A study conducted by PILM and the Shopper Technology Institute contrasted the success rate of newspaper insert coupons versus digital, finding the former brought in 34 percent of new product buyers, while digital coupons attracted 46 percent. The study also found 68 percent of paper coupon use resulted in incremental (above normal projected) sales.
Instant coupons, which represent slightly over 20 percent of all coupon redemption, continue to gain favor with shoppers too, while digital load-to-card coupons climbed for the fifth consecutive year. Bhothinard says the next step is better tracking and evaluation, as more stores and brands use digital coupons to incentivize their products.
Collecting Data
The ability to collect data across a wide range of customer experiences will continue to be of interest, “particularly as it relates to how brands and retailers can better personalize an experience or an offer, and how that data is collected, analyzed, and then applied to digital touch points for customers to get a personalized experience,” Kent says.
“We believe online and digital shopping is a major part of the future. Offline and in-store shopping will always play a big part of a consumer’s experience, but digital will be a strong complement along every step of the purchase journey—from discovering new products to in-store solutions, to the review and post-purchase phases,” Kent explains. This is backed up by a number of studies, with Mobile Commerce Daily reporting 59 percent of all consumers use their mobile device while shopping, a leap of 16 percent from last year.
Although loyalty programs have been capturing and storing data about customer habits and purchases for years, retailers have become increasingly sophisticated in how they use this material for marketing. Yet due to highly publicized breaches of private information at Target, Home Depot, and others, and because of broader concerns raised by government intrusion, privacy is a major concern for grocery marketers.
“We as an industry are trying to be self-policing,” comments Larry Burns, president and chief executive officer of StartSampling in Carol Stream, IL. Burns discussed the issue during a conference hosted by the Shopper Technology Institute in Cleveland, OH. Unfortunately, he admits, transparency is not at the level it should be and predicts more startup companies will emerge to help consumers control their data. First and foremost, he recommends being open about data policies and how consumers can expect to benefit. For example, if a customer enters a store and a retail app creates a shopping list based on previous purchases, this should both simplify and enhance the shopping experience. Though some shoppers may find this intrusive or presumptuous, others will gladly accept the assistance.
Online Grocery Shopping
While online grocery shopping has been around for almost two decades and is well established in the United Kingdom, France, and South Korea, convincing U.S. shoppers a retailer ‘picker’ can select fresh produce to their satisfaction has not come easily. This concern has been a “profound” hindrance to the development of online perishables shopping, says Keith Anderson, vice president for strategy and insights at Profitero, an Irish consulting company with a San Francisco office. Anderson also took part in the Shopper Technology Institute conference.
