FMCG campaigns were victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, with research showing the extent of the damage to the retail marketing sector. Where from here?
With the shop! ANZ General Manager Carla Bridge.
Carla bridge
Retail, and particularly supermarkets, has been the subject of much-noticed reporting in recent months, but the focus has been on behind-the-scenes marketing to make everything possible.
The impact of the pandemic has been profound for retailers across Australia and New Zealand. This is supported by research that Shop! Has performed in the second half of April. NUMBER
We asked brands, retailers, POP manufacturers, and retail marketing agencies how they are doing with the COVID-19 restrictions. What we found was that most of the companies in the industry were hit pretty hard.
More than 30 percent say they suffer badly. 45 percent say the effects were less severe, but they are still not well.
There are a few lucky ones. Just over 10 percent of respondents saw positive effects from the COVID 19 restrictions. Around nine percent say it is too early to call.
Regarding the impact of cancellations and deferrals of the proposed deal on finance, 39.7 percent said it was serious but manageable, and another 27 percent said it was a very serious problem for their business. Nineteen percent say there will be no future financial implications. The balance says that it is too early to judge.
Business drop infographic
How many FMCG campaigns and how much business have been lost in the past six weeks? The average decline in retail marketing business activity in Australia and New Zealand was 41 percent, according to the study, with around 43 percent of business campaigns postponed or postponed.
At this point, we find that most of these activities have been temporarily suspended, with most of the planned activities likely to resume in September, although it is much more difficult to plan if you don't know how buyers think and think about COVID behavior -19.
How do buyers react?
According to the interactive COVID-19 barometer by Toluna and Harris, 79 percent of the Australians surveyed bought in a grocery store and only 20 percent online in the first two weeks of May.
Deferment finance chart
Once in stores, 45 percent of shoppers said they were ready to buy a brand that was different from their regular choice when it wasn't available. For alcohol, another big pacemaker off the shelves, 37 percent said they would buy a different brand but not another brand, and the results were similar when it came to soft drinks.
This opens up new opportunities for brands to be tested by customers. 29 percent of buyers tried a new product when their regular item was out of stock. With a captive audience, it's a great time to test new products.
When it came to pricing, 52 percent paid more for food and only 6 percent paid less than usual, while 68 percent left their money in their wallets when they couldn't buy the product of their choice.
New opportunities for marketers
With this in mind, brands, retailers and retailers currently have some clear options available.
How does graphics work?
With displays likely to no longer be commercially available and experience campaigns to be launched over the next few months, on-pack promotions and on-the-go activities are the formats of choice to drive sales and have an immediate impact.
Off-location displays, if you can get them, are a great way to increase sales. Reinventing categories is also an opportunity since many categories have remained the same for 10 years or more. Then there are creative reactions to measures such as sampling, for example with sensor-activated testers.
Brands in Australia and New Zealand have been slow to adopt digital and online, but I think we'll see that even after COVID-19, they're much more willing to include this in their plans.
Another opportunity is the repurposed opportunity. As many of the traditional occasions in COVID-19 succumb to the calendar, rebuilding these lost festivals in new ways or creating new ones that can become traditions and repurposing them to make them relevant are just a few of the ways back Normalcy to return or our new normalcy.
About Carla Bridge and Shop! NUMBER
Carla Bridge is General Manager of the nonprofit retail marketing association Shop! ANZ (formerly POPAI). Business! offers a range of membership services for retail marketers in addition to the annual Marketing at Retail Awards. Carla has over 15 years of experience in the Australian retail and FMCG industry. Before you come to shop! ANZ, she was Head of Media and Communication at the Australian Retailers Association.
Finding opportunities as a marketing stand first appeared in Retail World Magazine.
