Cartifacts_Issue_4

cartifacts FOURTH EDITION

Cartology's

must-read +

The latest from research, insights and the retail media industry

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Welcome to the latest edition of Cartifacts During the past year, we have all experienced first hand the changes in our shopping behaviours and for brands these changes are universal regardless of category.

As it becomes increasingly more challenging to engage shoppers, campaign impact has become far more critical and engaging customers on their shopping journey has an even greater focus.

The shopping journey is no longer linear. For many customers shopping is now a hybrid, omnichannel experience based on personal preferences. For some, this means continuing 2

to shop in-store only, but for an increasing cohort of customers, this means researching and planning their shopping experience before they go in-store. And for others, it will be planning and buying everything online.

There are multiple touchpoints along the path to purchase. Our aim is to always enrich this journey, helping customers to navigate our ecosystem to find what they’re looking for as conveniently as possible.

In this edition we will go deeper into Cartology’s digital screen solution, the singular point of persuasion

at the entry threshold to the illuminated store ecosystem.

We will also share the latest spring insights, hear from Steve Geelan, Cartology’s Head of Product and Platform and get the wrapup from our new Senior Manager, Research and Insights, Matt Gower, on his Woolies Welcome week.

I hope you enjoy this month’s update.

Mark Mansour

Director, Client Partnerships & Sales

Planning for Christmas?

At Cartology, we understand how much forward planning and preparation goes into Christmas. With increased customers and digital engagement, Cartology provides brands with real customer impact over the Christmas period.

Cartifact Did you know, we had over 80million searches on Woolworths.com.au over the Christmas period last year? *

2020 CHRISTMAS INSIGHTS: With loyal customers and growing digital engagement, our seasonal Christmas products (Advent Calendars, chocolate stockings and candy canes) were driven by Older Families, Older Singles and Couples, and Young Families.

After a challenging year, customers looked to celebrate with a range of Christmas products and spend per customer and per shop on Christmas products increased by around 10% YOY. More customers filled their stockings

online, with Christmas products up by almost 70% YOY online Queenslanders love a countdown!

They’re almost 10x more likely to have bought advent calendars compared to the national average, and South Australians almost 7x more likely.

South Australians know the way to our heart – they’re more than twice as likely than the national average to have bought chocolate gifts.

*Source: Adobe Analytics, Nov/Dec 3 2020

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Utility and discovery in ecommerce

Written by Mark Mansour, Cartology's Director of Partnerships and Sales.

It is now a basic customer expectation that the ecommerce experience - from browsing to checkout - is seamless. Covid-19 has accelerated a shift to online shopping but does the digital environment meet customers’ shopping needs and can it replicate the theatre found in physical store environments?

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commerce has traditionally focused more on utility - the ease of browsing, serving relevant search results and enabling a seamless transaction with the least amount of friction.

‘Discovery’ is the opportunity to inspire shoppers, better inform and educate them, and create immersive, online experiences that help drive customer engagement and often end in a transaction.

This has always proven much more challenging to do online than in-store.

So, how do you create a digital environment to establish a relationship with customers which provides both utility and discovery, and what does that look like?

Today customers use digital platforms to inform their shop, be inspired about what to buy and better plan. Digital has now become the new front door to inform, compare and inspire our shopping experience.

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Discovery online is far more than an ad on a website, it is about making a constructive contribution to the customer mission and journey.

It translates in a variety of ways through content experiences that are more immersive. These include an element of storytelling, through touch points like video and gamification, to informing and facilitating, meal planning through

recipe inspiration, to helping customers understand more about the provenance of a product and the impact it has on our environment.

Lastly, for brands it is about providing a canvas to communicate their brand proposition and story, highlight their unique differences, benefits and importantly drive a deeper engagement with their customers and prospects.

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Whatever the strategy, digital experiences need to be driven by customer centricity to create a great experience - not purely cater to a brand need. It requires a deep understanding of customer behaviour to provide context and complement how a customer is using the platform. Some people are looking for inspiration when they shop - meal ideas or nutritional benefits and it’s a ‘feel good’ experience. Others may be on a mission - and want their transaction to be easy and seamless.

The opportunity for a brand is in how you develop a digital experience that is

at the intersection of utility and discovery in a way that is intuitive and complementary to that customer journey.

Cartology's content and commerce solutions are a response to these evolving customer needs, providing a platform that enables brands the opportunity to drive utility and enable discovery.

Cartology's Branded Shop has been designed as a bespoke destination for brands to better engage customers on Woolworths.com.au, with each experience unique to that brand.

For Nestlé, creating an online experience for customers through Branded Shop has been a great success. This was a first at Woolworths, creating a cross category ‘always on’ destination for customers to conveniently shop across Nestlé categories, find out what products are on offer in that week and get meal inspiration through recipes with an easy ‘add to cart’ function

for ingredients. It also offered new product inspiration and seasonal events. Nestlé saw a 40% uplift in spend by shoppers exposed to Branded Shop media versus those who were not and it continues to play an integral part in Nestlé’s eCommerce plans in 2021.

A combination of utility and discovery in digital environments is the future of successful customer engagement where customer and brand objectives meet in a seamless digital experience.

"For brands, the opportunity is to create a direct to consumer relationship within a trusted brand environment" MARK MANSOUR

*Source: Woolworths first party transaction data, 17/06/2020-15/06/2021 (Last 52 Weeks) vs 19/06/201916/06/2020 (Last Year)

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Spring is approaching

There’s a change in the air as the spring season approaches. It's a key moment for our customers to reset their lives – get their home in order, their garden in shape, adopt fresh and healthy food habits and reconnect with their family and friends. Here are the key trends we saw at the checkout last year.

SPRING ENTERTAINING

+11% Sales of

+7% Sales of

+10% Sales of

+19% Sales of

+25% Sales of

+5% Sales of soft

cheese platter packs

shaved deli meats

crispbread and crackers

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premium dips

seafood salad

drink mixers

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SPRING HEALTH AND BEAUTY

As spring starts to roll in, customer sentiment with health and wellness becomes a core focus.

Last year, customers made sun protection a priority, with an 12% increase in suncare purchases Also, as the flowers start to bloom, so did an increase allergy relief medicine sales (up 23%)

SPRING GARDENING SPRING CLEANING FEVER It’s time to sweep off the winter dust and get the house back to reality with a deep clean ready for when the visitors start to arrive.

Last year Older Families, Young Singles/Couples and Young Families all sprang into spring cleaning, driving sales of household Compared to 3 months prior.

cleaning products.

Spring fever set in and spend per customer on: Sales of brooms swept up with a 11% increase Cotton and strip mops cleaned up nicely with a 22% increase Microfibre cloths polished off the competition with an increase of 28%

Customers are ready to satisfy their green thumbs and begin preparations for their spring gardens Last year saw a 33% increase in gardening sales.

Calling all green thumbs, last year saw a 268%+ increase in gardening gloves, fertiliser and pest control products.

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Screen time How Cartology’s digital screen network is switching on customers.

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n recent years customer behaviour has changed dramatically. Today, with a world of choice at their fingertips, a customer’s path to purchase in-store consists of multiple influences and touch points, well before they ever place a product in their basket. Many also research online before they shop, virtually browsing the aisles to compare products and prices.

Cartifact Did you know, 42% of customers say our digital screens give them ideas for meals.

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While these switched-on shoppers may seem well prepared, we also know that 80 per cent have less than half of their eventual spend planned, presenting a unique opportunity to inspire and influence shoppers throughout their shopping journey.

And that’s where the potential of Cartology’s digital screen network is unrivalled.

Meet the power couple Cartology’s Front of Store

Screen Network enables brands to ‘switch on’ and impact customers at the point where they begin their shopping journey, across 981 Woolworths stores nationally. Located at the store entrance, they offer brands proximity at scale and 100 per cent on-target grocery buyers who are primed to purchase.

Now we can offer brands an even more targeted opportunity, with our new Fresh Screens Network.

Carefully positioned highimpact digital screens at almost 300 of our Deli,

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Seafood and Meat counters are specifically designed to engage and influence the instore customer in an even more contextually relevant setting.

We know our customers spend more time at these counters, and this increased dwell time is an opportunity to engage customers and inspire them in the moment, with content that’s highly relevant to the space they’re in. So relevant that in fact, 42 per cent of customers who recall seeing in-store deli screens have told us they inspire them with meal ideas, with 39 per cent also saying they’re more likely to purchase a product advertised there.

The Fresh Screens format is also important, because it has the ability to inspire customers, at the point of purchase.

While Front of Store screens aim to catch the customer’s eye as they’re walking into the store, Fresh Screens engage with customers where they’re more likely to be stationary, or browsing the counter. Each Fresh Screens media slot is 30 seconds in duration. This longer format gives brands the opportunity to showcase recipe ideas or serving suggestions, driving real customer connections, in the moments that matter most. *Cartology In-Store Shopper Study 2020.

Woolworths In-Store Shoppers n= 780.

Lurpak Christmas Case Study In the lead up to Christmas, Lurpak ran a themed campaign on the Woolworths screen network promoting their spreadable butter for the Christmas season.

The campaign featured across 202 Front of Store Screens driving cut-through and awareness as customers entered Woolworths to start their shopping journey.

RESULTS Stores with screens saw a 29% Sales Uplift compared to the same week YoY.

43% of purchases

were made from new to brand customers who had not purchased the product in the last 52 weeks.

Sales share increased by 14% for Lurpak in this category.

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Getting to know Ste Head of Product an

Industry insider

Check out the latest news and global trends from the retail click to industry.

1 ‘ Huge shift of

read

budgets': Retail media will eat everybody’s lunch – and TV is no exception

2 Dominating digital

shelves, first in the basket: why Chobani is piling into retailer media

3 Digital is the

new front door for brands in the customer-led era

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Steve Geelan is the Head of Product and Platform at Cartology. Steve has an extensive background in senior sales and commercial leadership roles having worked for major global and local media companies including Clear Channel, Mi9 and Ooh!

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What's the best thing about working at Cartology?

No question – it's the people, first and foremost. Following that, it’s the opportunity we have as a young business and the chance to contribute to building it. What I like most about that opportunity is that we can make a meaningful impact on, and for, our people and our partners. For our partners, the opportunity is to keep improving and deliver incredible solutions to their brand and trade challenges across our store locations and digital destinations.

For our people, it’s to be at such an exciting and early stage of our growth

and learn from this journey.

What’s exciting for brands who partner with Cartology?

It’s our ability to meaningfully connect brands to customers at critical points of the shopping journey, to inspire, help them discover, influence or drive a sale. We are learning and growing every day. We want to always be improving, so I hope what’s exciting for brands is that we will continue to seek and deliver opportunities and solutions to better connect with our customers.

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Looking over your career, what makes you proud?

When it comes down to it, there have been things, projects, ideas that I've led from inception to execution

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teve Geelan nd Platform that have given me a great sense of satisfaction. But honestly, I think I'm most proud of just trying to be a good person and doing my best for my team and those around me.

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What's the best advice you have been given?

Be clear on your goals, clear on your priorities and if you find yourself doing a task that doesn’t build to those goals, stop it.

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Always on my shopping list ✔ Weetbix ✔ Eggs ✔ Tuna ✔ Rice ✔

Rice crackers

Pretty much the only things my two young boys eat!

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A Warm Woolies Welcome

How a week in-store gave Matt a fresh perspective The premise of the Woolies Welcome program is for all new starters to spend time in each of the main departments in-store from bakery, grocery, fresh food, Pick Up and checkout.

Experience counts Matt Gower, our new Senior Insights Manager, reflects on his Woolies Welcome week and how spending time in store was a valuable and meaningful experience.

A long time ago, I spent two summers as a student working at Sainsbury’s. Armed with that foundational experience, I embarked on my four day ‘Woolies Welcome’ last week as part of the induction to my new role at Cartology.

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I began in the bakery section and offered my skills as a biscuit tester. Hairnet and apron on, I started under the stewardship of two lovely ladies, both veterans of the Warringah Mall store, with 50 years’ experience between them. My mentor, Rosie, was in her 60’s and had previously owned her own bakery business.

Rosie approaches her role at Woolworths with the same pride and focus on customer service that she would have given her own business. She told me the drawcard of working for Woolworths is the teamwork and camaraderie, as well as the interaction she has with customers; recurring themes

in other conversations I had in store.

Specialist expertise

Later in the week I worked with Bec, a qualified butcher, in the fresh fish and meat section. Her knowledge of meat and her enthusiasm was amazing. Having such experienced and passionate people like her serve our customers is a huge asset to the business. At those counters, the focus is entirely on engagement and the people I worked with were doing it brilliantly.

Next stop was the checkout, where I was amazed to see the number of ways people now pay for their shopping: credit and debit cards, phones, smart watches, vouchers, gift cards, even a tap ‘ring’, with a smaller number opting for cash.

A fresh perspective

Pick Up and Direct to Boot showed me just how much the store experience has changed. It’s a simple concept and a great customer service innovation.

Alyssa in Fruit & Veg

Jamie on Registers Seeing it from the inside however, you appreciate the complexities of making it happen.

This week made me realise what an important role the local supermarket plays in the community. I began to recognise faces coming into the store every few days and I can see why the team members' often know customers by their first names.

For the team members', it’s about helping customers find what they need to live their lives, while offering a pleasant and consistent experience.

Justin in Deli

‘ This week made me realise what an important role the local supermarket plays in the community.’

Noeline in Deli

Get in touch Talk to us about our unique, customer-focused media solutions Contact your Cartology representative for more information