End The Big Box Advantage..."Touch Customers Digitally & Often"
Safeway Believes They Must Touch Digitally & They Do!
Today retail food is much like every other form of sales. Every retail market segment whenever possible sells food...every retailer from CVS, Walmart down to your local gas station...anytime possible they sell food.
Online there is every possible option for home delivery imaginable.
The most effective form of selling is learning to teach the customer to buy. That sounds a little odd it is really the only effective way to grow retail food sales consistently? However, while never quite that simple, developing a "Special" retail food destination will build retail sales.
If the customer is ready to buy, understands his or her options and at that time the supermarket retailer delivers on the desire to purchase sales will occur. There is no marketing channel that serves immediacy better than digital.
In most cases when the retailer delivers his or her digital ad we already know what the competing prices are and on exactly what products.
Now we immediately present a number of quality specials digitally to the consumer and we have begun the process of teaching the customer to buy.
How About An eMail Blast With A Recipe Video Inserted?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nxDSzL6UZw
"Now We Can Help The Shopper With "How To Cook Recipe Videos"
Retail food has changed over the years and to understand the customer we must all change. Both in the way we think and what we pass on to the consumer. The customer is digital.....period. Everyone is always on their cell phone. So send them the ad with the items on special within a recipe video.
Once thinking digitally and delivering the ad via eMail, today's merchandising program can be easily divided in to two areas of retail offers, center store & perishables.
A seven day merchandising program for "Center Store" can be deployed along with a base perishable program. Now the supermarket retailer can choose a 3 or 4 day period to employ perishable specials.
Perhaps a "3Day Sale" for a holiday weekend like Labor Day or any 3 or 4 days of the retailers choosing.
"Multiple Shopping Visits Build Sales With the Same Customer Base"
Give the consumer what they will need for quick "grab and go" in week perishable offers and select the weekend or "3" day sale for that second visit to the supermarket that week.
So with that and many more "What Day Do We Run The Sale" options now the supermarket retailer must move toward "Storytelling"
"We All Shop The Store We Like Best Or Trust...Tell Your Story"
Storytelling is not some fictional approach to what your supermarket is all about. Storytelling is just that, telling your story. This gives both the retailer and the customer a chance to better understand just who this retailer is.
For the retailer, we all now have the opportunity to articulate what the supermarket is all about. If your not happy with your story when you really take a closer look, change your story and improve upon your value proposition.
When your regular customer shops another retailer on a given week what will they miss....Tell them.
The customer with your now refined story better understands why he or she would likely want to shop your retail location verses the competition. Now you have told them in your own words. Give the customer a definable difference and all of the reasons to shop your store.
Good Luck....It seems the competition just keeps getting tougher.
Many have asked why I choose to write about what I see in the supermarket industry today and my ideas. At Bad-Adz Digital, PreparedFoodPhotos.com & Adlife we believe great ideas and the resulting branding will give new life and direction to any company. So for that reason we chose to open the discussion.
Yes, I understand I probably misspelled something or butchered the English language in a few places, the goal however was to open your minds to new ideas.
Joel Albrizio, President Bad-Adz.com, PreparedFoodPhotos.com & Adlife.com
Follow Me On Twitter @joelalbrizio or right here on LinkedIn!
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