Millennial shoppers will soon be the biggest purchasing group in the United States and are estimated to spend $600 billion each year. So, what does this mean to you? The marketing landscape is changing and you will now need to focus on the needs of the millennial generation. What do millennials want in a company? In a recent study they found that 81% of millennials expect companies to make a public commitment to charitable causes and citizenship. Traditionally consumers just “wanted” companies to incorporate social good into their business model but have come to expect it in recent years. In fact, 90% of Americans say they are more likely to trust and stay loyal to stores that actively try and make a difference. Now more than ever it is important to portray and actively pursue a socially responsible image. Studies have also shown that 88% of consumers would buy a product with a social or environmental benefit and an astounding 84% would tell friends and family about the companies cause. Turning your customers into your personal marketeers. Along those same…
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The Mindful Millennial and Cause Marketing
Two of the biggest challenges facing grocery retail in 2018 will be millennials and mindfulness. With unlimited technology literally sitting in most customers pockets, mindfulness is going to be one of the biggest trends in 2018. Pew Research Center has predicted that millennials will surpass baby boomers as the largest living adult generation in 2019. This is changing the landscape of how grocery stores market themselves and do business. Price and quality are very comparable nowadays and millennials look to support causes when they shop. Visibility into the practices of businesses is the clearest it has ever been, so customers (mainly millennials) are now holding stores and companies accountable socially and ethically. 80% of consumers believe that businesses must play a role in addressing societal issues. So what does this all mean for grocery stores? Two words: Cause Marketing. What is cause marketing? Cause marketing is when a company partners with a charitable organization to address a social or environmental problem. 91% of Americans want more products to support causes. So what can you do? AWG has the partner…
Email is Still King
My name plate may say “Web Designer” however give me a little time and I can design a mean little custom email that gets hits on your website. You would think emails would eventually phase out over time, but they are getting stronger, even among your millennial customers. Adobe (think Adobe Acrobat .pdf files) who develops WAY more tools than Photoshop put together a survey about emails last August. About a 1000 white-collar workers took the survey about consumer emails. It seems this is a pretty popular topic. I first found this article from (I know) a monthly email I get from webdesignerdepot.com, more or less. After reading the article: “Adobe Reveals the Secrets of Email”, I noticed a link to an article on the Adobe website: “Consumers are still email obsessed, but they’re finding more balance”. THEN I found a rather dry overview of the survey results and a SlideShare in LinkedIn. So out of these three resources, I tried to pick out the topics our retailers might be interested in, then I’m sprinkling in personal comments on how…
How to Beat National Chains at Online Shopping
A recent Reuters story talked about how it is hard to sell groceries online. Shoppers surveyed said they are very loyal to their local food stores and don’t want to shop for groceries online from places like Amazon. Those interviewed described themselves as “avid internet shoppers” and still weren’t interested in online grocery shopping. This runs counter to everything posted on this site for the last two years. AWG retailers can find a positive, however. Customers are loyal to their local store. They aren’t going to jump to a national chain simply because they offer online shopping. They do want to shop online. You can give that to them. The top hesitation for online shopping is picking produce. Your customers are shopping with you because they like the selection you offer. Make it clear that when they order online they are still getting the produce section that they know and love. Training whoever picks the groceries is crucial. Show them what makes a good tomato. If the customer wants three yellow bananas and three green ones make sure that is what they…
Leveraging the Power of Private Label & Organics
I recently listened to a webinar from Store Brands titled The Power of Private Brands. As someone who is focused solely on marketing our private label, this webinar confirmed my belief that AWG Brands consist of great products that carry considerable growth potential. Four key insights presented in the webinar lead me to this belief: (Almost) everyone is buying some private brand products today. Millennials embrace them. Consumers are more and more brand agnostic – they are willing to try private brands instead of always buying the national brand they consumed throughout childhood. Private brands are moving from emulation to differentiation. These key insights present exciting opportunities for AWG Brands in a variety of areas, but one that I wanted to spotlight in this post is the organics category. If you’re reading this as an AWG retailer, you should be familiar with Clearly Organic. Through rebranding, and a focus on product innovation and expansion, Clearly Organic has been a sales success for many of our retailers. Currently, organic only represents 7% of total brand sales. This presents an opportunity for…
Time for some spring training
Spring training isn’t just for baseball players. It is also a good time to learn new skills. Brush up on Twitter best practices. Refine photography skills. Learn to code. Each years digital skills are being democratized more and more. Tasks that were done only by professionals with expensive equipment can now be done by following simple tutorials on YouTube. Use the skills below to jump start your own spring training. COB – No, this has nothing to do with corn. It stands for Cut Out Background. Ever wonder how the Crying Jordan face gets added to things so fast? COB is the answer. Removing the background from an image can be a good idea for highlighting individual items. It may not be a skill that you use all the time. However, knowing how to do it will save you a ton of time. Photoshop allows for the most control. The more precise the cutout the better the final product will look. There are at least five different ways to cut out a background in Photoshop – here is one. This…
Millennials Celebrate Valentine’s Day a Little Different
For me (Generation X) Valentine’s Day could have a lot of pressure, especially at school. Some girls needed help getting all their flowers home while others snuck out the back door. While I was Googling my typical “go to” Valentine’s Day content (the meaning of different rose colors) I got distracted by this article, “Millennials and Valentine’s Day”. After reading the article I thought, “Those millennials have it going on… AGAIN!” According to a survey of 13-32 year olds, more than half think Valentine’s Day is over-rated and don’t care about the holiday, but more than half admitted to celebrating the holiday, so what gives? Most of this generation grew up where giving out valentines in school meant you had to give one to everybody in your class. So what better excuse do you need to throw a party for everyone? About half planned to get something for a significant other, but almost everyone in that group planned to get a gift for a family member or friend. Have you heard of Galentine’s Day? About a quarter of these millennial’s planned to…
A Millennial’s view of online grocery shopping
Online grocery shopping. You’ve been hearing about it for years, yet you haven’t seen it explode in popularity like you’ve been told. I’m starting to be convinced that moment is right around the corner. “I hate grocery shopping,” is a line I commonly hear from friends and family my age. “ I will definitely pay for the convenience of not having to spend time walking through the store.” A good friend lives within walking distance of a local AWG grocery store. Where does he get his groceries? At a Hy-Vee 15 minutes away from his residence. If he wants to pick up groceries on the way home from work, it’s still more than 10 minutes out of the way from his usual commute. He even passes one or two other AWG stores on his way. Why? Because he can shop online and pick up his groceries ready to go at the front door. Before we got married, my wife shopped for groceries when she knew she would be in the area of a store that offers online shopping. It was…
How to use Twitter for customer care
[View the story “#HootChat: Twitter is best for Customer Care” on Storify]
Competing with Meal Kit Delivery
The meal kit market has grown significantly since being introduced broadly to the U.S. in 2012, and it’s changing the way some consumers shop for food. On a recent NGA Webinar titled “A Contest of Convenience: How to compete with the meal kit format”, Erik Thoresen from Technomic discussed how this fast growing market represents both an opportunity and a threat to retailers. In the blog post, I’ll break down some of the takeaways from his presentation. What are meal kits? First, what exactly are meal kits? Chances are, you’ve already heard of these ‘meals in a box’ delivered to your doorstep. Meal kits are ingredients and meal components which companies assemble and transport to consumers for home preparation. The biggest companies today offering meal kit delivery include Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, Gobble, Home Chef, Marley Spoon and Plated. The meal kit market has seen significant growth. The meal kit trend started in the U.S. around 2012 and globally is estimated to have a $3.3 billion dollar impact on the retail channel in 2020 (the amount that customers will spend…