WHAT’S THE Andrew Arnold, NZ Country Manager, Shopper Intelligence, shares insights into enticing, exciting and retaining your off-premise liquor customers.
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hopping is an activity that all of us partake in to varying degrees, some of us more than others! While the reasons for going shopping will vary depending on the circumstances, or even the type of store, one thing is consistent – we go shopping for a reason. In shopper parlance we call this an ‘occasion’ and this has significant bearing on what shoppers expect, what they want to see and what they are likely to be enticed by. You won’t necessarily know the reason the shopper has come into the store (unless, of course, you ask them the moment they come in) but by understanding the motivations behind these reasons you can set your store up for success. THE PRE-STORE ENVIRONMENT The first place to start with is planning. Depending on whether the shopper planned to come to the store or whether the decision was an impulsive one will have an impact on shopper behaviour. In the liquor channel, we look at several different consumption or drinking occasions and the level of planning 10 THE SHOUT NZ – JULY 2021
is quite different amongst these. For shoppers on a general stock up what you would expect to see is what you get with very strong levels of planning, but past that fairly obvious occasion things start to get a little more complicated. For example, if shopping for a party, shoppers are as equally likely to be impulsive as they are to plan; and when looking for a drink to have with a meal, shoppers are more likely to impulsively decide to buy. Highlighting drinks instore that can be paired with specific types of meals is an effective way of enticing shoppers to buy that might not have otherwise done so. What does all this mean? The simple answer is to understand what occasions are more likely to be planned and communicate those pre store to shoppers through mailers, EDMs and advertising. Using valuable advertising space to talk about categories that are less likely to have stocking up behaviour isn’t a good use of resources. The flip side is to ensure you highlight categories instore that are more likely to bought on impulsive occasions, such drinking with a meal (e.g. red wine, cider) or buying for a gift (e.g. tequila, whisky).
Andrew Arnold, NZ Country Manager, Shopper Intelligence With 20 years’ worth of experience in NZ FMCG, Andrew has worked in a wide variety of sales and insights roles with the likes of Red Bull, Gordon & Gotch and Energizer. During his career he has led sales and insights teams to develop insight-led strategies that drive both retailer and category growth.