It’s no secret that many CPG product categories have fierce competition and are often purchased on price. This is perhaps why the CPG market is considered to be the most difficult for even established brands to grab a larger share of. If your goal is to increase market share, a mobile CPG marketing strategy that penetrates a consumer’s time in-store could help you achieve it.
Mobile app marketing is a cost-effective method for increasing market share for CPG products. Alternative options, like ramping up advertising spend, are expensive and not always guaranteed to offer a significant return on investment. Marketing via mobile apps, however, can give you a competitive advantage by differentiating your product as they reach customers in the moment of truth in-storen, driving consideration for your product.
Below, explore how your company can leverage mobile tools like geolocation, timely contacts, and shopping rewards to deliver the conversion you’re seeking from your marketing dollars. Strategies for how to increase market share of a product can be as simple as partnering with a mobile app.
Common Barriers to Market Share Growth in the CPG Industry
There are several common market share growth barriers in the CPG industry that could block your attempts to gain attention for your products. These barriers are the things that keep consumers from choosing your product, despite advertising and shelf visibility, so you must find creative and effective ways to combat them in order to grow.
Generally, a market share growth barrier will fall into one of the three following categories:
- Loyalty: It seems odd to treat loyalty as a negative, but it certainly is when a significant portion of your product’s target demographic is loyal to a competitor. Customers who are already engaged with a brand are five times more likely to choose that brand’s products over another.
- Similar products: The CPG market in the US alone is worth $670 billion, which should confirm to any CPG marketer that competition is fierce. If your product is difficult to differentiate from others in its category, it can be next to impossible to make a dent in your market share. The less your product stands out, the harder it will be to garner new attention from consumers. This is especially true if your product’s price point is higher than your competitors’ without offering some additional benefit.
- Price point: About 10% of consumers are willing to stick with the lowest priced product, even when they’re aware of a similar product which will provide a superior experience. Consumers who are focused on price point will always be focused on price point. Because of this, pulling these consumers to your brand will only work if you discount your prices lower than others. However, as soon as your price increases again, you will likely lose that customer—and the market share they represent.
A majority of the issues that CPG brands run into when trying to increase market share for a product is that their barriers span all three categories. Their product may be difficult to differentiate from others and may not have the lowest price point, meaning they can’t gain the price-conscious consumers. However, they also haven’t earned the loyalty from consumers who are focused on quality over price. One strategy to stand out from the CPG crowd and combat each of these barriers is utilizing a mobile app to showcase and differentiate your product.
Learn How to Increase Market Share of a Product Using Mobile Apps
Despite the common barriers listed above, it is still possible to gain greater market share in your category. One of the most effective marketing strategies you should leverage is mobile shopping apps. These apps allow you to reach out to customers when they are in the moment of making a purchase decision. Third-party apps in particular, like shopping rewards apps, are ideal for increasing market share as they allow your brand to connect with a new and receptive target audience.
Here is how mobile apps help you combat the barriers to increasing market share of your products:
- Compete against lower price points without cutting prices: If you don’t want to lose margin by discounting, or want to focus on quality, shopping apps offer an alternative to incentivize price-conscious shoppers via rewards. While consumers don’t receive an immediate discount, they do earn rewards points for their purchases. This allows them to feel thrifty and budget-minded while eliminating the negative impact of discounted prices on your bottom line.
- Utilize geolocation to gain contextual relevance: Shopping apps can be designed to work hand-in-hand with beacons and other location technology. Via these technologies, shopping apps notify a consumer when they’re near your product and provide information about it. If you’re in a product category with high competition, this can allow you to gain the attention of your target audience at the right moment—i.e., when they are ready and able to make a purchase decision.
- Convert loyal customers with a trusted audience: Consumers who use shopping rewards apps tend to be very loyal to their favorite app. Often, their trust of the app will extend to any featured product or brand as well. This can be enough to pull a competing brand’s loyal customer to your side of the endless CPG aisle.
Shopping apps can increase your product’s market share without the high expense of awareness campaigns or competitor acquisitions. By partnering with a well-established third-party shopping rewards app, you can easily overcome common market growth barriers like competitor loyalty, lack of product differentiation, and price-focused consumers. Mobile shopping apps allow your product to stand out on overcrowded store shelves by communicating in the moment to an engaged and interested audience.
Shopkick’s mobile platform is used by a wide range of partners looking to increase their market share. If you’re interested in learning more about what Shopkick can do for your brand, contact our team today.
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