for kids bored at home during quarantine.
‘Open Your Eyes’: The Case for Digital Adoption
ePack Case Study: Mondelez
Jarrett discusses Mondelēz’s success with ePacks, highlighting their importance in the market.
It’s not just online sales: those who still make the weekly trip to the supermarket have also found new digital paths to purchase. An increasing number of shoppers are consulting the digital shelf when considering their grocery purchases, even while making in-person purchases — a tremendous opportunity for the brands willing to accommodate them. Carroll points to a Retail Feedback Group study that found 63% of shoppers reported a digital interaction with their supermarket, up from just 56% in 2017. “What we know is, if it’s not bought online from an Amazon, Instacart, or Walmart.com, it’s influenced online,” he said. Typical experiences included shoppers who check online circulars for deals (55%), build their grocery lists online (47%), and search for recipes (25%). Each of those touchpoints is an opportunity to nudge your customer along on their digital path to purchase, Carroll said.
Curbside Pickup: Expanding Digital Paths to Purchase
63%
63% of Shoppers Use a Mobile Device While Shopping or Considering a Purchase In-Store
Source: BRP
Take a ‘Holistic’ Approach to the Traditional Sales Funnel
Online and Offline Worlds Collide
Carroll shares his insights on taking a “holistic approach’ to sales.
Every level of your company’s sales funnel should be consciously invested in the customer’s digital path to purchase, Carroll said — and developing some enhanced levers and key performance indicators (KPIs) to get them thinking in those terms is a great way to start. “[The] digitally influenced path to purchase needs to be ingrained,” Carroll said. “The idea here is everybody is involved with it from a brand, ecommerce, and sales perspective, throughout the sales funnel, rather than just specializing the sales funnel.”
Rethink the Digital Path to Purchase
Marketing Full Funnel Case Study: eMeals and Stella Artois
Carroll shares a successful example of full funnel marketing case study between the meal planning app eMeals and the beer brand Stella Artois.
1. Think like your consumer with integrated planning, creative briefs, and ecommerce KPIs.
Carroll highlighted three essential next steps for evolving as a CPG brand:
Essential Next Steps for CPG Brands
Carroll outlines best practices for CPG brands moving forward.
2. Explore and invest in new platforms.
3. Rethink your marketing mix model, and include digital and ecommerce metrics.
Amidst a great deal of uncertainty, one thing seems clear: Online and digitally-influenced grocery shopping are only going to become more popular with consumers. “Whether you’re an agency working with a CPG, an ecommerce team, a brand team — this is what you should be thinking about as we go into the next year,” Carroll concluded. “Ecommerce is going to be a much bigger part of how people are buying groceries … how that evolves from a shopping platform perspective will be fascinating as we start planning for the future.”
Continue to chapter three to get expert insights on advertising, marketing, and content strategies for navigating the ‘next normal.’
Go to Chapter 3
