How CPG Brands and Grocery Retailers Will Reach Omnichannel Shoppers in 2023 [New Data]
Learn why 64% of CPG brand marketers believe ecommerce sales will impact strategy the most in 2023, plus more of the top digital grocery advertising trends.
The grocery industry has faced several seismic shifts over the past three years since the pandemic hit, shaped by surging ecommerce sales, the rise of retail media networks, heightened privacy concerns and even rising grocery prices. These grocery industry trends have encouraged grocery marketers to adopt new tactics that attract shoppers, wherever they may be — and keep them coming back.
From newer media tactics like TikTok to retail media networks (RMNs), retailers and brands alike are expanding their advertising toolkits. That’s why we created the CPG and Grocery Digital Advertising Report — we wanted to learn exactly what tactics and trends brands and retailers are embracing this year, and why. To do this, we sought out a grocery-specific perspective and gathered insights from a cohort of CPG and retail contacts.
Read on to learn the trends we discovered from our survey, and download the full advertising trends report to guide your marketing strategies for the year ahead.
Digital Grocery Advertising and Marketing Trends From 2022
The modern omnichannel grocery shopper buys the food they need at a variety of stores and platforms. For example, a shopper might put in an order through a grocery delivery service each Monday, receive a farm share produce box every other Saturday, do a Costco run every month, and still drop into a convenience store on the way home from work when they realize they’re out of milk.
It’s a sign of the everyday shopper’s need for convenience: while humans are creatures of habit, they can be persuaded to shop somewhere new if the option presented saves them time, money or headaches. The grocery industry is catching on — CPG brands and retailers are investing more resources in the digital space and capturing omnichannel shoppers early in the purchasing process.
Here’s what we learned about digital grocery marketing and advertising in 2022.
CPG brands focused on growing ecommerce sales.
Continuing the momentum from the past two years, CPG and grocery brands have been working on growing their ecommerce sales. It’s not just that shoppers find ecommerce quick and convenient — they also appreciate the special offers, easy couponing opportunities and the calmer experience of crossing off the shopping list from home.
Demand for grocery delivery rose.
The biggest spike in demand for grocery delivery came when COVID hit — but that demand has held steady and continues to grow. Our grocery trends report showed that it’s hard to shake the ease of groceries being delivered to your door: of those who buy online groceries, nearly 80% are likely to buy them again.
More than 70% of CPG brands felt the impact of retail media networks on their sales and marketing strategy.
CPG brands have learned that retail media networks are a reliable, effective marketing tactic: ad spend is up $10 billion from last year. Most CPG marketers are “satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with their current retail media network relationships so we predict that this data-rich, targeted advertising strategy will continue to grow in 2023.
Inflation impacted shopping habits.
Shoppers everywhere have felt the pinch of inflation in 2022. Our research revealed that average cart values went up by 28% year over year, but item count stayed the same. What does this mean? The prices of individual items have risen, but consumers aren’t slashing their grocery budgets. Instead, they’re eating at home more and being smarter about their grocery shopping habits.
Shopper privacy concerns changed digital marketing and advertising.
For many years, online advertisers have relied on cookies to track user preferences, helping them target potential customers with laser-focused accuracy. However, deprecation of the third-party cookie is inevitable, as consumers (and lawmakers) have begun to object to tracking for marketing purposes. In order to prepare for a cookie-less future, CPGs and grocery stores must prepare to advertise online without cookies.
Predictions for Grocery Advertising in 2023
CPG brands will test out new marketing strategies.
It’s not just enough to be on the shelf at the local grocery store anymore: CPGs are leaning way into new digital marketing strategies. The strategies that CPG brands expect to test out include recipe-based commerce media, retail media network strategies (both on and off of the retailer’s website), influencer marketing, sponsored social ads, video ads and paid search.
Brands will be more selective with advertising budgets as rates increase.
With tighter budgets, brands will push for all marketing strategies to show better ROI, and will cut back on strategies that don’t meet their standards. For brands and retailers, this could look like maximizing current third-party relationships or exploring new advertising partners and targeting options.
Grocery brands will continue to invest in delivery options, and explore regional, national or international expansion.
As the demand for grocery delivery isn’t letting up, grocery brands will continue to grow and refine their on-demand offerings. Whether that’s in the form of improving the UX of their current ecommerce offerings, partnering with existing delivery platforms, pushing delivery times quicker and quicker, or going big and delivering beyond their current radius, grocery brands are likely to invest in reaching people way beyond their neighborhoods. CPG and grocery brands will develop more content for niche target audiences.
CPG and grocery brands will develop more content for niche target audiences.
With grocery stores and CPG brands of all sizes working on perfecting their digital shopping game, they will fight to stay differentiated. This will look like improving digital user experiences, and catering to specific shoppers.
Primal Kitchen is a seven-year-old, health-food brand founded back in February 2015 by Mark Sisson, a former endurance athlete. The brand now has about 80 SKUs across nine different categories, with a focus on products that are keto, paleo, Whole-30 and organic certified. They lean into these attributes, continually churning out relevant content that caters to the health-conscious consumer. As a result, they’ve grown their digital platforms significantly, with hundreds of thousands of social media followers, blog visitors and newsletter subscribers.
“All marketing will become shoppable” and brands will focus on contextual commerce.
Kelly Meredith of Primal Kitchen predicted, “All of our marketing will become shoppable” [in 2023]. Any online media can be shoppable: with the strategic placement of links and commerce-enablement technology, CPGs and grocery stores will be able to link to their products on anything from recipes to TikToks, to sites where consumers are already shopping. This is called contextual commerce, and we believe it’ll take up an increasing amount of grocery ad dollars in 2023 and beyond.
Use Grocery Digital Advertising Strategies to Make 2023 Your Best Year Yet
Read Chicory’s CPG and Grocery Digital Advertising Report to learn the food retail trends you need to know, and the advertising strategies that will help grow your grocery or CPG brand this year.
