Carla Bridge
It goes without saying that 2020 was a less than ideal year for many industries, with virtually no opportunity to celebrate our retail successes. One area of FMCG and retail that has received less attention this year is retail marketing.
With the shop! ANZ General Manager Carla Bridge.
While much of the focus in 2020 has been on retailers and manufacturers due to inventory shortages and changed customer habits, you may not be aware of how it's gone in the last 10 months since Covid was raised if you're not on the Marketing side work head on site.
Retail marketing (POP displays, experience and sample campaigns, category management, and insight-driven campaigns) did not see the same increases in sales as the big supermarkets, and 2020 has been a challenge for many in the industry, especially experience marketers.
A survey from Shop! The members of ANZ have achieved some significant results. Our members told us that the marketing budgets made available to them have been cut by up to half in some cases for 38% of the industry. Fortunately, for 52% of Australian retail businesses, Covid has had no impact on their marketing budgets, and 10% of marketing budgets have actually increased in the past 12 months.
How is this affecting FMCG retail? This has resulted in 77.5% of those surveyed in the industry having fewer campaigns, displays or activations in stores since March, which means fewer opportunities for brands to market themselves and their products to buyers at the point of sale.
Only 10% of the shop! -Members reported having had more campaigns, ads, or activations in stores since March. Another 12.5% said that the volume of activity has not changed due to Covid.
This huge shift in the way brands and retailers market to shoppers, and the shift in the daily routines of Australian retail marketers, are off Shop! Not gone unnoticed, and the industry association has never been more motivated to recognize the industry's success and struggles.
The store! The ANZ Retail Marketing Awards are open until January 18, 2021 to recognize and reward the ingenuity and efforts of the industry to keep it alive and thriving despite the challenges of 2020.
This year we introduced three new awards – two for retailers and brands that excel at providing covid-proof experiences for shoppers, and for those who may have rotated their in-store marketing campaigns to meet shoppers' changing needs during the pandemic will.
As our world continues to shrink and local manufacturers become increasingly important to uninterrupted running of retail marketing campaigns, we've also launched a new Produced category in ANZ to recognize indigenous design and manufacturing.
In a year when many had little to smile about, Shop! seeks to give the industry a chance to add the praise and applause they deserve to their hard-won victories and successful campaigns and a little triumph to a year otherwise steeped in negativity. 2020 may have given us lemons, but in my capacity as head of the retail marketing industry, I've seen so many amazing stories of campaigns turned upside down and led with renewed creativity to a brilliant success in one of the world's toughest trading periods – last century – these are the campaigns and activations that we would love to see and celebrate in the shop! ANZ Awards.
Entry to the shop! The 2020 Retail Marketing Awards are open to both members and non-members for projects in the market during the 18 months between July 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020. Early bird entries close on December 31st with a final registration deadline on January 18th. Gold, silver and bronze winners of the 26 categories will be announced in the annual shop! ANZ Awards Gala Dinner on March 25th at Doltone House Jones Bay Wharf.
More information about the shop! Awards and contributions can be found at shopassociation.org.au/enter-awards.
Over the Carla Bridge
Carla Bridge is the 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 industries. Before shopping! ANZ, she was the head of media and communications at the Australian Retailers Association (ARA).
About shop! ANZ
Formerly known as POPAI, Shop! is the only global, not-for-profit, industry association dedicated solely to excellence in shopper marketing and retail experience. With 20 branches in 45 countries and over 1700 member companies worldwide, Shop! brings global best practice information, resources, recognition and networks to our members. For more information, please visit www.popai.com.au or email shopassociation.org.au.
