How Can Shopper Marketers Use Shoppability?

Shopper marketing teams are measured on sales driven through a specific retailer. So, shopper marketing campaigns that integrate shoppability need to be measurable, quantifiable and highly visible to both the manufacturer and the retailer.

First, shopper marketers need to make sure that their shoppability providers have relationships with retailers in three key areas:

  • Buy-In: Rather than back-dooring tech integrations, shoppability is most effective when providers work directly with retailer product and engineering teams. This means that they’re developing their shoppability capabilities with all parties in mind. Plus, it gives legitimacy to the data provided to clients, which can then, in turn, deepen marketing and merchandising conversations with retailer partners. 

  • Top-of-the-Line Tech: Retailers can offer shoppability providers the most up-to-date API improvements in order to consistently stay in sync with new releases and ensure a seamless integration that offers a flow of cart data back from the retailer. 

  • Retailer Media Groups: The most effective, developing relationships with retailer media groups enables shoppability providers to offer an approved off-platform activation opportunity for brands to extend their marketing efforts beyond the retailer environment. Programs that leverage this particular type of retailer relationship have proven effective for driving lapsed and new shoppers to buy a product again or for the first time. 

Next, shopper marketers need to ensure that their shoppable content is appearing in the right context. Engagement with shoppable content grows, particularly when commerce-enabled ads offer a more fully fledged solution for the shopper, such as helping them to solve their meal planning or add to their grocery shopping list with a click. But it’s much less intuitive to add a head of lettuce to the cart, especially if it’s being advertised on a CNN.com article as a result of behavioral targeting. 

  • Average CTR on shoppable display: 0.05% 

  • In-recipe ads CTR for one item: 0.23% 

  • In-recipe ads CTR for a bundle of products: 0.25%

  • In-recipe ads offering everything needed for a party CTR: 0.41%

  • Shoppable recipes CTR: 0.59%

Finally, shoppability should not only be measured using media impressions, like with typical display ads, but with lower funnel metrics like amount of products or dollar amount added to the cart. Shopper marketers should also use shoppability to draw a line down the funnel that gets much closer to telling the full consumer journey. Then, shoppable campaigns can become the full picture of a brand’s shoppers and their journeys toward purchasing, and success can become a more nuanced look at what kinds of contexts, creatives, copy and placements actually drive sales.

For more in-depth strategies and tactics on how shopper marketers can use shoppability, check out our previous articles debunking the biggest myths about shoppability and reviewing the shoppability features that should be on a shopper marketer’s checklist.

For BrandsChicory