Coupons Benefit Retailers
August 31, 2010 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Most people think that discount coupons only benefit consumers, but actually grocery coupons benefit retailers and here’s why. There’s no doubt about it – our world has changed and the current economic climate seems to be in a downward spiral. With all the massive lay-offs, decrease in income and reduced buying trends, businesses are suffering while individuals are looking for creative ways to save money. So, if you’re a retailer or grocery chain owner or manager, you have probably felt the decrease in buying patters and desperately want to improve your bottom line.
Well, the good news is that now you can by catering to these coupon-clipping enthusiasts and making coupons a valued part of your advertising strategy, you can help your customers save money by encouraging them to buy and use coupons.
Your first step is to understand why people use coupons. Many individuals who use coupons are middle class individuals that are concerned about their family’s financial future. They aren’t necessarily in any kind of financial distress, they’re just smart and savvy shoppers. They use those coupons published online to capture the thrill of savvy shopping and enjoy the thrill of those one-of-a-kind deals be in groceries. For instance, over 35 million people have visited coupon sites this past year to search for coupons.
Next, coupons get people to the store and once you have them within your reach, you can use other advertising techniques to get them to buy more. Plus, the really strange thing is that most individuals don’t mind a bit because the item was “such a good deal” or simply something that was “too good to pass up.” For instance, let’s say Mary comes to your grocery store to purchase a gallon of milk with her store coupon and expects to pay $1.99. Well, once she gets to the store, she realizes that cereal is on sale and so is bread for individuals that purchase 2 gallons of milk. She then purchases five more sale items when she simply came into the store for one gallon of milk. Might sound strange but this is happening all around the globe. Savvy retailers are using coupons and other advertising strategies to squeeze more money out of their shoppers.
Offering coupons benefits retailers because they can cater to the savvy customer, they can increase their bottom line with upsells and other offers. In essence, it gets the customer into the door so that they can use other advertising strategies on them. After all, everyone loves being able to spend less for more, and they don’t feel they was scammed into buying something totally useless. After all, they got a good deal – and what could be better than that?
If you’re interested in launching coupon driven campaign to an audience of grocery buyers, then Download our Media Kit or Request a Proposal from our team.
4th of July Advertising
July 1, 2010 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
The 4th of July Holiday or Independence Day is another day of the year where you can benefit from developing a targeted advertising campaign to drive sales. In the lead up to 4th of July festivities, Americans are planning parties, catering BBQs, having an extended weekend at the lake and post-game tailgates. Consumers want everything from meat, to new clothes, to wine.
Ideally your 4th of July Advertising should commence at least a week before the 4th of July as consumers begin to hunt for bargains for food, drinks, wine, beer, party products and more. So it’s essential to kick off the campaign early for best results.
So apart from grocery stores what other businesses can benefit from running 4th of July Advertising? Basically any sort of retailers involved with planning your 4th of July event. So think BBQ retailers, party hire, online meat and seafood retailers, home delivery services to name just a few.
Additionally, don’t forget restaurants for those who don’t want to entertain at home, but enjoy the holiday being spoilt. Restaurants should concentrate on advertising their 4th of July specials or fixed priced menus as a way of enticing bookings.
Like most online ads, your 4th of July Advertising creative should have a strong call to action, gain the user’s attention and articulate your offering. In keeping with the theme of the 4th of July your advertising could include imagery of Uncle Sam, and/or the star spangle banner along with the red, white and blue.
By running your 4th of July campaign with Gourmet Ads not only are you reaching the main household grocery buyer, but your reaching consumers planning an event as they look for recipes, cocktail ideas and more. So if you’re interesting in running an 4th of July Advertising Campaign to drive sales, then Request a Proposal from the Gourmet Ads team or Download our Media Kit.
