Three reasons shoppers are the key to your success in 2024

Shoppers matter to your business.

Sounds obvious, doesn't it?

Perhaps, but in some cases, shoppers’ preferences, behaviours, and needs are not being accounted for in off-premise liquor as well as they could.

This is one reason why shoppers have told Shopper Intelligence their satisfaction with the channel is at its lowest level for five years.

Building plans, strategies, and activations without strong shopper insights is like watching a movie with half the screen blank – you’re missing out on crucial parts of the story.

So here are three ways embedding the shopper into your business processes will help you perform better in 2024.

1 - Shoppers and consumers are not the same thing

This distinction may be clear to you, but it is not yet a universally appreciated fact.

Recognizing that consumers and shoppers aren't always the same person is fundamental to tailoring your business strategies effectively.

That’s because, in the Australian off-premise liquor market, a significant proportion of shoppers buy not just for themselves but also for others.

Specifically, 22% of shoppers are purchasing for someone else, and another 25% are buying for both themselves and others.

This highlights how important it is to understand shoppers' motivations and needs right along their path to purchase. It also underscores the fact there can often be two different mindsets and two different experiences at play.

Blending them into a single, coherent story will help you achieve your goals this year.

While flavours, occasions, and experiences are crucial, so too are more practical factors such as signage, product information, and shelf layout.

Put these nuances at the top of your agenda in 2024 and you’ll begin to craft more rounded proposals that carry more weight with your trading partners.

2 - Get an accurate read on value vs. values

My advice to you is do not listen to the mainstream media.

Well, if you do, exercise extreme caution.

Media outlets don’t make their money from good news stories. It’s in their interests to talk up the economic “crisis” and over-emphasise households’ focus on price as part of their weekly shopping.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what 20,000 liquor shoppers said last year:

• In 15 categories, price did increase in importance year-on-year…but it also decreased in importance in 20 categories.
• Being able to identify good value at shelf did increase in importance in 15 categories…but it also decreased in 20 others.
• Product authenticity was judged as less important in 19 categories than it was the year before…but it also became more important in 16 categories.

So, what is this telling you?

It’s telling you price is unquestionably important in this channel, and you can’t afford to get it wrong.

However, it also indicates that prices are not an overriding obsession for all liquor shoppers, on all occasions, in all categories.

The truth is more delicate than this and differentiating factors such as premium cues and healthy choices are just as much a part of the equation as they’ve ever been.

Lead with what shoppers actually said when they shopped with your retail partners, and you may find you can more easily turn the conversation towards something more profitable for you and them.

3 - Motivation drives behaviour, creates opportunity

Right at the start I said that consumers and shoppers don't share the same mindset or motivations.

Well, shoppers can and do approach categories in very different ways too.

You have to be on top of this if you want to get more of your products into their basket.

Take what they plan to buy as an example.

Around half of all liquor shoppers plan based on a specific brand.

About 1 in 6 plans to buy whatever brand was the best value for money (VFM) on the day.

All well and good, you now have solid evidence to support leading with a strong pre-store brand message in many situations.

But this is where shopper insights come into their own because there is more value lying beneath the surface of these facts.

Shoppers planning by brand:

1. are much more likely not to want to run out of a specific category.
2. exhibit more loyalty to a specific retailer when categories are well-delivered.

By contrast, VFM planners:

1. are more often persuaded to buy extra once in-store.
2. are more likely to buy an extra item to try something new or different.

In other words, while the shopper planning by brand is a powerful traffic driver, the one focused on VFM is in fact an important spend driver.

More than being interesting observations, these are actionable insights with practical implications both pre-store and in-store.

Get your pre-store comms right for the brand planners and work extra hard on in-store execution.

Meanwhile, highlight innovation in-store and deliver compelling, volume-driving promos for those planning to buy the best VFM brand.

To wrap it all up...

Knowing what motivates shoppers in your category gives you the power to shape their experience most optimally. If you can bring that to bear in more scenarios this year, you will gain an advantage over your competitors.

And the icing on the cake is that with shoppers at the heart of your conversations, you'll find 2024 is the year you start getting buy-in, and stop having to sell in.

So, let's make this year one where we truly listen to and understand our shoppers, turning insights into actions that drive their satisfaction, as well as your sales!

Follow for more shopper insights to help propel your strategy this year.

This article originally appeared in the 2024 Annual Industry Leaders Forum edition from our friends at National Liquor News (page 104...)