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Defining Moments

By Peter Breen

Shakespeare was a pinhead.

The immortal bard, who once suggested that the name of something has no connection to its inherent qualities ("A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet"), obviously never had an ideation meeting with a group of marketing professionals. Because in this industry, the name of something is inextricably linked with its meaning.

Of course, Shakespeare was speaking about something tangible, and the rose in question preceded any human attempts to give it a name. The marketing community's current efforts to define a new term — "shopper marketing" — doesn't have it so easy, because there's nothing really tangible to use as a reference.

The growing belief that the store is an effective but wholly unique marketing medium, and the emerging understanding that consumers have different needs and motivations when they're in a store, has sparked a new way of thinking about in-store marketing. And a new way of thinking requires a new term to describe it. And thus, "shopper marketing" is born.

Sounds very impressive. Now, all we have to do is define it properly. And that means fleshing out its inherent qualities.

While theoretically a new discipline, "shopper marketing" has its roots in a number of other longstanding practices: consumer promotion, customer marketing, trade promotion, field marketing — even visual merchandising, retail design and media advertising. Having all those ancestors suggests the need for a pretty complex definition.

The folks over at Advertising Age — who never fail to trivialize anything that doesn't involve a media buy — recently tried to pre-empt the discussion entirely by suggesting that "shopper marketing" was "formerly known as trade promotion."

Thanks, guys, but what we're talking about here goes just a bit deeper than temporary price reductions and slotting fees. Why don't you turn off the TV for a minute and take a closer look?

In its highly regarded fall 2007 report, Shopper Marketing: Capturing a Shopper's Mind, Heart and Wallet, Deloitte Consulting offered a very good definition:

"All marketing stimuli, developed based on a deep understanding of shopper behavior, designed to build brand equity, engage the shopper (i.e., a consumer in 'shopping mode'), and lead him/her to make a purchase."

You'll notice that Deloitte's definition doesn't mention any specific marketing strategies or tactics. That's a good thing. "Shopper marketing" isn't a display, or a price deal, or an in-store TV spot, or a circular ad. It can be all of the above, but it also can be none of them if there isn't any real understanding of the shopper behind the action.

Deloitte also doesn't mention "the store." Again, that's a good thing. Although our name might imply otherwise, the Institute has always viewed "in-store marketing" as something that goes beyond the physical confines of the store to include any activity that drives consumers to retail. "Shopper marketing" has the same scope.

Finally, Deloitte doesn't specify exactly who is doing the work. Some industry constituents are calling for "shopper marketing" to be a collaborative effort between retailer and brand marketer. But that's a bit idealistic, and ignores the fact that some of the most effective in-store marketing right now is taking place for private label or is otherwise being driven by retailers.

One defining characteristic for "shopper marketing" that Deloitte does cover is its objective, which the definition makes three-fold. But does every campaign need to include elements of brand building, shopper engagement and purchase influence, as Deloitte suggests?

This is a key issue in the discussion. The prospect of building brand equity at retail is a major reason why in-store marketing is rising in prominence — why Madison Avenue is finally willing to glance this way. And the need to engage shoppers in meaningful ways has become paramount to success at retail, where everybody sells the same products and Wal-Mart sells them for less.

But we'll still recommend an objective-neutral definition. Because if you're truly focusing on the shopper, then sometimes a huge stack of product with nothing more than a price sign is exactly what you'll give them. In those cases, the shopper engagement will come solely through the value proposition, and the brand equity will come when the product is consumed at home — but neither objective will be part of the campaign deck.

The inherent quality of "shopper marketing," therefore, lies in a full understanding of its target, an understanding that goes much deeper than it has before. "Shopper marketing" doesn't just address the differences between a "consumer" and a "shopper," or a discount shopper and a luxury shopper, but the difference between the Wal-Mart shopper and the Kroger shopper — not to mention the Kroger shopper in Atlanta and the Kroger shopper in Cincinnati, and the weekend Mom and weekday empty nester shopping at Kroger in Cincinnati, and the stock-up Mom and the quick-trip Mom shopping at Kroger in Atlanta ... Are you getting the picture?

We wholeheartedly agree that collaboration between product manufacturer and retailer will provide deeper shopper insights, greater resources and, ultimately, more effective shopper marketing. And we firmly believe that campaigns effectively building brand equity and truly engaging shoppers will deliver stronger long-term success for both brand and retailer.

But, here's what we'll propose as the basic definition of "shopper marketing." We offer it here not to end any debate, but to further the conversation. And we'll strongly encourage you to send us your thoughts, even before we show you ours:

Shopper marketing
"The use of strategic insights into the shopper mindset to drive effective marketing and merchandising activity in a specific store environment."

Now, if it were solely up to me, I'd go with something even simpler: "The practice of getting people to buy things through an understanding of what they want."

Hey, no one's ever confused me with Shakespeare.

Stay tuned: We'll get even more ambitious this summer, when we unveil a full Shopper Marketing Glossary that attempts to define the emerging discipline in full by identifying the common terms that all its practitioners will need to understand.

Peter Breen
Managing Director, Content
In-Store Marketing Institute

Published: June 2008

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