How brands attract the attention of online shoppers

Cure Hydration’s lucky break came at a strange time.

Walmart, CVS and Whole Foods, owned by Amazon, began wearing the starter’s fruit-flavored moisturizing powder during the pandemic. However, boxes and packages of electrolyte drink often lingered behind stores, while busy employees tried to fill the shelves with high-demand items such as hand sanitizer and paper towels. Its main sales leader – offering free trials at sporting events such as triathlons or after classes at fitness studios – has stopped. Customers did not discover the brand while shopping online or did not see it when they quickly passed the color on trips to the store.

So, instead, the founder and CEO of Cure Hydration, Lauren Picasso, decided to try another strategy to put their products in the buyers’ baskets: free samples in Walmart’s pick-up orders.

“As an emerging brand, we wanted to find a way to reach customers knowing that they don’t browse stores as much as they used to,” she said.

She said the samples raised sales, while costing less and scaling more than about 1,000 stores more easily.

Add sampling to the list of pandemic changes that may remain. As more food buyers use pick-up and delivery on the market, consumer packaging companies have had to experiment with new ways to present their products to people. Large retailers are trying to capitalize on increased demand by charging brands for access to their buyers and the data they have gathered about their preferences – while delighting customers with free gifts.

For years, consumer packaged goods companies have paid retailers for prime real estate properties in stores, which helps them attract buyers’ attention – such as end caps, a product display at the end of a aisle. That equation has changed as more shoppers retrieve their purchases in the store parking lot after ordering them online.

US online food sales are up 54% in 2020 and are expected to exceed $ 100 billion for the first time this year, according to eMarketer. The market research firm said that these habits will overcome the pandemic, as buyers consider it a more convenient way to shop even after being vaccinated. By next year, eMarketer expects more than half of the US population to be online food buyers. By 2023, it has estimated that online food sales will account for 11.2% of total US food sales.

Walmart’s US e-commerce sales rose 79% last year compared to the previous year, fueled by food orders, but have not yet made a profit.

Sampling is an opportunity to make money for Walmart. The retailer started a sampling and sampling program in 2014, but pays more attention as customer traffic moves more to the parking lot. The retailer charges companies when their product is added to an on-board or delivery order.

Walmart is looking for new revenue streams as it juggles the additional costs that come with online orders, such as picking up shopping orders from the shelves and delivering purchases to customers. At a recent investor meeting, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said he wants to use his coverage as the world’s largest retailer to develop other companies, including advertising. He said he wants to monetize the data he collects about buyers.

Even the big brands take note. General Mills increased the number of samples it paid for to place pick-up orders on board from retailers, including Walmart, Kroger and Target.

Jay Picconatto, director of brand experience for trade marketing at General Mills, said food sampling “is something we wouldn’t have achieved even two years ago or 18 months ago.” However, while store traffic declined last spring and retailers limited in-store demos, he said the company leaned aggressively.

For example, some Walmart shoppers may have received a sample of Old Taco El Paso condiments with recipe cards around Cinco de Mayo. Walmart distributed Annie and Bunny Grahams fruit snacks at a Wal-Drive movie event.

“Then we found out, hey, it works and we actually like what’s going on,” he said. With several shoppers picking up food on board, he said, “It’s a place we want to keep playing.”

Alvis Washington, Walmart’s vice president of marketing, store design, innovation and experience, said his sampling program can help brands connect with the right customers. Customizing the samples a customer receives is a key goal.

It can also be used to strengthen customer loyalty to Walmart, Washington said. He turned some of his store parking lots into car theaters and trick or treat sites. At a store near her Arkansas headquarters, she had a special Mother’s Day event. It lit up the sky above several shops for a holiday drone show.

At each event, participants were surprised with a bag of evidence. Washington said the company wants to expand this to more Walmart and Sam’s Club stores. He described it as a “triple victory” – turning Walmart into a more attractive shopping destination, providing a fun business for customers and creating an opportunity for suppliers to “present their new and innovative products to customers”.

He said Walmart could start charging an insert fee for swag bags, as is the case with its business model for on-board takeover tests, along with the fact that companies have to cover the cost of products.

Walmart has also tested a welcome box for customers joining Walmart +, its subscription service it launched in the fall. Each includes a Walmart + branded bag and product samples. He said the retailer is expanding the program and intends to adapt the box more to customer preferences in the future.

Picasso said new approaches to product discovery are easier and more cost-effective. One day, she said a demonstration in the store distributed about 300 samples – which cost about 50 cents per sample, including the fee for reserving space in a store and its staff. She said the cost of including a sample in a lift order on board or in a swag bag varies by trader, but usually ranges from 10 cents to 30 cents each.

“It gets a lot cheaper to get into people’s hands in other ways,” she said.

Picasso said the company is again testing demonstration stations at several Whole Foods stores with a pandemic twist. Each packet of powder is individually packaged and people can pick up a stick of branded electricity and bottled water so they can safely try the product at home.

For other foods and beverages, however, she said the “ick” factor could last the pandemic because shoppers remain aware of the germs and do not want to eat a slice of chopped granola.

In addition, she said, retailers are becoming more sophisticated and allow companies to add samples to some pickup orders on board and not others based on customer buying history – a more targeted approach than relying on customers. suitable aliens to pass and take a sample.

General Mills will continue to pay for store displays, Picconatto said. But he said the pandemic has changed “the way we think about the balance of in-store and online leverage” – especially as e-commerce generates a higher percentage of its global sales.

“What we’re really interested in is getting on that shopping list,” he said.