Advertising Cooking Classes is an ideal way to cross market products

Have you ever sat home and watched a cooking show or cooking classes with the same sense of awe that you watch science fiction? You think, that would be awesome, but I’m never going to be able to do it. For many devoted food television watchers, this is a pretty common experience.  The rapid growth in food-related television has fuelled an equal boom in the number of shoppers who have the desire to create food-TV worthy dishes, but who lack the confidence to do so. This trend is probably the biggest reason for the demand for cooking lessons that teach everything from sauces to soufflés. Consumers are looking for someone to show them how to make great meals at home, and there are a number of ways that retailers can step in to fill this void.

If you have been to a better quality cooking implement store such as Williams Sonoma, you have probably seen one of their cooking classes or cooking demonstrations. This is a tactic that has paid off so well for these stores that many smaller retailers are competing to offer the same experience to their customers. The great part about advertising this way is that it is cost effective, manageable, and an ideal way to cross market products. For example, a grocer could demonstrate a recipe that uses not only foods found in the store, but also cooking gadgets that the store may also sell. Or, local stores can team up, with kitchen stores offering discounts at local grocers, or by allowing chef-demonstrators from a local store to come into a grocer to try out a new recipe for shoppers. The possibilities of such cooking classes are endless, and can be used at grocers, book stores, kitchen specialty shops, department stores, and even trade shows.

Another way that retailers can take advantage of the growing interest in food and cooking lessons is to bring in new customers by offering lessons on food preparation and targeting food-television lovers. Customers who watch food television are often the primary shoppers in their household, so getting these shoppers in your door is a sure fire way to get them interested in what you have to offer. Take advantage of internet and traditional marketing tools to get the word out about your upcoming demonstration, and you’ll find that customers flock to your store to see what you have to offer. Just make sure you’re advertising to the right group of customers, and be prepared for a busy day!

Celebrity chefs providing cooking classes create a high loyalty among the customers

The elevation of TV Chefs to near-celebrity status can be a particularly useful tool for retailers. Whether you hire a celebrity chef to provide cooking lessons in your store or have a local chef teach students how to prepare a favorite celebrity dish, consumers love the idea of being able to learn from these high-power chefs. If you plan to offer cooking lessons, consider those that are centered on a particular chef (or group of chefs) to attract the loyal followers of these top cooks. You may also want to sponsor demonstrations given by a favorite chef in another location.

No matter how you choose to take advantage of consumers’ craving for culinary education, the effort is worthwhile due to the high level of loyalty that this inspires among your customers. Talk to your existing customers, and find out what they want to see. Once you are ready to hold a chef-cook event, make sure to spend some time marketing it to bring in the biggest number of shoppers. Cooking classes and demonstrations are surely the way to your “foodies’” hearts.

Advertising Cooking Classes is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Targeting your advertising to Supermarket Shoppers directly

If you’re reading this blog, you already know that one of the most effective ways to market your product is by targeting advertising to supermarket shoppers directly.  Reaching supermarket shoppers, however, does take a little bit of experience and know-how to help you get the most bang for your advertising buck.  Essentially, all advertising programs fall into three categories- local, regional, and national campaigns.  Each one plays an important role in getting the word out to shoppers about your brand, and a good campaign will target all three audiences.  The following are the top ways to reach supermarket shoppers and get the word out about your brand:

