MARKET WATCH
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Hispanic Shopping Behavior in C-Stores
Provides New Opportunities for Marketers
Hispanic consumers exhibit unique shopping behavior in convenience stores, says a new study. Marketers can use specific guidelines on how to use these insights to develop targeted shopper marketing and merchandising strategies.
VideoMining Corporation conducted the study consisting of a detailed analysis of over 300,000 convenience store trips by Hispanic shoppers as part of a syndicated national program. The State College, Pa.-based firm is a provider of in-store intelligence for retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers.
The report, Hispanic C-Store Shopper MegaStudy, is part of a national syndicated program, C-Store Shopper Insights (CSI-2),conducted by VideoMining in cooperation with 7-Eleven, AM/PM, Circle K, Sheetz and Cumberland Farms.
The study dissects the “path to purchase” of a large sample of Hispanic shoppers to develop an understanding of how they shop the convenience store compared to the overall population. Significant differences were discovered – both in how they navigate the store and in how they shop individual categories such as snacks, candy, beer or non-alcoholic beverages.
The research employed VideoMining’s breakthrough in-store measurement technology to quantitatively analyze every moment of convenience store trips and transactions by over a millions C-store shoppers. Demographic segmentation software helped to create the unique data set for understanding the shopping patterns of Hispanic shoppers.
“Hispanic shoppers offer a significant growth opportunity for the convenience store channel,” said Dr. Rajeev Sharma, Founder and CEO of VideoMining. “This study provides foundational learnings to help develop targeted shopper marketing and merchandising strategies.”
Tom Sullivan, who recently joined VideoMining as president, added, “It is critical to develop an objective understanding of the path to purchase and moment of truth for each shopper segment to compete successfully at retail today. The Hispanic segment report is an example of how our technology platform can be the game-changer for shopper marketing,” said Sullivan, whose extensive career includes executive positions with Information Resources, Inc., the Nielsen Company and several consumer packaged goods companies.
For more information, visit www.videomining.com.
Roundy’s Enhances Websites with Interactive Tools
Shoppers in the five banners operated by Roundy’s Supermarkets can engage with their local grocer via an enhanced website launched by the Grocery Shopping Network (GSN), the Minneapolis-based provider of digital grocery advertising networks.
The launch includes the websites of Pick ’n Save, Rainbow Foods, Copps Food Centers, Metro Market and Mariano’s Fresh Market. With more than 150 stores, Milwaukee-based Roundy’s is one of the oldest and largest grocers in the Midwest.
Roundy’s enhanced website provides interactive tools for shoppers, including the ability to search by department or brand; personalized specials tailored to the shoppers preferences and previous shopping history; a recipe center that includes 60,000 recipes and wine parings; online shopping from the weekly ad circular; access to in-store specials and sale items; as well as the ability to create a master shopping list and a record of previous orders. Shoppers can also view all past purchases using their loyalty card information, which will also be used to fuel GSN’s personalization engine that makes recommendations to shoppers on a weekly basis.
General Mills Offers Daily Deal
General Mills is the first consumer packaged goods company to launch an offer with Groupon, the popular daily-deal website that typically offers steep daily-discounts for restaurants, retailers, classes and other activities. The deal offered in Minneapolis and San Francisco one day last week included 12 General Mills products, including Fiber One bars, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Kix cereals, Fruit Roll-Ups snacks and other items, for $20 – a discount of more than 50% of the value of the package. The deal also includes a $15 coupon book for General Mills products, all which will be delivered to buyers’ homes. Some 4,500 sample packs offered in each city sold out by mid-morning.
Joe Trimble, promotion marketing manager at General Mills, was quoted as saying the company will “evaluate the results of this program using different metrics” before looking at ways to explore and expand its relationship with Groupon." The program is not about e-commerce, he stressed, but about driving consumer trials and sampling.
Walmart Invests in Social e-Commerce
Wal-Mart Stores will acquire Kosmix, a social media technology platform that filters and organizes content in social networks to connect people with real-time information that matters to them. The company will operate as part of the newly formed @WalmartLabs and continue to be based in Silicon Valley.
Walmart plans to expand the @WalmartLabs team and expects this new group will create technologies and businesses around social and mobile commerce that will support the retailer’s global multi-channel strategy, which integrates the shopping experience between bricks and mortar stores and e-commerce. Walmart operates retail businesses in 15 countries and e-commerce businesses in nine countries.
Kosmix’s technology platform searches and analyzes connections in real-time data streams to deliver highly personalized insights to users. The platform powers TweetBeat, a real-time social media filter for live events with more than five million visits last month; Kosmix.com, a site to discover social content by topic; and RightHealth, one of the top three health and medical information sites by global reach.
Stop & Shop Launches App for Checkout
A software app allows grocery shoppers with Apple’s iPhone can scan groceries and then check out at three Stop & Shop stores in the Boston area. Shoppers can aim the phone’s camera at the bar code on a product package to see the price and add it to an electronic shopping cart. Once shopping is finished, the app relays the information to a checkout register where the shopper can pay with cash or a credit card. Checkout is faster because store associates don’t’ need to scan the items manually.
The technology behind the app built on the handheld self-checkout scanners found in 350 supermarkets, largely operated by Stop & Shop. The technology provider is Modiv Media.
Walmart Testing Home Delivery of Groceries
Wal-Mart Stores is testing home delivery of groceries in the San Jose, Calif. market. The service, called Walmart to Go, allows shoppers to buy food, health and beauty care and general merchandise products online and have them delivered to their home for fees starting at $5.
Walmart operates a home-delivery service in the United Kingdom through its Asda chain.
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