In Search Of Informational Retailing
Consumers’ need for immediate answers means that merchants must keep all available resources as up to date as possible.
Today’s shoppers have discovered a diverse set of tools to help them choose products that meet their specific needs and to make their shopping trips more efficient. To be sure, manufacturers and retailers still use traditional means - advertising, circulars, FSIs and point-of-sale merchandising - to communicate with shoppers, but a new, more diverse array of information sources has now emerged.
Websites, mobile applications, blogs and social media are increasingly being used by shoppers to compare products, decide which ones to buy, add them to their shopping lists and shop numerous retailers for the best deals, all without leaving home.
Shoppers are now in charge, and they’re deciding where and when to gather information for their shopping trips. Research from Chicago-based SymphonyIRI Group shows that over 80 percent of shoppers are making purchase decisions before leaving home, and over 60 percent are making detailed shopping lists.
This newly empowered shopper has some clear expectations:
Information for me: She expects information about products and services to be easy to find and relevant to her needs. Whether it’s menu planning or looking for foods that address a child’s nut allergy, this shopper expects the information she wants where she is - and now.
The Devil’s in the details: She’s been trained by some of the leading e-commerce companies to expect answers to her detailed questions: How many calories? What’s the correct dosage for a child? How much sodium in a serving? She’s looking for details and expecting accuracy, because she’s deciding whether to put the product on her shopping list.
Consistency: She expects everything to be in sync. The packaging and product details on a retailer’s website should match what’s on the shelf, as well as what’s on the brand owner’s website and Facebook page. Lack of consistency creates confusion and undermines the credibility of both the retailer and the brand.
To respond to the challenge of the empowered shopper, retailers and brand owners must change the way they think about product information and focus on the information needs of their shoppers. Here at Gladson, we call this new focus “informational retailing.”
A retailer embracing informational retailing must address two fundamental issues:
Maintaining complete, accurate information: Shoppers expect a rich description of products, including images and ingredient lists, as well as extended information such as nutrition, allergens and directions. They expect comprehensive details across entire categories of products, and, as details change, shoppers expect that these details will be updated immediately. This requires merchants to create a continuous process for managing and updating the content across the business, whether it’s at the shelf, in advertising, at a kiosk, on a smartphone app or on a nutritionist’s blog.
Delivering information efficiently: New ways of publishing information are being created every day, and today’s savvy shopper is constantly finding new ways to get the information she needs. To keep up with these demands, retailers need a standard way of publishing information and images about each product in the brand, and a scalable way of managing how the information is distributed. They can rely on the brand owners to some extent, but the store’s reputation is at stake with each shopping trip, so this isn’t a task that can be left to chance.
Each retailer’s challenge is to make sure it provides information to shoppers that’s consistent, complete and accurate - wherever shoppers are looking for it. To meet this challenge, a growing number of leading retailers are now turning to third-party services, or “informational retailing hubs,” which collect images and information from brand owners and distribute these items efficiently to retailers, websites and mobile app providers.
An effective adoption of informational retailing principles can reinforce the quality of the shopping experience and further cement shopper loyalty to your store.
Mark Shapiro is CEO of Lisle, Ill.-based Gladson, a leading provider of category management services and labor-saving planogram execution/compliance tools to consumer goods retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and brokers.