• TV Advertising – Primarily used by large food manufacturers to reach a broad, national audience, television advertising remains one of the best ways to reach supermarket shoppers. While you do reach a large number of television viewers simply by airing your commercial, a truly effective campaign must take into account not only reaching viewers but giving them a reason to act- for example by visiting your website, printing out a coupon, or going to the supermarket to purchase your product.
• Newspaper Advertising – Coupon usage is at an all time high and many consumers still get their coupons from their local newspaper. If you have a new product that is being released in a certain area, newspaper advertising can be a way to target a regional audience that you may not be able to reach through other mediums.  Newspaper advertising can bring in more customers than even television advertising if it is done correctly.
• Outdoor Advertising – Outdoor advertising is another traditional method that is still effective in today’s market. Supermarket shoppers, like the rest of us, are spending more and more time in their cars, and outdoor advertising has become more sophisticated to appeal to these busy consumers.  While outdoor advertising primarily involves either traditional or electronic billboards, other media like travelling advertisements on buses or other exciting methods.
• Radio Advertising – With the increase in the amount of time that families spend in their cars, radio advertising is reaching a larger and more family-oriented audience than ever before.  Radio advertising reaches busy working moms and stay at home moms as they transport kids to school and activities.  Research shows that mothers are still the primary grocery shoppers and make the majority of decisions about meals, and so reaching these mothers through radio advertising is a smart way to market to a regional audience.
• Catalogue Advertising – Print advertising remains a smart way to appeal to customers even in the age of digital media. Specialty advertisements in catalogue allow you to reach a highly specific target audience that is likely to be interested in your product.
• Supermarket Loyalty Programs – Supermarket shoppers who use loyalty programs are more likely than other shoppers to purchase products from a particular store. You can take advantage of advertising directly to loyalty program users to encourage shoppers to purchase your product.
• Online Advertising – Shoppers are more web savvy than ever, and one of the best ways to bring new consumers to your product is by creating an online advertising campaign. There is a large amount of research dedicated to finding ways to catch the attention of supermarket shoppers online, and creative agencies can help you create advertisements that encourage customers to click through to your website.
• Email Advertising – Creating email advertisements that your customers will notice is a great way to ensure that your brand remains in front of supermarket shoppers  Not only can you create your own email advertisements, you can advertise within other newsletters to reach an even larger audience.
• In-Store/ POS Advertising – The best place to reach many customers is while they are still in the supermarket. In-store and point of sale advertising is one of the best and most cost effective ways to reach both new and repeat customers and encourage them to add your item to their cart.  There are a wide range of in-store advertising options, including print, grocery cart ads, in store coupons, in store radio advertisements, flyers, and more.

A combination of strategies work best when Advertising to Supermarket Shoppers

Advertising to supermarket shoppers is an effective tool in any brand’s marketing arsenal. Multiple campaigns and platforms can combine strategies to create a marketing plan that reaches a wide audience and increases sales. Gourmet Ads can help you choose the right digital advertising program for your brand, so that you can directly advertise to the supermarket shoppers.

Advertising to Supermarket Shoppers is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Using Supermarket Transaction Data from Loyalty Card Programs

As loyalty card programs grew in popularity throughout the late 1990s, supermarkets began to realize that a by-product of loyalty programs was the collection of supermarket transaction data that described not only what customers purchased but allowed supermarkets to analyze trends in the buying habits of customers. The collection of such powerful information has created actionable data that provides supermarkets with the ability to more effectively target buyers by understanding their shopping habits. The increasing importance and prevalence of digital advertising is an ideal counterpart to the collection of supermarket transaction data, allowing them to create the most accurately targeted advertising campaigns ever, but many supermarkets haven’t taken full advantage of this information.

One way that supermarkets can use transactional data to their benefit is to use web-based technology, such as retargeting, to provide highly relevant advertising to customers. In essence, the combination of supermarket transaction data and retargeting technology allows them to create personalized advertising flyers to shoppers and potential shoppers which can be transmitted through a number of sites that shoppers are already visiting. Advertising with the Gourmet Ads network can help your supermarket accomplish exactly this – when you provide us with advertising information, we match it to what our customers are looking for and the things we know about our audience so that we can deliver targeted advertising right to the customers you have been aiming for.

Supermarket Transaction data can also be used to create specific shopper incentive programs that are aimed at a targeted group.  For example, one store that analyzed anonymous shopping habits of its consumers found that men who bought diapers on a certain day usually also purchased alcohol.  This seemingly strange connection is something that the marketing department may have never dreamed of, but the information lead to a marketing plan that reached out to dads in a new way. The transactional data you use can be combined with advertising on the Gourmet Ads network to deliver promotions, loss leaders, special sales, and coupons to shoppers who are most likely to be interested in these items.

Supermarket transaction data is a powerful tool for targeted advertising

Transactional data can be collected in order to create customer profiles which are then used to market product to so-called look alike customers. For example, if your supermarket transaction data tells you that shoppers who purchase a particular item are highly likely to purchase another item at the same time, Gourmet Ads can use that information to target customers who look at the first item online with advertisements that offer the second item.

Targeted advertising with Gourmet Ads isn’t just for large scale retailers with locations across the country. Using anonymous data submitted by users as they surf online, Gourmet Ads can display your advertising right to customers in your local area.

The result of combining your collected transactional data with Gourmet Ads wide range of digital advertising tools is relevant, personalized marketing to your customers. The goal of targeted marketing is to make the most of every ad dollar that you spend, and supermarket transaction data allows Gourmet Ads to come up with a more complete picture of your shopper and focus advertising efforts on the customers who are most likely to visit your store.

