How to develop an effective retail marketing strategy
An effective retail marketing strategy generates consumer interest and drives in-store sales.
In order to ensure your marketing strategy proves effective, it should be tailored to garner awareness for your product and capture the attention of your target audience. Determining the elements of your retail marketing strategy is fairly simple; the challenge lies in forming a cohesive message across all channels that guides consumers along the path to purchase.
Developing an Effective Retail Marketing Strategy
When it comes to developing a retail marketing strategy, brands should aim higher than simply raising awareness. The end result of an effective retail marketing strategy is customer loyalty. Here are four steps to consider.
Step 1: Offer an Incentive
Many consumers are driven to make a purchase when they feel they’re getting a deal. But for brands, offering discounts or reduced prices doesn’t promote loyalty. Instead, they end up targeting those consumers looking for a lower price, which dilutes margins in the long run. One way to offer consumers an incentive to shop—without having to lower prices—is through rewards. Utilizing a program, like Shopkick, that rewards shoppers for doing the things they already do in stores, such as browsing the shopping aisle for products, makes it easier to achieve participation.
Shopkick users receive “kicks” (reward points) for walking into the entrance of participating stores, participating in an in-store scavenger hunt for products, scanning barcodes and interacting with products at shelf, making purchases, and watching branded videos. Shopkick users can then exchange these reward points for free gift cards—an incentive for consumers to do even more shopping.
Step 2: Incorporate Mobile in the In-Store Experience
Shoppers are increasingly turning to their smartphones to make purchases, allowing them to shop at their own pace and carefully consider all options without pressure from a pushy salesperson. Yet, nothing tops the ability to touch and see a physical product in a brick-and-mortar setting. The best way to leverage this is by creating an immersive retail experience that eliminates all distractions, allowing the consumer to focus on a product. Additionally, nearly half of shoppers simply like the satisfaction of receiving their purchases immediately, without having to wait for shipping.
In order to reach those consumers who choose to use their smartphone both at home and in-store throughout their shopping journey, consider partnering with a mobile shopping app. Tyson decided to partner with Shopkick to develop a campaign that would drive engagement and sales. At home, a pre-shop look-book and branded video content were used to drive awareness and pre-shop consideration of Tyson Chicken Wings & Bites. In store, Shopkick drove shoppers directly to the Tyson products at shelf and incentivized product interaction, which ultimately increased purchase likelihood. The two-month campaign received over 4.5 million impressions and drove over 57,000 in-store product engagements at Sam’s Club. A whopping 62% of the foot traffic was from new or infrequent customers of the Tyson brand, and 25% of those who scanned the product went on to purchase. The total sales impact exceeded over $193,000 with 14,000 units sold and a campaign return-on-investment of 4:1.
Step 3: Use Data to Personalize Interactions
Consumers want to do business with companies that understand them; this is where personalized marketing comes into play. By gathering data willingly submitted by consumers via surveys or other methods, brands can create individualized content. Personalized marketing sets off a domino effect. Once a more effective message is created, the targeted recipient engages more frequently with that brand, loyalty and affinity develop over time, and they are more likely to purchase again. That satisfied individual is also likely to evangelize and encourage their family and friends to engage with that brand, expanding the scope of marketing.
The end result of an effective retail marketing strategy is customer loyalty.
Step 4: Inspire User-Generated Content
One study found that 86% of Americans trust fellow shoppers for honest opinions in online reviews. Free word-of-mouth advertising is coveted gold for retailers, providing greater impact for your marketing dollars. Marketing materials enthusiastically produced by fans of a brand feel more organic and are typically shared more often, gaining a greater reach than retailers could ever hope for on their own. Using a photo reviews app, DockATot, a baby product’s brand, asked new parents to share product ratings, reviews, and photos. Thanks to the spike in user-generated content, more than 1,200 DockATot lounging docks sold the first day of their sale. Over the next three years, sales continued to balloon 2,000%.
Effective mobile marketing strategies help build consumer trust and reach them at the right time. Whether a brand is testing out new mobile marketing apps or embarking on a long tail campaign, these efforts establish confidence which leads to consumer loyalty. Knowing consumers well enough to target ads creates credibility, which keeps them coming back to brands for years to come.
