2011 Retailer Shopper Marketing Survey: Program Execution

As discussed in previous Tips in this series, the integration of social media and mobile marketing into shopper marketing programs is seen by many to hold great promise for introducing a level of accountability unattainable with traditional media.

The desire to at least explore that potential was evident in some of the results of MarketingLab's 2011 Retailer-Activated Shopper Marketing Program survey. About two out of three retailers surveyed use social media on at least a semi-regular basis in shopper programs, and nearly a third say they use it "always" or "almost always."

Mobile platforms, however, lag behind as a methodology. Only 43 percent are yet using mobile on at least a semi-regular basis.

Among the shopper marketing best practices MarketingLab includes in its results summary are recommendations for close coordination between marketers and merchandising teams. From that viewpoint, it's encouraging to see retailers reporting how large a voice merchandising has in developing shopper marketing programs — 90 percent are said to have "some input" or greater.

Despite the involvement of the merchandising team, however, 14 percent of those surveyed cite "merchandising alignment" as a hurdle to launching programs and carrying them out.

David Slavick, former director, CRM/loyalty & innovation for Sears Holdings, concurs. "The reason success is poor is because, basically, marketing does not plan with input from merchants," he told RetailWire. "Put the goods in the store and we'll pull the product through during the seasonal period. This is a hope — not a plan."

The top choice of survey participants among the list of obstacles, however, was "measurement" (19 percent) followed by "execution" (15 percent).

Kat Kozitza, director of interactive and direct marketing at Supervalu, believes that given the numerous "points of integration" between vendors and retailers, the prioritization of shopper marketing programs relative to other initiatives needs to be more clearly delineated.

"We try to do them all with great rigor and zeal," Ms. Kozitza said, "but as a consequence we often overlap ourselves. The focus necessarily becomes just getting the program launched by the right dates, and sometimes that means we have to spend less time on the areas like alignment, collaboration, and insights."

Download a complete Executive Summary of MarketingLab's Retailer-Activated Shopper Marketing Program Survey 2011...

Learn about retailer responses to how program sell-in and measurement is going, plus MarketingLab's recommendations for best practices. Use the form below to download your copy. We also welcome comments and/or suggestions on this Tip series.