21 Nov 2012 The bloom of Shopper Marketing and its secret weapon – packaging

Craig Lodge, MD of Integer South Africa, shares his views on ways in which packaging should work alongside other forms of brand communication.

If the word chaos conjures up images of the New York Stock Exchange trading floor or a bustling New Delhi street, then you obviously haven’t visited your local supermarket lately. Here, chaos reigns supreme and has done for many years as FMCG brands look for short-term wins at shelf.

But this needn’t be the case if brand owners simply focus on truly understanding why and how people buy. This is the essence of Shopper Marketing – understanding a customer’s path to purchase. And packaging is a vital component in doing this.

The truth is it’s not what we think shoppers look at that matters; it’s what they actually see and connect with that counts.

For many years, marketers have underestimated the power of packaging in the decision-making process. They’ve been unable to understand why consumers choose the products they do.

Recent eye-tracking studies conducted by Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI) in the US show that the average shopper spends three-tenths of one second looking at in-store marketing material. That’s literally the time it takes to blink an eye. The study also showed that only 13% of shoppers’ eye fixations were drawn to in-store displays. Some further facts:

• Average time to purchase an item: 1,48 seconds
• Average number of point-of-purchase items/ activations passed by a shopper in a typical store: 3 700
• Actual point-of-purchase items/activations looked at and engaged with: 79

As one of the final triggers that can attract and persuade a consumer to buy a brand, packaging is a key part of the marketing mix. Although huge sums are spent assessing advertising effectiveness, pack testing is often an after-thought and a missed opportunity to drive sales.

What to do?

Apply the following simple principles when approaching product design. Ask hard questions and be prepared to break the norm. Ultimately it’s converting shoppers into buyers that’s important and not winning creative awards.

1. First re-engineer your objectives and ROI measures. The key to successfully reaching consumers is to stay relevant.
   No matter how good the promotion or product, it must be relevant to that shopper when he or she needs or wants it. Know your target shopper’s journey and where the influencing links are. Packaging plays a major role here.
2. Understand that retail consumers are more visual and less verbal.
   This means that packaging must be aligned to visual images, symbols, experiences, simple copy and real brand associations. The human brain cannot process more than three stimuli at the same time, so copy should be short and powerful. If consumers need time to decrypt the message, chances are the transaction will not take place.
3. Remember that packaging doesn’t stop at the store; see it as part of an ongoing relationship with the shopper. Whether consumers are shopping online or in their own pantries, packaging plays a critical role in forging their connections with a brand.
   In a crowded marketplace; this may be the only true opportunity to create a brand impression or convert a sale, so make it count.
4. Consider the entire category in which you are operating.
   It’s all very well designing packs in an isolated design studio, but also consider the surrounding environment or you may lose impact in store.
5. Be prepared to change your configurations by market and by channel if need be.
6. Packaging on a supermarket shelf has less than three seconds to grab the consumer’s attention. Those three seconds are exceedingly important when you consider that between 50 and 70% of purchasing decisions are made at the shelf; and supermarkets can contain on average of 40 000 different packs to choose from. Your packaging must work hard.
7. Always remember that packaging’s ultimate role is threefold:

• Sell the product
• Enhance the brand proposition
• Facilitate habitual use of the product.

About the author: Craig Lodge is MD of Integer South Africa. The Integer Group is one of the world’s largest promotional, retail and shopper marketing agencies with 1 200 associates in North and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East.

First published in PACKAGiNG & Print Media Magazine, Issue Ten, 2012.