MARKET WATCH
SECTION ONE
SECTION TWO
 |
Inmar Schedules Oct. 5 Webinar on Measuring Promotional Success
Measuring Promotional Success: Transforming Data into Insights is the title of a webinar to be hosted by Inmar on Oct. 5.
In this webinar, attendees will be guided through redemption of a promotion - experiencing the transaction and seeing first-hand the data that can be collected and what can be learned from it. The session will explore promotion design enabling critical information capture and provide attendees with an understanding of the collection tactics that can provide actionable insights.
The presenters will be two Inmar executives: Dan Ahmad, Manager, Promotion Analytics, and Brian Stokes, Senior Analytics Lead.
For more information and to register, visit www.inmar.com.
USDA Branded Food Products Database Created
Several organizations have collaborated with the public health research community to deliver food nutritional information via a new USDA Branded Food Products Database.
The partners in this endeavor are GS1 US, 1WorldSync, Label Insight, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Agricultural Research Service, and the International Life Sciences Institute North America.
The database expands and enhances the existing USDA National Nutrient Database, which serves as a main source of food composition data for governments, the public health research community and the food industry. It also provides public access to nutrient composition and ingredient information on branded foods and store brand data provided voluntarily by the food industry. The composition of the food supply and consumer dietary choices are key inputs for agricultural and food policy decisions. Comprehensive data can inform these decisions, but the volume and fluidity of branded food products in the U.S. marketplace are key challenges.
Manufacturers and retailers have two options for data submission to the USDA Branded Food Products Database. Brands that are leveraging the GS1 Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) can synchronize product data directly. Additionally, Label Insight allows brands to submit their product data via a simple “drag and drop” portal on www.labelinsight.com/USDA-database.
“The USDA Branded Products Database offers another way for the food industry to leverage GS1 Standards for improved product data sharing and transparency. This industry collaboration supports common goals to provide a more complete picture of food in the supply chain,” said Angela Fernandez, Vice President of Retail Grocery and Foodservice, GS1 US.
Only Two Speaker Slots Still Available at Next LEAD Marketing Conference
The Shopper Technology Institute (STI) has issued a Call for Speakers for its next LEAD Marketing Conference on Wednesday, November 16, where six of the eight available speaker/sponsor slots have already been filled.
STI’s 10th LEAD is a virtual event that features some of the industry’s most knowledgeable experts speaking about trends and developments in Loyalty, Engagement, Analytics and Digital Application. The slate of presentations will be announced next month
.
More information about the conference, co-hosted by CPGmatters, is available at www.LEADMarketingConference.com. Speaker inquiries should be sent to linda@shoppertech.org.
U.S. Online Grocery ‘Failing,’ Says New Study by TABS Analytics
Only 4.5 percent of US consumers today shop regularly online for groceries. In fact, this service has failed to gain momentum in the last few years, says researcher TABS Analytics in its Fourth Annual Food and Beverage Study.
Regular online grocery purchasing has yet to break five percent in the four years TABS has conducted this study. It increased a mere half a percentage point since the 2015 study. By contrast, more than three of four (78 percent) of consumers regularly purchase consumables from brick-and-mortar grocery outlets.
Meanwhile, Amazon garnered a two percent increase in shopper penetration from 14 percent in 2015 to 16 percent in 2016, the TABS study found. Amazon was the only online shopping domain to increase shopper penetration in 2016.
“This study underscores that online grocery is failing,” said Kurt Jetta, CEO and founder of TABS Analytics. “For the fourth year in a row, consumers have turned their backs on buying groceries online no matter how much online grocery retailers try to entice them. Sixty-nine percent of consumers never buy groceries online. With only 15 percent of consumers stating loyalty to shopping for groceries online, this is not a sustainable business model, especially when you consider the industry loyalty rate benchmark is 70 percent. Food companies and grocers need to figure out why there is such a high level of dissatisfaction with the online channel before they continue to invest any further in it.”
The survey panel for the study, conducted in August 2016, consisted of 1,000 geographically and demographically dispersed consumers between the ages of 18 and 75. The 15 consumables categories analyzed were carbonated beverages, salty snacks, cereal, yogurt, water, ice cream, cookies, fruit juice, refrigerated juices, crackers, frozen pizza, frozen novelties, candy, popcorn, and isotonics (sports drinks).
“TABS Analytics Fourth Annual Food and Beverage Study backs up that CPG manufacturers and retailers need to make a significant investment in promotional activity to sustain and grow their businesses. Weaker promotions are directly correlated to weaker sales trends,” said Jetta. “Sustained promotional levels of 15 percent to 20 percent of sales are needed to kick-start declining sales trends and bring heavy buyers back.”
Millennials Lead Online Grocery Shopping Revolution in Europe: Mintel
While physical grocery stores have long been king in Europe, it seems like Millennials are now leading the online grocery shopping revolution on the continent, as they increasingly opt for the stress-free and time saving convenience of online shopping.
New research from Mintel finds that almost half (4 percent) of Germans aged 16 to 24, have shopped online for groceries from a retailer with physical stores in the six months prior to the May 2016 survey, compared to only 31 percent of Germans overall.
When asked about the reasons for doing their grocery shopping online, avoiding stress seems to play a major role for Millennials in Germany, Italy, France and Spain. While avoiding stress is a priority, saving time is also one of the top reasons why Millennials choose to shop for groceries online.
“Outside of the UK market, Europe’s online grocery market is still in its infancy, but it is growing fast as young consumers increasingly opt for the stress-free and time saving convenience of online shopping,” explained Regina Haydon, Food & Drink Analyst at Mintel.
“More and more retailers and specialty players are pushing into the channel to stay connected with the younger generation, promising a bright future for the online market at a time when connectivity and on-demand are playing an ever more important role in youth culture.”
Most FMCG Companies Feel Pressure to Embrace Digital Transformation
Digital technologies are reshaping both consumer demand and competitive dynamics in the consumer goods marketplace, irrevocably changing how people shop and how they decide what to buy.
That is a key finding from a recent Progress survey surrounding digital transformation within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market. Conducted by Loudhouse Ltd. in early 2016, the global survey polled IT and marketing decision makers on the importance of digital transformation within their business.
Results from the survey indicate that while digital transformation is viewed by many FMCG companies as critical, their strategy, planning and implementation is slower than desired.
Of those surveyed, 60 percent admit that their organization is still largely in denial about the need to transform digitally. While 93 percent of survey respondents believe they have less than two years to make significant inroads before their business begins to suffer financially and competitively, and 60 percent feel they may already be too late, 33 percent currently do not have a clearly defined digital strategy. Of those, about half (53 percent) know it is important, but have yet to take any initial action. Forty-nine percent (49%) admit that they struggle to look even more than a few months ahead.
Overall, survey respondents felt the three biggest barriers to digital transformation include reliance on IT teams to deliver on strategy (69 percent), lack of leadership to define a digital transformation strategy (67 percent) and lack of skills to execute on strategy (64 percent). In addition, respondents see CMOs (53 percent) followed by CEOs (51 percent) as the key advocates for digital transformation. However, 43 and 50 percent respectively believe those roles are most reticent and need further convincing.
“The fast moving consumer goods market is highly competitive. These businesses are often the early adopters of innovation, as they need to stay ahead of generic underlings looking to cut at their bottom line,” said Mark Troester, Vice President, Solutions Marketing, Progress, a provider of application development. “Digital transformation is critical to future success; that is why we’re working with many household names to determine the best strategy and technology implementation to maximize their efforts.”
SECTION THREE
