Summit Presenters: CPG Companies Must Invest in Digital Shelf

New York — Consumer product manufacturers are obviously very concerned with how their products appear in stores, but as online research and e-commerce continue to grow, CPGs need to make sure they’re just as well represented digitally. “With shoppers today, time is the new currency,” Leslie Danford, senior national account manager, e-commerce, for Beam Suntory said in March during a Shopper Marketing Summit presentation. “We know that if you don’t appear in the top search results on the first page, you may not be in the consideration set. If you’re missing an image, the shopper may not see you at all.”Shoppers want to be able to identify products online as easily as they can in stores, which means that brands must supply e-commerce vendors with images and descriptions and update the digital content whenever the physical product changes.“As a retailer, we want our images to be detailed, we want them to be correct, and we want them to represent what the product is,” said co-presenter Cher Zeller, program manager for Ahold Delhaize’s Peapod. “There’s a lot of compelling item details that CPG companies have spent a lot of time producing, and this is the only way we can help you get that out there.”Beam Suntory shadowed shoppers to see what they looked at and found that they thought missing content reflected poorly on the e-commerce retailer since they couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t be there. This gives brands an opportunity to work with retailers to supply not only the basic information on a product that shoppers are looking for, but custom content that can inspire purchases.For instance, Peapod worked with Unilever’s Tresemme to develop a hair profiler for the website’s health and beauty page that asked consumers to identify their hair issues. It then recommended products to help. “We had a lot of fun with it and a lot of engagement with our consumers,” Zeller said.Beam has worked with e-tailers to create cocktail kits that provide cross-merchandising opportunities and provide a transition between inspiration and executive. Shoppers can view a video on how to make a Moscow Mule cocktail and then order everything they need. Putting the package together also positions the products as a gift option. The company is continuing to look for ways to meet the needs of e-commerce shoppers, including helping them answer questions like, “What is the difference between Irish and Japanese whiskey?”Co-presenter Courtney Jane Acuff, vice president of product & marketing for product content creator and distributor ItemMaster, said that this sort of co-op activity gives brands the same level of engagement they could get in-store through displays or demonstrations. The digital space allows efforts to get even more creative. E-commerce teams might not have that content, but brands should work with other parts of their organization to make sure they’re taking advantage of opportunities to increase digital basket size and improve customer satisfaction.“You automatically disappoint if you’re not taking advantage of these types of opportunities to enhance, build and storytell,” Acuff said. “Better content creates more sales. It’s critical to think of your overall basket size and the impact that e-commerce can have on you.”Content must move between a brand’s marketing, planning, operations and e-commerce teams to maintain consistency and best utilize resources. “Once you have all of that content clean and organized in one space, it can be used for all sorts of things like in-store digital activations, sell sheets or training,” Danford said. “The challenge is communicating that value to leadership.”Having the right content online is especially important when it comes to educating shoppers about new or changing products. For instance, new labeling laws mean that many packages will change and that transition needs to be reflected on the digital shelf. “Investing in this rich content ahead of product launches is really, really valuable,” Danford said.

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