Global Shopper Marketing Trends

The definition of “shopper marketing” itself remains inconsistent throughout the industry, and adding the word “global” before it further muddies the waters. While marketers have been seeing more success of late executing global programs – in part because of significant investments behind these types of efforts – some of the largest players still won’t claim to be experts in the space.But as insights-based research shows surprising commonalities around the globe and as the world continues to shrink thanks to the Internet and countless technological advances, both manufacturers and retailers are keeping their eyes on the global prize.“Global strategies are increasingly important in order to capture continued incremental growth year over year,” says Meredith Valentine, senior brand manager, baby global franchise, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products. “Ensuring global shopper strategies within broader global business strategies is critical to bringing those strategies to life.”Both the manufacturer and retailer win when a global program is executed, she adds. Successful tests in one market can be quickly expanded to others, leading to more consistency, proven results and less “reinventing of the wheel” for all stakeholders. “Most large manufacturers and retailers strive for the competitive advantage of being able to successfully envision and deliver global shopper marketing strategies because scale, consistency and efficiency create more value for everyone,” Valentine says.Jonathan Dodd, chief strategy officer at Geometry Global, agrees, but with some caution. “Global companies are certainly looking for efficiencies, but not at the expense of effectiveness,” he says. A one-size-fits-all solution just doesn’t work since shoppers’ behaviors, their purchase journeys and the retail landscape can vary considerably across markets. “But those that take a strategic approach, leverage local insights and identify commonalities can benefit from cross-market programs.”Shopper Marketing recently assembled a virtual roundtable to take a closer look at the steps companies are taking toward a more global approach to the discipline of shopper marketing.How do you define ‘global shopper marketing,’ and can the discipline be practiced on a global scale?FELIPE BRAGA: I define it as having global visibility of local shoppers’ behaviors from around the world, which makes it possible to compare and evaluate similarities and differences in order to create a model that can be widely adopted by different countries. We have the tendency to think we’re completely unique in local markets in terms of challenges, opportunities and shopper behaviors, but that’s not true. Realizing that shoppers around the world behave in similar ways within categories or channels offers benefits with global development not only related to cost efficiency, but also encompassing capabilities, resource optimization and a better connection with shoppers.DIRK DE VOS: I define it as executing one “big idea” at scale in a very consistent way in different markets across the globe. We typically do this in the context of penetrating an occasion to exploit a global category growth opportunity. We’re positioning our global brands more against specific occasions and making them relevant for these occasions through commercial marketing both on- and off-premise. Driving consistency across the globe builds the equity of the brand.DODD: If shopper marketing is about understanding who your shoppers are, what their behaviors and motivations are, and using that understanding to better meet their needs so you drive more conversion for your own brands, those general principles apply whatever the market scenario. There are common principles, but the nature of the landscape and therefore the nature of the execution can vary quite significantly across the world. The discipline of shopper marketing in a broad sense has global applicability, but don’t think you can copy and paste from one market to another. That’s where the mistakes are made.VALENTINE: So much of the world is interconnected today, and this “global village” allows us as marketers and brands to break through the barriers that might have existed in the past. Whether through global retailers or larger-scale global companies, we have the opportunity to bring the best experiences from around the world to consumers everywhere. While global shopper marketing starts at the center from the global strategy, some of it also bubbles up from very successful local ideas and executions that we find can have global relevance, which allows us more breadth in creativity in how we connect with our consumers.“E-commerce and digital shopper marketing bring our brands all over the world, so we have to create that consistent look and feel and stay true to the visual brand identity.” — Dirk De VosHow much importance are companies placing on global shopper efforts today?DE VOS: Consumers and shoppers are connected with the world 24/7. As a brand you want to create consistency across the world wherever, whenever the brand connects with the consumer. E-commerce and digital shopper marketing bring our brands all over the world, so we have to create that consistent look and feel and stay true to the visual brand identity. Being able to develop and execute campaigns on a global level creates synergies and substantial cost savings. Retailers also like to see best practice ideas travel. Something that worked in one country should and can be implemented in another country, something we refer to as “think local, act global.”What are you learning about the shopper from a global standpoint?APRIL CARLISLE: Companies are finding new ways to gather shopper insights, both in terms of research methodology (leveraging mobile versus traditional focus groups) and uncovering insights and behaviors that are common to most people regardless of culture and location. The best marketers create shopper marketing campaigns that are rooted in a broad human insight but still expertly tailored to be