Facing the Music: 5 Emerging Digital Shopper Categories CPG Brands Can't Ignore

The mantra for retail has long been location location location But when people can shop anywhere anytime the once irrefutable advantage of location becomes irrelevant In our most recent examination of ecommerce trendsamp160Emerging Digital Shopper Trends ampamp Triggers Across Five CPG Categories we found that over half of all Americans have shopped one or more of five major CPG categories Personal Careamp160Household Goodsamp160Salty SnacksConfectionsamp160Nonalcoholic Beverageamp160Alcoholic Beverage online in the past month And these shoppers are twice as likely to be 1834 amp8211 making it clear digital will be integral to the future of CPG retailingWithin traditional brick and mortar stores big manufacturers have zealously guarded their shelf spaceamp8212a location within a location When the virtual shelf is endless the barrier to new smaller brands disappears and the competitive landscape expandsPowerful branding has in the past bonded consumers to products and kept them loyal However when people begin toamp160trustamp160large brands less than smaller ones the bonds dissolve and loyalty is lostThis combination of radically expanding quotondemandquot digital shopping occasions coupled with declining trust in large brands has created a moment of truth for the established CPG players and traditional brick and mortar retailers amp8211 reminiscent of what the music industry faced nearly 20 years ago with the advent of digital downloading and NapsterPremium products and personalized convenience drives CPG digital shopping behaviorsThe benefit of being a big brand is that you are well known and what you stand for is stamped into people39s minds But when the things you stand for fall out of favor with your customers the perceptions that anchored your brand can become a deadweight that drags you downProducts with premium features and clean labels are increasingly popular especially amongamp160millennials However consumers are less likely to accept premium claims from large mass brands because that is not how they think of them New and small brands have greater permission to be premium precisely because they don39t have this big brand baggageHalf of American digital shoppers in our most recent study said they quotlike to buy from new innovative brands even if they are not well knownquot These same digital shoppers are twice as likely to report they quotlike to buy products with premium ingredientsbenefits eg organic small batch sustainably sourced etc even if they are more expensivequot and they quotlike products that are pure and natural ie made with little to no processed ingredientsquotAnd these shoppers are increasingly likely to buy these products online So what39s a big brand to do when you39ve fallen out of favor with your customers and the traditional barriers to entry are erodingMany large CPG manufacturers are leveraging new and innovative tools and techniques that allow them to achieve a deeper level of understanding amongst leading edge digital shoppers In the past these may have included consumer focus groups or shopalongs But today there areamp160scalable digital shopping research solutionsamp160that seamlessly combine qualitative quantitative mobile and behavioral data so that brands can instantly delve into the hearts and minds of their target customers to create more customized products and marketing activations This fast iterative learning reveals insights that may have otherwise been overlookedFor example our research reveals that functional benefits are driving CPG digital shopping behavior Free trials purchase reminders and personalized product recommendations are highly influential in digital CPG shopping These convenienceoriented benefits are very much like what is successful in hightouch shopping experiences in the apparel and technology categories But now they are serving as a catalyst for CPG digital shopping behaviors as wellSmall and agile win the dayBig companies tend to move and change slowly Oil tankers take forever to turn but speed boats can pivot with ease In part it is sheer size and structure But large companies also tend to have different and more deeply ingrained cultures than smaller onesquotShortcomings in organizational culture are one of the main barriers to company success in the digital agequot according to a recentamp160study of executivesamp160by McKinsey and Company Their research quothighlighted three digitalculture deficiencies functional and departmental silos a fear of taking risks and difficulty forming and acting on a single view of the customerquotAll these forces give the advantage to small agile firmsamp8212or firms that act like them Like music books and movies CPGs are facing an existential threat that has the potential to fundamentally alter their established world order But deep investigation into early stage digital shopping behavior can yield clues on how large and small brands alike can win in the age of the ondemand shopperTo learn more download our eBookamp160Emerging Digital Shopper Trends ampamp Triggers Across Five CPG CategoriesDigital shopping is changing everything Are you readyClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Facing the Music: 5 Emerging Digital Shopper Categories CPG Brands Can't Ignore

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Dara St. Louis

From Fragmentation to Flow - By E.B. Moss

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Facing the Music: 5 Emerging Digital Shopper Categories CPG Brands Can't Ignore

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Dara St. Louis

From Fragmentation to Flow - By E.B. Moss

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