Supermarket Transaction Data is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Local Advertising to attract Local Grocery Buyers

Local advertising is very important if supermarkets hope to increase sales for attracting shoppers. Like other national marketers, many supermarkets turn to advertisements such as newspaper inserts to bring in customers. The use of ads and coupons in daily newspapers and limited television and radio advertising hasn’t allowed most supermarkets to get the results they have been looking for. As a result, newspapers are seeing a decline in sales of this type of ad. While most supermarket chains are aware of the fact that internet advertising is now the most popular and powerful way to appeal to shoppers, many do not realize the potential of using an advertising network to attract local shoppers.

Traditionally, newspaper space devoted to supermarket advertising relied heavily on what is known in the industry as “Best Food Day”, normally Wednesday or Thursday each week. During this time, newspapers devote extra space to food articles and advertising from local grocery stores and supermarkets. The reason that supermarkets and grocery stores relied so heavily on advertising during this period is that they understand that local readers who are interested in food will be looking for ads on those days.

Today’s shopper is spending more time online and less time reading the paper- and customers are going to sites that feature information about food and cooking. What many local retailers may not realize is that thanks to the use of technologies such as geo targeting, they can advertise to shoppers in a specific DMA or even a zip code. The idea is that when local supermarkets purchase advertising space through the Gourmet Ads network, we can target your ads so that they appear only to shoppers who live and work in the same geographic area as your supermarket.  Whether you are a larger chain that covers several states or a neighborhood grocer, we can target your ads to the audience who is most likely to walk in your doors.

Gourmet Ads can provide accountability for local advertising

One of the reasons that so many local supermarkets are turning to digital local advertising is due to the high level of measurability and accountability that Gourmet Ads can offer. By showing your ads to people who live in your area and are interested in food, Gourmet Ads can ensure that you are getting the most from every advertising dollar you spend. Digital advertising with Gourmet Ads for local grocers creates a great opportunity for supermarkets to reach out to new customers directly by providing advertisements and specials to shoppers in a way that reduces inefficient ad spending. Placing an ad with the Gourmet Ads network allows you customers to find savings with online coupons, learn about new recipe ideas featuring sale items, complete meal planning tasks, and so much more.

Allowing Gourmet Ads to market to grocery buyers in your area will help you business expand by reaching out to today’s internet savvy consumers who expect even brick and mortar businesses to have a substantial online presence. Whether you are planning to expand your supermarket across the country or just want to reach the shoppers in your neighborhood, with local advertising, Gourmet Ads can help find the shoppers you’ve been missing.

Local Advertising is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Undertake Contextual Advertising Campaigns with Gourmet Ads

Contextual advertising is one of the “buzz words” in internet marketing. With major search providers and contextual advertising networks offering contextual advertising, many people have begun wondering how they can use this method to their benefit. You may be surprised to find out that Gourmet Ads has been using contextual advertising for a long time – our contextual ads appear on the pages of websites that are members of our advertising network. The question is how deep do you need to go with your contextual advertising. Understanding the content of our pages and the personality of our readers allows us to place your advertising in front of customers who are the most likely to act upon it.

Businesses know that to get the most from online marketing, they need to not only get their ad in front of viewers, they have to get their ad in front of the right viewers. Contextual advertising with Gourmet Ads provides a number of ways to do just that. Advertising on the Gourmet Ads vertical network means that you know that the sites your ads appear on will be related to food, will have customers who enjoy reading about food and entertaining, and you will have the ability to create truly targeted marketing.

Contextual advertising provides many of the things that advertisers are looking for in terms of finding the right place to display their ads. Prices are based on how many ad impressions you get, and contextual advertising ensures that each one is a high quality impression. Even customers who do not click through will take notice of your ad, building your brand name and reputation up. Contextual advertising with Gourmet Ads isn’t limited to just banner ads. You can use video content, interactive ads, or alternative forms of advertising on most of our sites, and we will find the sites that work best with what you have to sell.

Contextual Advertising with Gourmet Ads can also be Geo Targeted

Contextual advertising with Gourmet Ads offers you a way to reach customers who were not already looking for your company by interpreting what they are looking at to determine who will be most interested in your product. While Gourmet Ads offers contextual advertising in terms of the subject matter that is posted, we also offer you the ability to show your ads to customers in a specific geographic location, making your advertising even more targeted. This is ideal for advertisers who serve a limited geographic area and customers such as grocery stores, kitchen goods retailers, restaurants, gourmet foods retailers, and anyone else with a specific geographic location.  Displaying your ad to customers in a specific geographic region ensures that each ad impression you get.

