It’s true. There are categories that consumers simply will not buy because they were on the front page of a weekly flyer. Only specific CPG categories resonate in the way that drives traffic to a store. So next time there is a big meeting about the strategy for the front page of the flyer, base the items on data just like what’s about to follow.
What could we possibly mean by that? Well, news outlets have to think really hard about what headlines are going to sell print papers off of newsstands. Especially in a world dominated by digital. In the CPG space, it’s equally as important to know what types of products WILL actually drive traffic to the stores, rather than what categories the retailer/manufacturers are HOPING will drive the traffic. Let’s start with an extreme, albeit bland example. Crackers. Data shows that out of 103 categories, crackers rank 73 when it comes to customers being driven to purchase them because of a promotion. Crackers also ranked in the top 10% of categories for being an unplanned purchase. What this means is that most customers don’t think about buying crackers until they see them in the aisle. At the end of the day, most customers think that crackers are crackers, and they’ll buy them when they stumble upon them while already on a shopping trip. Keep them off the flyer no matter how badly you want to move them, because all your effort will yield crumbly results. (See what we did there?)
All this of course begs the question, “What types of products will bring customers to the store if they are on the front page of the flyer?” We think the answers might surprise you. More than half of shoppers purchased Fresh Meat on a promotion. 87% of them were making incremental purchases, and buying more because of the promo, while a whopping 79% of those shoppers said that they ONLY bought the fresh meat because it was on a promotion. So turns out the trick to getting people to come shopping at a specific location is the same as it is to get us to look down from the Leafs game… Show off a big juicy steak! In all seriousness, customers want to know when their meat is going to be on a promotion and the best way to communicate that information is in the flyer. And who knows, maybe they’ll pick up those crackers they see in the aisle while they are there excitedly buying their meat on promo.
Flash forward one week and that cute little kid will be on the corner yelling all about how successful the latest flyer was using the correct categories… Well, he probably won’t be doing that, because that job doesn’t exist anymore. But if it did! He’d be there.
To better understand how your category or brand plays within a retailers total store, head over to lucrospartners.ca. We can’t wait to give you the insights to achieve the upper hand.
