About 85% of customers prefer purchasing from brands they have been loyal to or familiar with for a long time. Similarly, 22% of them are skeptical about trying a new product or brand. This shopper behavior proves PKW (Preferred Known and Wanted) much more powerful.

Whether it’s about buying a cup of coffee or a pair of sneakers, shoppers are inclined towards dependable and trustworthy brands. While it’s easy to catch shoppers’ attention with flashy discounts, it’s equally difficult to understand and build trust dynamics. And this is where shopper marketing pops in!

But what’s shopper marketing? How is it different from other marketing strategies? Are there any real-life examples of it? Let’s discuss this together!

What is shopper marketing? How does it work?

Remember when you went to a grocery store to buy a particular snack? Why did you go for that particular snack? Was it the fancy packaging or some flashy offer? A powerful shopper marketing strategy was in play that compelled you to make that purchase.

Shopper marketing is a strategic approach focused on influencing the shopper’s behavior and decisions at the point of sale or purchase. It is more inclined towards improving its point-of-sale experience, whether in-store or online shopping.

The core of shopper marketing revolves around implementing strategies, tactics, and campaigns based on analyzing and understanding shopper behavior. Shopper marketing is not just about driving sales in the immediate present but about building a long-lasting impression and connection with the shopper.

Shopper marketing starts with shopper data, which involves knowing them, their convenience, and their preferences. Furthermore, it’s deployed at strategic touchpoints so that they meet the shoppers right when they’re shopping, thus influencing their decisions and leaving behind a personalized shopping experience.

How is shopper marketing different from other marketing strategies?

Unlike traditional marketing, which focuses on sparking interest, creating awareness, and guiding the shopper through every sales funnel stage, shopper marketing meets them in the last one. It doesn’t focus on driving intent into action.

However, it shares similarities with other marketing strategies, such as driving sales, improving brand awareness, and fostering brand loyalty. Below listed are some key points of difference between shopper marketing and other marketing strategies:

Action-oriented: Unlike other marketing strategies, shopper marketing doesn’t focus on planting seeds of interest in the shoppers’ minds. Instead, it focuses on nurturing the buying urgency and excitement.

Shopper vs. Consumer focus: While most other marketing strategies emphasize the consumer who uses the final product, shopper marketing is more focused on the shopper who’s actually making the purchase. It’s important to note that the shopper may only sometimes be the consumer. Data-driven personalization: While traditional and other marketing campaigns are focused on generalized data like shopping patterns, trends, and choices, shopper marketing is more focused on real-time data and insights, which makes it hyper-personalized.

Shopper marketing complements broader marketing strategies by bridging the gap between brand awareness and actual sales. It’s not about competing with other approaches—it’s about enhancing them to ensure that your brand is the obvious choice when a customer is ready to buy.

Benefits of shopper marketing

Shopper marketing is based on the simple idea of providing shoppers with what they need without any barrier. It focuses on eliminating all the barriers stopping shoppers from purchasing, thus shaping their shopping experience. Besides, it also offers other benefits for brands. Let’s discuss it.

1. Compels the shopper to buy

Shopper marketing gives shoppers everything they need to know about the product, from its features to pricing. This helps a brand or product stand out from the rest in the eyes of the shopper by highlighting their unique or distinct features.

Furthermore, the shopper marketing tactics involve engaging touchpoints such as personalized discounts and offers at the right time, attracting shoppers to purchase. This indirectly boosts conversion rates.

2. Strengthens brand loyalty

With tailored product recommendations and campaigns, shopper marketing helps you retain your one-time shoppers, turning them into repeat customers. It enables you to build and nurture long-lasting relationships and a loyal customer base, which is the foundation of your brand’s success.

3. Encourages impulse buying

You must have seen chip packets beside the salsa corner in grocery stores. Similarly, the phone cases for a particular phone are also displayed beside the phone model. This is a shopper marketing strategy wherein the complementary products make the shopper realize the need for the other product, thus compelling them to purchase.

4. Drives omnichannel integration

Let’s say a customer sees one of your products on Instagram and walks into the store with a discount code they received to show their interest in the particular product. This discount code makes the shopper walk into your store, thus turning the online interaction into an offline purchase.

