Back in the 1990s, the UK was seen by many as a must-visit market to encounter best-in-class retailing.
Sadly, after a decade or three of a cost-cutting ‘race to the middle’, this is no longer the case in terms of large grocery stores. But the British market still excels in a variety of other disciplines, namely loyalty schemes, convenience stores, private label, and retail media.
While online retail media is very similar across territories, in-store retail media activation varies widely in different countries, and the UK is undoubtedly at the vanguard of best practice in this regard, arguably led by Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
At IGD, we publish a monthly report that evaluates the best retail media/shopper marketing activations in the UK market, and it doesn’t take too much detective work to identify some of the foundations of truly great in-store work:
Events
While the seasonal events calendar is becoming very crowded (Easter, Mother’s Day, Eid, rugby and soccer are simultaneously live at the time of writing), some of the big snacking and confectionery brands are becoming increasingly adept at covering a wide variety of them.
It’s noteworthy that some of the chocolate brands are great at this: essentially using the same pallets and FSDUs but with different header boards to flip seamlessly between Xmas, Easter, Valentine’s, Ramadan, etc.
Consumption occasions
We are seeing an increasing number of brands try to underline the consumption or meal occasions in which their product is strong or in which they wish their products to play a stronger role.
Recent examples here would include fruit for school lunchboxes, eggs for brunch, cereals for evening snacking and noodle pots for lunch. Good shopper marketing can successfully reframe mental availability in terms of consumption occasions.
Collaboration
There is a growing sense within the UK FMCG community that a collaborative shopper activation can be greater than the sum of its parts. Obvious recent examples here include spirits and mixers, tea and biscuits and tuna and mayonnaise. These collaborations often go hand-in-hand with the consumption occasion point.
Digital
Although there is nothing wrong with good old-fashioned cardboard, brands that incorporate digital touchpoints often achieve greater visibility. The utilisation of external six-sheets, scanning handsets, connected ends, on-shelf screens or digital goalposts can achieve respectable cut-through and amplify analogue activations.
Adjacency
It might go without saying, but it’s still worth reminding ourselves that adjacency is extremely powerful. A Dolmio display at the front of the store is totally fine. A Dolmio display in chilled directly alongside minced beef takes on a whole new dimension of effectiveness. Brands really need to think harder about where it is best to show up.
Cause marketing
While the whole point of this is to sell more stuff, the impact of a slow-burning cause-based campaign on brand equity should not be underestimated. We’ve recently seen brands use in-store activations to underline their long-term support for causes such as mental health, breast cancer, coral reefs, hygiene poverty and bowel cancer. These are great in themselves, but must surely help brand warmth in the long term too. A marathon, not a sprint.
Sensory considerations
If the whole point of a product is to smell nice, why not let shoppers experience that? We’ve seen some great stuff here in categories such as deodorant, fab-con, cleaning and air-care. The same logic applies to taste, and this is where a sampling campaign can pay rich dividends.
Finally, just have fun. We’ve collectively managed to turn grocery shopping into a grudgeful chore, so anything that makes punters smile is a good thing.
Bryan Roberts, Retail Futures Senior Partner, IGD
