When Price Just Isn't Enough

Nick Minnick is the VP of Strategic Partnerships here at Chicory, the contextual commerce advertising platform.

In 2016, numerous grocery and retail publications reported that the rise of digital would lead to the inevitable decline of the printed FSI (free-standing insert). However, the prediction that the use of physical coupons would transfer to digital deals has taken much longer than expected. 

The industry was gearing up for digital to completely overtake print in terms of promotion. But while FSIs and the Sunday newspaper shift out of use, we’re still not seeing the same amount of support transferred over to digital deals and coupons for CPG products. Digital investment from brands is still much smaller than investment in the FSI and print circular placements ever were. 

While investment levels with print are high due to printing, shipping and other logistics costs, there’s not as much investment required to deliver digital promotional tactics. As a result, there’s a scaling issue where the same amount of funds that have been traditionally allocated to print can't translate equally to digital.

So how can brands and retailers reallocate their traditional spend and maintain effectiveness as the reach of print declines and digital grows?

With the rise of digital comes an overwhelming influx of inspiration designed to meet the needs of the consumer, who is seeking out content. From classic digital recipes on sites like Taste of Home and Delish to Buzzfeed-style hands-in-pans recipe videos to shoppable Pinterest pins, consumers are bombarded daily with content and inspiration. 

Retailers and brands need to leverage consumers’ desire to connect inspiration with purchase and convenience. Layering contextual advertising with price promotion is a surefire way to bring back ready-to-purchase consumers who shifted their inspiration searches from print to digital, but not their price incentive usage. 

Make Brands Current Content Shoppable 

Ads within content like Instagram and recipe blogs are already a large part of many brands’ marketing strategies to reach consumers who are searching for inspiration. Advertisers need to employ contextual commerce, or commerce-enablement, in those strategies.. This enables brands and retailers to create effective shopper marketing campaigns using the content that’s already being used, and push the shopper closer to conversion.

By advertising promotional pricing like TPRs or BOGOs in a shoppable ad within content that a user is already browsing in search of inspiration for, say, a weeknight dinner for the family, brands can effectively drive response with a customer who is planning to make a purchase. Further, by driving to a specific retailer while the promotional pricing is live, shopper marketing teams can effectively support their retailer partner and that specific campaign. Users are more incentivized to purchase based on the promotional price plus the convenience of checking out in fewer steps than on non-commerce-enabled content or when shopping in-store.

Co-brand Custom Shoppable Content 

Sponsored recipes are a classic tactic, but shopper marketers and retailers can take this one step further and combine efforts to drive promotional sales. Most brands and retailers already realize the value of custom content. Many food brands and grocery retailers have specific sections on their sites that lead users to custom recipe content, offering inspiration to prompt a purchase. Brands can demonstrate that they’re supporting their retailer partners by co-creating and co-branding custom content to live on retailer and/or brand sites, and then layering in shoppability. This way, both parties can offer consumers price incentives like digital rebates and TPRs or digitally deliver a coupon that users can use in-store at the retailer for those that prefer to shop in person. Plus, digital delivery of a coupon or promotional pricing allows for more granular campaign measurement that isn’t as easy for print promotions.

Further Incentivize Less Price-Sensitive Shoppers

Many consumers are more regularly using curbside pickup, or BOPIS, as a convenient midway between grocery delivery and in-store shopping. For these consumers who may value convenience over price, it’s still worth offering incentives to drive them through to purchase. While convenience may be the main motivation for these shoppers, the added bonus of a digital promotion or sale pricing will further ensure that they’re actually checking out. Layering shoppable media with BOPIS callouts is a simple way to drive this sect of shoppers who are already using the service or are curious about in-store pickup through to purchase.

Although ecommerce is top of mind for many in the CPG and grocery industry, it’s important to broaden that lens and consider the overall digital grocery habits that consumers have learned and that are here to stay. Shortening the path to purchase and ultimately driving shoppers through to conversion can be achieved through the combination of shoppability, inspiration and price incentivization. As more consumers turn to digital content for context and inspiration for their next purchases, brands and retailers need to ensure that they’re appearing where consumers are browsing and giving them a reason to make a purchase.

Interested in receiving more thought leadership content on shopper marketing, ecommerce and digital grocery? Sign up for our newsletter: