SHOPPER MARKETING
SHOPPER MARKETING
Should Shopper Marketing ‘ Own ’ E-Commerce ?
By Lisa Crocco
After attending the Path 2 Purchase Expo on September 26-28 and the Online & Digital Grocery Summit on November 8 in Rosemont , IL , it ’ s clear that eCommerce is the obvious hot topic of discussion . And for good reason . Forrester predicts that online sales will account for 17 % of all US retail sales by 2022 , up from a projected 12.7 % in 2017 .
Ecommerce is this seemingly unchartered territory for most CPG companies though . Brands know they need to get educated on the space and capabilities in order to accelerate business and sales . At both of these events , the rooms were packed with shopper marketers , sales managers , category leads , CEOs , account executives , marketing directors , brand managers , and business development managers . Since eCommerce is such a trending topic everyone wants to dive into this space .
Ecommerce needs to be the responsibility of someone , some team or in some cases , multiple teams . With 95 % of Americans shopping online yearly , 80 % shopping online at least monthly , and 30 % shopping online weekly , this is a trend your company would be foolish to ignore . Putting this enormous responsibility into the hands of the right team ( s ) will help to ensure success in the space . But whose responsibility is eCommerce strategy , plans , and execution anyways ?
Different Ways To Approach The E-Commerce Space
There are many different ways your company can approach diving into the eCommerce space . The basics that whatever team responsible will have to own , include getting educated on the space , vetting vendors , creating capability decks , and presenting findings to senior leadership . Once a full-stack plan has been established and approved , the team can then work with the vendors , sales managers , brand managers , and other parties to execute the plan .
Here are a couple different pros and cons for each team your company might be considering for these responsibilities :
The Shopper Marketing Team
The pros here include the fact that most eCommerce work will be done on retailer websites and we all know that retailer specific initiatives are a shopper marketer ’ s responsibility . The team has great opportunity and exposure to this emerging trend for other job / growth opportunities down the line and already works closely with the brand and sales teams on their plans . Shopper marketing initiatives and eCommerce initiatives can share similar tactics . For example , having an influencer marketing campaign that drives consumers to specific retailer websites and offers them a discount code .
On the flipside , this team has a lot of work to manage on top of all the other responsibilities a shopper marketer has , typically there is no additional headcount to assist with eCommerce execution , and since shopper marketing budgets are typically smaller than brand or trade , there might be no additional funds in the budget to spend towards these new ( and expensive ) initiatives .
The Ecommerce Team
The plus for this is that it has a dedicated team member or team to devote solely to eCommerce strategy and management , and would report directly to head of sales or head of the company , which is a good idea , since the red tape can be removed and learning expedited . Depending on
62 MAL22 / 18 ISSUE