Gourmet Ads offers two forms of Contextual Advertising ;

1. We place your advertising next to recipe and food content ( we only work with food and recipe style sites ) thus providing high relevancy
2. We place your advertising on search results pages on www.recipebridge.com and other similar styled sites. So when people are searching for say “broad beans” readers might see an advertisement for frozen peas or simialr.

Gourmet Ads offers other types of contextual advertising as well. For example, Gourmet Ads’ retargeting program will display your ad to customers who have previously visited your site to help build brand awareness and keep your product in front of the right customer. Contextual advertising on the Gourmet Ads vertical network means placing your ad in the hands of customers who want to buy what you are selling. Let us help you place your advertising message in the right environment by taking advantage of contextual advertising and placing your ad on our network of sites.

Contextual Advertising is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Achieve Brand change by Consumers using Bread Advertising

Bread may very well be the definition of a staple food, and there are few households that would consider their weekly grocery shopping complete without purchasing at least one loaf of bread. While many consumers have purchased the same brand of bread for years, they are also open to the idea of new types of bread that may offer health benefits. That’s where Gourmet Ads can help your business – by bringing bread advertising to the household grocery buyers that purchase loaves of bread each week.

One of the major movements in bread advertising is to inform customers about the health benefits of a certain brand of bread. Wonder Bread built its brand by advertising to consumers, particularly children, about the health benefits of their bread. Today’s shoppers are looking for breads that offer more than just a quick way to make a sandwich- they are looking for whole grain and specialty breads that meet their dietary needs.

If your company produces bread that has significant health benefits, the Gourmet Ads audience offers the perfect place to let customers know what you have to offer. Additionally, if your company offers bread that meets specific needs, advertising can help you reach the frustrated consumers that are looking for just what you are selling. Examples include bread made for those with wheat intolerance or who are attempting to reduce Gluten in their diets. Often, consumers are not aware of the availability of this type of product, and it takes very little to make them loyal customers if you have what they are looking for.

Bread Advertising is Ideal for Digital Advertising Campaigns

Bread advertising, like many other foods, also has a seasonal component which makes it a good match for digital advertising campaigns. For example, advertising your brand to back-to-school shoppers may remind them that creating healthy lunches is easier than they might realize when they purchase the right bread. Other seasonal opportunities for bread advertising relate to celebrations that include family and food – dinner rolls for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter for example. Since bread is often a part of nearly every meal, advertising to household grocery buyers should focus on keeping your brand name in their minds as they hit the aisles.

While most bread advertising is focused on prepared bread that is often sold in grocery stores, advertising your bakery fresh bread is just as important. Purchasing bread from a bakery is a different experience for customers. Whether your grocery store offers a bakery or you are a stand-alone bakery, bread advertising through Gourmet Ads can be highly effective. With tools that allow us to place your ads in front of shoppers in your geographic region, digital bread advertising is just as effective as local television or newspaper advertising.

Bakeries and bread manufacturers are part of a very competitive industry in which there are many players, but finding your niche can be as simple as letting customers know how your brand fits into their healthy, busy lifestyle. Whether you have a global reach or market only to nearby customers, Gourmet Ads can help you get your bread advertising message out to customers.

Bread Advertising is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Reaching Grocery Intenders Online

Salespeople in the automotive market often refer to customers who are ready to buy a car as “auto intenders.” The term describes someone who is almost certain to purchase a vehicle but who has not committed to buying a specific vehicle yet. In the grocery world, the term Grocery Intenders can be used to refer to potential shoppers who haven’t yet loaded their carts. Unlike high-dollar goods such as cars, groceries are a must have for nearly everyone. However, each time a customer leaves his or her home to purchase groceries they must first decide where they will shop and what they will buy. This decision making process provides an opportunity for retailers to influence the shopping decisions of the so-called Grocery Intenders.

When an “auto intender” enters the lot, the salesman doesn’t need to convince that shopper to buy a car; instead, the salesman has to convince the shopper to buy the car he is selling at that car dealership. It is the same with grocery buyers – customers already know that they are going to buy groceries; they just need a reason to buy what you want to sell them from your grocery store. This is where advertising aimed at the target market makes a difference, even before they’ve gone to the store. Brands need to influence them and encourage them to write your brand on their shopping list opposed to a generic name. Gourmet Ads can help influence grocery buyers online when they are making meal decisions. Providing recipes and meal ideas on your website is one way to help shoppers make the decision to buy new products.