Cinco de Mayo Advertising
May 1, 2010 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday celebrated on the 5th of May each year, and Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for “fifth of May”. The holiday celebrates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
Within Mexico itself Cinco de Mayo is only celebrated regionally, however in the United States, Cinco de Mayo is heavily promoted by grocery companies, bars and restaurants where the it has become a celebration of Mexican culture. In American border states such California and Arizona, Cinco de Mayo is significant holiday, with most grocery stores, bars and restaurants offering special deals to entice and generate sales.
For green grocers and grocery chains, Cinco de Mayo sees increased sales of food items especially beef, limes, tomatoes, cilantro and avocados the cornerstone of Mexican Cuisine. For Liquor stores, tequila and Mexican beers such as Corona and on the shopping list.
If you’re interested in running a Cinco de Mayo Advertising campaign, then Contact Us for more information or download the Gourmet Ads Media Kit.
Most Popular for 2009
December 31, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
As we roll onto 2010 or “Twenty Ten” as many are calling it, I though it might be good to take a quick look back to some of the most popular blogs we wrote this year. Just like 2009, during 2010 we’ll try to write as many blogs as we can helping to educate advertisers, media buyers and owners on how to advertise online and reach your target audience.
So here we go…..
- 2010 Advertising Trends
- Targeting Grocery Buyers
- Online Drives CPG Sales
- Reaching Holiday Shoppers
- Grocery Store Loyalty Programs
- Display Ads Trigger Search
- Reaching Working Moms
- Creative Advertising
- More Cooking at Home
- Increasing Click Through Rates
- Interstitial Advertising
Maybe you had a favourite blog ?
Q1 Media Planning
December 22, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Q1 is literally only days away and you’ve probably already started your digital media planning for Q1 already. But for those that haven’t started media planning what should be your strategy for the first quarter of 2010?
Maybe take a moment and read our 2010 Advertising Trends.
For grocery / supermarket and CPG companies the largest event to allocate advertising budgets towards in Q1 is the Super Bowl the first week of February. Campaigns we’ve already got booked start around the 10th of January and conclude on the 10th of February focusing on driving consumer intent in the lead up to the Super Bowl – see blog on Super Bowl Advertising. Most advertisers are including a combination of regular display units (728 x90, 300 x250 and 160 x 600 ) and high visibility ad units such as interstitials and floating ads to make an impact. Don’t forget the earlier you start media planning the better CPM rates that can be negotiated.
Surprisingly we’ve already seen a number of companies who’ve held off advertising during 2009, now planning campaigns in early Q1 2010. Some have seen their market share reduce during 2009 and their strategy is gain back market share with roadblock advertising and high impact advertising units. So the strategy is to get their message in front of grocery buyers and household decision makers to drive sales growth.
So no matter what your media planning strategy you’re undertaking for 2010, the team at Gourmet Ads can develop a bespoke media plan for your consideration. Start by downloading our Media Kit or Request a Proposal from us.
Grocery Advertising
December 2, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Grocery Advertising online is about reaching the main household grocery buyer ( or Mr Household Grocery Buyer) when they are in the decision making phase. Running adverting for your grocery store next to recipes where the main household grocery buyer is researching food ideas and making critical family meal planning is the key for any grocery advertising campaign.
In the past, grocery stores used newspapers, television, radio and magazines to advertise their grocery stores and weekly specials. The previous focus was on mass branding, now it’s much more about spending advertising budgets more efficiently in order to reach the right person in the household, opposed to everyone in the household which is what you get with mass brand advertising.
From our perspective more and more Grocery Stores are shifting their grocery advertising budgets to online networks such as Gourmet Ads. This shift in moving grocery advertising budgets to online has been fuelled by a combination of key reasons, such as;
- Cost efficiencies offered by online
- Ability to target on a geo targeting basis from national right down to Zip Code
- Time and Day Part targeting – advertise throughout the day and evening
- Rich media opportunities that online presents
So what kind of advertising are grocery stores undertaking? Well it varies greatly from grocery brand to grocery brand. Large national grocery brands usually have their own grocery advertising budgets, plus Co-op advertising budgets which means that can run wide reaching and impactful campaigns online. However smaller, more regional grocery brands will tend to rely heavily on geo targeting to only reach local customers. Some of the grocery advertising we’re running includes;
- Brand advertising campaigns
- Grocery Coupon based campaigns
- Grocery Loyalty Card campaigns
- Weekly Specials Campaigns
- Pre Roll Video Campaigns
So if you’re grocery store isn’t running grocery advertising online, now is the time to start with more and more consumers online it makes sense to allocate a proposition of your budget to online. By running advertising with Gourmet Ads you’re reaching a network dedicated to reaching the household grocery buyer. That’s all we do. Download our Media Kit or Request a Proposal from us.