When used across multiple channels for consistent messaging, shopper marketing can bridge the gap between online and offline stores, thus providing a seamless buying experience to shoppers everywhere.

3 Real-life examples of shopper marketing

The concept of shopper marketing was implemented more than 30 years ago by Walmart and P&G. Do you want to explore some real-life examples of shopper marketing campaigns from brands you’ve been loyal to daily? Let’s explore!

1. “Share a Coke” campaign by Coca-Cola

Being launched in Australia in 2011, this campaign focused on redesigning their packaging to add a personalized touch to each of their cans and bottles. The logo’s position was now replaced by the names of consumers buying the bottle or can. Shoppers can also personalize it and get their or their friends’ names on the can.

Coca-Cola even sent out an interactive traveling kiosk nationwide, allowing users to customize their bottles and cans. The hashtag #ShareaCoke went viral during those days, leading to the sale of 250 million personalized bottles and cans in Australia.

Later, this campaign was also rolled out in 70 other countries. This single campaign boosted their sales by 11% compared to previous years.

2. “From Mystery Meat to Meat You Can Trust” campaign by Applegate

Applegate is a leading natural and organic meat company that improved its in-store displays by showing its products’ organic nature, thus emphasizing their sustainability and quality. Not just this, they also showcased the same message across their online platforms and social media handles.

These displays were placed near the health food aisles to attract health-conscious shoppers. This shopper marketing strategy helped the brand boost its brand awareness and loyalty at the same time.

3. Starbucks payment app

Starbucks developed its payment app, allowing users to browse their entire menu and order and make payments. This app also awarded them points on every purchase, informing them about newly launched products and special events through customized ads.

The app was so widely used that it became one of the most popular payment apps in 2018. It was used mainly for making point-of-sale purchases.

4 Best shopper marketing tactics

What are some of the most common shopper marketing strategies widely used by brands and businesses? Let’s learn about them together.

1. Visuals and displays

What catches the shopper’s attention in the first place earns their interest. This is why the retail environment always focuses on making their stores and corners visually appealing. From free-standing displays to endcap and aisle displays, they come in various forms. Today, most displays are animated and interactive with AI and generative AI features.

Such displays help draw attention to specific products and promotions even in cluttered or crowded supermarkets. Furthermore, they are eye-catching and effective, which helps strengthen brand identity in the long run.

2. Ambience and atmosphere

A well-designed store with proper lighting and a welcoming atmosphere attracts consumers’ attention. While discussing the ambiance, everything right from the display and layout of the store to the scent and choice of music used comes into the picture.

You would be shocked to know that scent marketing boosts in-store sales by about 11%. A welcoming atmosphere influences shoppers’ behavior, mood, and emotions, thus driving their purchase decisions.

For example, A well-designed store with soothing music and a pleasant smell provides the shoppers with comfort and excitement, thus allowing them to linger longer and shop more. On the contrary, shoppers would hardly walk into a store that stinks, has bad lighting, or simply makes them uncomfortable.

3. Demos

Demos and visual demonstrations are a great way to build an understanding of the product and trust related to it in the shoppers’ minds. They allow the shopper to experience the product before buying it, thus helping them to make better decisions.

Demos allow the shopper to touch, feel, and experiment with the product, thus helping them solve their queries or concerns. However, you also need a well-trained staff who can communicate well about the product and its specifications.

4. Social media marketing

Social media marketing is a powerful shopper marketing tactic that bridges the gap between online engagement and purchase decisions. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest allow brands to showcase products, share reviews, and create interactive content, driving shoppers toward action.

Features like shoppable posts, targeted ads, and influencer collaborations directly engage shoppers in their preferred digital spaces. By leveraging data insights, brands can personalize content by recommending products based on user preferences or offering exclusive discounts. This approach increases visibility and nudges shoppers to explore, interact, and ultimately purchase—seamlessly integrating with the modern shopping journey.

Summing up

Shopper marketing isn’t just a marketing strategy - it helps turn shoppers into customers at the last stage of the sales funnel. It involves understanding the shopper’s behavior and journey and providing them with strategic reinforcement at the necessary touchpoints. Furthermore, it helps create a win-win situation for both shoppers and brands. While brands get more sales and loyal customers, shoppers enjoy a seamless shopping experience getting their desired product.