Is your brand talking to Grocery Intenders before they go to the supermarket?

While grocery buyers are unlikely to need detailed information about every product in the store, is the staff in store ready and willing to help shoppers find your brand. Will they recommend a competitor? Even better, consider hosting in-store cooking classes that will make customers into educated buyers.

The final thing that you will need to sell to “grocery intenders” is the groceries themselves. Even before a grocery buyer enters the store, the best way to appeal to “grocery intenders” is to know as much as you can about them before they enter the store. The Gourmet Ads audience of consumers is as some would say, dedicated “foodies”, and most are homeowners, parents, and are the main food preparers in the home. These shoppers are also highly likely to research online before they ever come into a store, and many have a good idea of what they want before they ever begin shopping.

The goal of your advertising should be to attract new customers and encourage them to buy products they have not tried before. In order to do this, turn to Gourmet Ads to help you design marketing plans that can reach Grocery Intenders online.

Grocery Intenders is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Tap new Consumers with Supermarket Home Delivery

One of the biggest challenges faced by today’s grocery buyer is how to find the time and energy it takes to go the grocery store. With more households made up of single parents or both parents working, a trip to the store to buy those much needed staples can be a significant challenge schedule wise. While only a handful of grocery retailers offer home delivery of online orders, consumer surveys suggest that offering home delivery can be a significant way to bring in new customers.

Several large retailers have begun experimenting with the idea of delivering groceries right to their shoppers’ front door. Early results show that supermarket home delivery may be the wave of the future for many families. Canned and boxed goods are easy candidates for delivery from major retailers, but the demand for delivery of fresh goods, paper products, and even toiletries has left a major opening for local grocery stores.

While busy working families are one segment of the supermarket home delivery market, another is senior citizens and housebound adults who have difficulty physically navigating a trip to their local supermarket. Those sites that offer supermarket home delivery of grocery items- particularly retailers who intend to provide high levels of customer service such as unloading groceries inside the home- can expect to develop a loyal following among those who have difficulty in navigating supermarket aisles.

Aside from home delivery, supermarkets who are considering online ordering may want to consider store pick-up. Essentially, customers do their shopping online over the course of a day (or even several days), and then place an online order. The retailer provides a time when the customer can pick up their order, and then simply loads the selected items right into the customer’s vehicle. This method can be a great time saver for busy moms who don’t want to spend time walking up and down aisles as well as those with mobility challenges.

If your chain has decided to begin offering home delivery or curbside pickup of groceries, the next step becomes attracting customers. Since the majority of customers who take advantage of this service will be regular internet users, it makes sense to begin an online marketing campaign for your new service. Placing ads that mention home delivery on sites frequented by household grocery buyers is the best way to get the word out about home delivery options available at your location. Appealing to buyers on food-related sites such as those that offer recipe ideas or food blogs can encourage customers to click through and find out more about home delivery options.

Developing an Advertising Supermarket Home Delivery Campaign

As home delivery of online grocery orders becomes more popular, you may consider creating an advertising campaign specifically aimed at consumers who can benefit from online ordering and home delivery. For example, busy mothers who spend time looking for new recipe ideas will be glad to find out that they can have the ingredients for the healthy, easy to prepare meals they have found delivered right to their home, giving them more time for cooking and spending time with their families rather than running to the grocery stores.

Supermarket Home delivery plans work perfectly in conjunction with other online tools such as meal planning checklists that allow shoppers to plan ahead for several days’ worth of meals. Supermarkets which are planning a home delivery option should include online advertising as part of their advertising launch strategy for this increasingly popular alternative to going to the grocery store. Gourmet Ads runs advertising programs for supermarkets and grocery stores around the world everyday and we’re currently seeing more and more advertising campaigns around Supermarket Home Delivery.

Advertising Supermarket Home Delivery is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

From Single Fathers to men who love Cooking, Men Buy Groceries

While women are still the primary grocery buyers in their homes, a growing number of men buy groceries and are taking over as the lead household grocery shopper. Ranging from single fathers to men who just love the art of cooking, appealing to male shoppers can be a smart move for grocery stores, food manufacturers, and anyone who wants to catch the eye of the head shopper in the house. Whether it’s due to the increase in unemployed men or just a growing appreciation for cooking, it’s time to make room for dad in the food aisles.