Super Bowl Advertising
October 27, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · 1 Comment
When you think of Super Bowl Advertising, you’ll probably immediately think of the advertising during the game, you know the ones that cost millions of dollars per 30 seconds. But the kind of super bowl advertising we’re talking about is the advertising to driver consumers to buy your food and beverage products prior the end of season game.
Each January the Super Bowl draws an enormous audience of viewers from right around the country, most at super bowl parties. So in order trigger Super Bowl party planning ideas with consumers undertaking a targeted Super Bowl Advertising campaign can provide great results. Because the Gourmet Ads network features an audience of grocery buyers and household decision makers it’s essential to ensure that we are part of your Super Bowl Advertising media mix.
So what companies can benefit from Super Bowl Advertising online? Well any companies that are associated with their products being served at Super Bowl Parties. With mostly a range finger food styled dishes being served at Super Bowl parties any ingredient or pre-made products which make dips, guacamole, chili, bbq ribs, nachos, spicy hot wings, sliders, hamburgers, hot dogs and quesadillas. Don’t forget chips, crisps, pop corn, crackers, cheese as well as beverages such as sodas, wines and beer which traditionally buy the million dollar TV advertising.
With the super bowl being played on the first Sunday in February, ideally your Super Bowl Advertising should commence in the last week of January which means you’ll have a two week campaign flight to drive consumer intent and engagement. Campaign ideas include using regular display advertising, expandable creative, interstitials, video and rich media. Campaign ideas which perform well include competitions and the ability to download Super Bowl coupons for product purchases.
It’s never too early to book your Super Bowl Advertising as this period tends to book up quickly as you can imagine. To book your two week Super Bowl Advertising campaign with Gourmet Ads, download our media kit or contact us with your campaign requirements.
Grocery Store Loyalty Programs
October 24, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Nearly every grocery store around the globe these days has its own loyalty program. Some like Costco even charge an annual membership to be part of their loyalty program, others are free. For grocery stores the ability to offer loyalty programs offer the ability to track consumer’s shopping habits and household characteristics. This is then linked to broader “market segments” based on age, race, income level, family size and neighborhood. The real benefit of grocery store loyalty programs is the ability to determine how profitable each market segment is to the store, and to treat customers in those segments accordingly.
Key to the growth of grocery store loyalty programs is to continue signups of new members, especially if, like Costco there is a membership fee to be paid or if your grocery store offers a credit card as well as a loyalty card. So it’s essential for grocery stores to continually be running campaigns to drive memberships. Advertising campaign ideas for Grocery Store Loyalty Programs include;
- Highlight benefits of your Loyalty Program
- Promote Loyalty Program only coupons
- Bonus points for Loyalty Program cards only
- Loyalty Program only discounts
- Ability to signup online and start earning points
- Interest free period for loyal program associated credit cards
For grocery store marketing managers and their advertising agencies, advertising for new members must be run in targeted environments. The Gourmet Ads network reaches millions of grocery buyers each month making us the logical choice for your media plans.
Here’s some information about the Gourmet Ads audience;
- They are the primary household grocery buyer
- They make more than 3 trips to the grocery store each month
- They spend anywhere from $200 to over $500 a month on groceries
- They search for food products online such as gourmet and organic
If you’re looking at running an advertising campaign to drive memberships in your Grocery Store Loyalty Program, please download a copy of our media kit. Alternatively use the contact us page to fill in your requirements and our team can help develop a media plan for your consideration.
