2
min read

Online vs. offline: Where should grocery brands invest?

by Louise Eriksson , 26.10.2017

We get more and more signals that grocery brands are shifting marketing spends to digital solutions; digital campaigns to build your brand and trade investments in digital POS material and digital coupons for sales activation. Budgets are getting squeezed between online and offline initiatives since stores want brand owners to help them create even greater store experiences at the same time as online opens up new and exciting opportunities for marketers.

The “digital-first movement” is evolving rapidly. Leading edge consumers frequently search for food inspiration online and use mobile apps when shopping, which gives us a hint on how we all will act in the future. Grocery chains in the forefront try out different hybrid shopping solutions where lines are becoming blurred between online and offline shopping. We have evidence that the campaigns and brand building you invest in online will also affect in-store sales in the long run since online shoppers are in fact also the most valuable ones offline. With this in mind we understand brand owners would like to invest accordingly.

Budgets are getting squeezed and online investments still insecure and unstable

At the same time you ask yourself how efficient your online investments are and some even chose to continue the "safe” traditional offline investment while waiting for more insights. Digital banners and ads on websites are quite expensive and ROI is insecure and unstable. You can also pay online grocery chains to make your product appear on the first page for your category to increase sales, but will you be able to do so for a longer period of time?

One way of driving long term conversion on online grocery stores without investing in expensive inserts or promotions can be to improve your product’s keywords to better match your shoppers’ search terms. To know what keywords to use for your products, you need to know what shoppers search for in your category. Knowing that will help you to make the right decisions and ensure your products to be ranked among the top items, creating sales opportunities and driving higher conversion rates.

Determining the search terms for your category on grocery sites key to improve conversion

40 percent of those using search terms at grocery sites uses brand names but what do the others write in the free search field? How do you determine what search terms consumers are using to find products in your category?

Replicas of e-commerce sites in market research allow grocery brand owners to do pre-tests of all their investments online and are a great way to find your products’ high-value search terms. This is a rather simple way of improving your conversion online before spending money.

Contact us for more information on how to find the search terms for your category online.