Studies showing that men are more likely to do grocery shopping for their families also reveal a few key habits that can help advertisers become more effective when advertising to male shoppers. A large number of male shoppers report that although they do a significant amount of the shopping in their homes, they often come armed with a grocery list that is made by the female partner in the house. Often, this is complete with brand names, sizes, and even coupons to redeem at the checkout. So while men are more likely to do the actual shopping, women are still making a large amount of the household purchasing decisions when it comes to grocery and food items. This means that in order to appeal to the male shopper in the house, grocery stores may want to focus on making it easier for women to provide shopping lists- for example, by creating printable lists that can be taken to the store by the male shopper.

Because Men Buy Groceries, Grocery retailers should tailor advertising to Male Shoppers

For men who shop because they enjoy creating meals for their family, there are different implications for advertisers. Many men still enjoy creating traditional “man food”- barbecue, ribs, steak, and other dishes that are seen as being more masculine to create. But this doesn’t mean that male grocery shoppers are filling their baskets with beer and shaving cream- male grocery shoppers are purchasing product from the same categories as female shoppers, and in roughly the same amounts. With a greater number of male shoppers searching the aisles, grocery retailers should pay increased attention to how displays appeal to male shoppers. This also means that more men than ever are searching online to find recipe ideas and tricks and tips for creating the perfect meal. For advertisers, this means that online marketing ideas such as how-to videos that demonstrate cooking techniques should be created to appeal to male viewers.

The Gourmet Ads network of sites has an audience that reflects the changing roles of shoppers. Roughly 62% of our readers are female, and about 38% are male- a demographic that matches closely Nielsen research stating that grocery buyers are 61% female and 39% male. We see this rather consistently across all the sites in Gourmet Ads.

Advertising your products with Gourmet Ads allows you to not only reach both men and women. When you begin your next marketing campaign, consider how Gourmet Ads can help you put your products in front of Mr Grocery Buyer.

Remember that men buy groceries.

Men Buy Groceries is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Supermarket advertisers are constantly on the lookout for ways to attract new shoppers to their stores

Supermarket advertisers are constantly on the lookout for ways to attract new shoppers to their stores. While there are varying opinions about what works best, learning about the habits of grocery buyers can help supermarkets come up with effective strategies for bringing shoppers in. Once supermarkets know a particular trait or habit about their customers, they can develop campaigns to connect or engage with them. This in turns generates a better return on investment.

The primary reason cited by shoppers for choosing one store over another is the proximity of that store to home or work, followed closely by the location of the supermarket in relation to other shopping and parking. Stores that are located in densely populated residential areas are likely to attract shoppers simply due to their location, but that doesn’t mean that stores in business districts can’t bring in those same shoppers. Keeping in mind the fact that customers want to shop near where they spend time during other activities, think about how your location could help you bring in customers. Are you located in a business-heavy area? Think about offering after work meal specials to bring in busy employees looking for a quick way to prepare dinner and pick up a few groceries. By being creative with your advertising plans, you can attract customers who may not realize just how convenient shopping at your supermarket can be.

A more surprising reason cited by shoppers for choosing a certain supermarket is habit- shoppers continue to shop where they have always shopped even if there are other supermarket choices available. For supermarkets, this means that it is more important than ever to draw in new shoppers by offering incentives that make customers break their shopping routine and try out your supermarket. To bring in customers who are used to shopping at other local retailers, consider coming up with advertising that offers incentives to new customers including giveaways, classes, or other promotions. Many of these customers also say that they prefer shopping at the same stores because they are comfortable with the layout of the store and know where things are. Once you bring new customers into your supermarket, you may consider including advertising material that helps them learn the layout of the store more easily.

Customers cite brands & fresh produce as reasons for shopping at a particular supermarket

Customers cite the availability of certain brands and products, fresh produce, and a wide selection of merchandise as other reasons for shopping at a particular supermarket. Advertising that gives customers a chance to see the range of products you carry and marketing the quality of produce in your store is another way to bring in new shoppers. Whether you choose to accomplish this through print advertisements such as sales circulars, internet marketing, or television or radio spots, highlighting the quality and selection available in your supermarket can help bring in new customers. If your store carries it’s own brand, you should consider marketing those products as budget conscious consumers are likely to return to a certain store to purchase store brand goods.

Surprisingly, store specials were ranked below these factors as a reason to go to a certain store. Understanding the shopping habits of your customers can help a supermarket design advertising that will attract both new customers and help you retain loyal shoppers.

Which Supermarket? is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.