successful in local markets.BRAGA: It’s not easy to have a single shopper strategy that can be adopted in all countries around the world, but it’s also not impossible since some categories may have similar shopper barriers, needs and behaviors regardless of the country. In reality, shoppers living in the same city can behave in different ways since you have people with distinct levels of education, income and culture. As information and culture are spreading faster around the world, it’s becoming common to see behaviors moving from one country to another. By finding similar behaviors and challenges, we can create a common strategy.VALENTINE: There are more similarities than differences. If we think and strategize at that higher level, we can come up with bigger ideas that are more meaningful, emotional and relevant and that can be executed in the most locally relevant way.Can companies use learnings from one part of the world and apply them elsewhere?CARLISLE: Yes. Take Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” program, for example. The campaign starts with the insight of people wanting to share things with their friends and family. This insight is relevant to people all across the globe. The silver bullet is making sure you’re activating the idea in such a way that retailers care about it and want to support it. What that looks like in Russia is very different than in Singapore. Great global shopper marketing is when your campaign is rooted in a broad human insight but still expertly tailored to local markets.VALENTINE: While we’ve had global guidelines, a lot of our local teams have still come up with their own ideas for our new Johnson’s Baby campaign and are executing in ways that best fit their local market. Saudi Arabia ran a promotion at retail that revolved around giving away a gold bar in baby soap to help with a child’s initial savings. It was locally relevant because that’s how parents show their caring and love for baby in that market. We’re now thinking about how we can apply that lesson to other markets in the most relevant way.What have you learned about retailers and customer marketing/in-store marketing around the globe?DE VOS: International retailers are looking for these “big ideas” and global campaigns that can drive shoppers to their stores. They allow us to leverage big brand properties at scale, such as our upcoming Heineken Bond. We partner with global retailers and make them part of global efforts to collaboratively drive sales for the brand and growth for the category. [Heineken’s] Amberly Hilinski, commercial marketing manager, is part of a global team representing the U.S., and is working very closely with the global brand team to develop these programs.DODD: We’ve been able to take the complexity of the traditional trade channel to identify three certain store formats that exist within that, which allows our clients to develop solutions for those formats that exist globally and drive efficiencies. There are commonalities and learnings you can get from different channels that are transferrable, and developing programs that are multi-market depends on the structure of the retailer or customer. Not everyone has a global structure because they recognize that at the end of the day you have to win locally.“Conversations around data, shopper profile by customer or store and category growth – business as usual in the U.S. – are becoming hot topics in other countries.”— Felipe BragaWhat does collaboration look like globally?DE VOS: Most retailers are willing to collaborate. Execution and compliance remains an issue in most of our markets, however. We’re putting processes in place and providing support to enable better execution – leveraging market intelligence and digital capabilities. These best practices are being shared with other markets across the globe because it drives thought leadership with retailers, helps build the relationships and drives category growth.VALENTINE: We generally collaborate with global retailers earlier in the process. We do some co-creation, and by the time we’re getting to executions, they’re already bought in and part of a smooth process. Other times we have challenges because those large retailers also have a lot of rules for execution. Local partners tend to be really excited about new opportunities that we’re bringing forward to really blow it out in a big way.BRAGA: Collaboration means different things depending on market development. Conversations around data, shopper profile by customer or store and category growth – business as usual in the U.S. – are becoming hot topics in other countries.How evolved is digital/mobile from a global standpoint?VALENTINE: Our involvement is very high around the world. We recognize in some markets it may not be as developed, but you can see the writing on the wall. Our bedtime app is relaunching now, and it’s going to be a very integral part of our retail and commercial launch next year, both in the U.S. as well as in other markets.DE VOS: Heineken is very focused on shifting media spend into digital/mobile to effectively capture the attention of our digitally savvy audience. Explosion of digital and how these touchpoints have impacted shoppers’ purchase decisions is our biggest challenge but also our biggest opportunity. We have to bear in mind that consumers use mobile phones everywhere around the world. Especially in developing and emerging markets (Africa, for example) this is their “window to the world.” People have it with them all the time – so there’s a great opportunity to engage with them anywhere, anytime.DODD: In some way, shape or form, e-commerce is growing around the world in all sorts of market types. We’re seeing huge use of mobile for people to aid the shopping experience, so it’s undeniably impacting broadly globally. The levels of penetration vary slightly around the world, but it’s one of the largest disruptive areas and presents huge opportunity because nobody’s completely cracked it yet.Download full-size image.

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