Targeting Grocery Buyers
September 3, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
We recently wrote a blog called Online Drives CPG Sales which was inspired by a Comscore study which found that online advertising can be as effective as television advertising in lifting retail sales of CPG brands. The study indicated that online advertising lifted retail sales of CPG brands by an average of 9% compared to 8% for TV advertising. With more CPGs moving online with increased budgets I thought it might be good to talk about how Gourmet Ads targets Grocery buyers, as well as where they actually do their grocery buying.
First off, here’s a little about the Gourmet Audience in regards to the grocery buying;
- They are the primary household grocery buyer
- They make more than 3 trips to the grocery store each month
- They spend anywhere from $200 to over $500 a month on groceries
- They search for food products online such as gourmet and organic
What are they buying?
Across a range of products, our Grocery Buying audience are typically buying week to week the following food products; Baby Foods, Carbonated Soft Drinks, Carbonated Water, Cereals, Cheese, Crackers, Dairy products, Dried Pasta, Juice, Gourmet Frozen Meals, Pizzas Frozen and Packaged Meats. Apart from foods, also high on the list are baby products such as diapers, baby formula as well as pet related products such as pet food and cat litter.
Where do they shop?
Some of our Grocery Buying audience are shopping online, but the vast majority are heading to the grocery store and placing products in the shopping trolley. They are heading to Albertsons, Aldi, Bi-lo, Food Emporium, Food Lion, IGA, Kroger, Lowes Foods, Pathmark, Pick’n Save, Publix, Ralph’s and Safeway to name a few.
So what are the takeaways from this ?
There is no doubt that the Gourmet Ads audience spends on groceries multiple times a month across a range of products (food and non-food) and grocery/supermarkets. Add to this they are also very active online researching food products such as gourmet and organic.
So if you’re a grocery store / supermarket, then running campaigns with Gourmet Ads to drive our audience to your store makes sense. You can run campaigns such as discounts, this week’s specials and more. For those advertising food products, its about building brand awareness prior to the trip to the grocery store / supermarket. You could use discount coupons or promotions to influence our audience to buy your products.
If you’re tasked with marketing to Grocery Buyers, then download our media kit, or request a proposal for your next online campaign.
Online Drives CPG Sales
August 28, 2009 by Benjamin Christie · Leave a Comment
Last week the leading research house Comscore released a study indicating what many in the online advertising space have believed for sometime, that online advertising can be as effective as television advertising in lifting retail sales of CPG brands.
The Comscore study, based on a 200,000 panel of consumers who were members of grocery store loyalty programs, indicated that online advertising lifts retail sales of CPG products by an average of 9%, compared to an average lift of about 8% from TV campaigns (measured by Information Resources, Inc). Advertising campaigns for brands in a variety of CPG product categories, including cereal, cookie mixes, pizza, juice drinks, snack bars, pasta, tea, deodorants and toothpaste, were examined.
From what we understand the CPG Sales study not only tracked online behavior, but actual purchases at the grocery store, providing some of the best evidence from online to cash register that we’ve seen. Now there’s proof that Online Drives CPG Sales.
Unlike TV which can really only be limited to location and placement, online advertising provides a raft of targeting options. Apart from standard campaign targeting options, Gourmet Ads provides additional targeting such as Behavioral Targeting and Retargeting which hones in on the target audience which can provide exceptional results for advertisers.
Given that the Gourmet Ads network only runs advertising on approved, editorial selected recipes sites and food blogs we are always targeting the household grocery buyer each and everyday.
Some of the takeaways from this research for CPG markets are;
- Online Advertising is typically less expensive to TV Advertising
- Online Advertising outperforms TV Advertising
- Greater campaign targeting options available for online
- Gourmet Ads reaches the main household grocery buyers each and everyday
- Reach audiences when they are learning and research family meal ideas.
- Measurable performance
If you’re tasked with marketing your CPG products, then download our media kit, or request a proposal for your next CPG product campaign.
Source: http://ir.comscore.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=403695
