These strange times have forced shoppers to reconsider their shopping habits for the past month. Over sixty five percent of the U.S. Shoppers have changed their grocery habits in the past four weeks. Almost half of grocery shoppers have made additional “stock up” grocery trips in the past two weeks. The categories that have prospered from this behavior are canned foods, shelf stable foods, paper products, household cleaners and disinfectants and bottled water. While grocery has experienced fewer trips with larger purchases the stores that have been throttled back are mass merchandisers, club stores, and drugstore chains.
The rush for the aisles has not been easy on the consumer either. Nine out of ten shoppers say they have experienced out of stock at their grocery store. While the trip to the grocery store can seem like something out of the ordinary, the online grocery shopping has started to take hold after years of stops, starts, and frustrations. Twenty eight percent of U.S grocery shoppers made their first online grocery order in the last four weeks. Thirty six percent of shoppers ordered grocery items online for store pick-up and thirty eight percent ordered grocery items online for home delivery.
With all these changes, CPG manufacturers need to step back and reconsider their marketing efforts. Here are some of the low hanging fruits that all manufacturers should be doing today:
Look at brand messaging and make sure it is supporting consumers with reassurance and empathy
Review and confirm that planned messaging that could be seen as inconsistent with the times has been taken off the calendar and is not running as planned
Take extraordinary measures to work with retail partners to alleviate snags in your supply chain
Look at trade dollars allocated to the retailers and move them to later periods in the year.
Provide creative messaging to consumers who are sheltering at home and need confirmation in their daily lives
Work on your e-commerce strategy with retailers. Confirm that product listings and messaging on retailer sites is exactly what you want the consumer to see.
Brands cannot afford to hold their breath. Consumer shopping habits are changing and brands need to act now. Some of these changes will stick and some will dwindle away. It is imperative that brands meet the consumer’s mindset where they are today for a successful brand strategy in the future.
VWA is an Atlanta marketing and advertising agency with over thirty years of experience working with CPG brands. Let us know if you are interested in our services.