MARKET WATCH
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Lowes Food Deploys Integrated e-Coupon Solution
GLowes Foods has launched a unique new platform developed by Unata and Inmar to integrate digital coupons into its e-Commerce and e-Circular programs. The goal is a seamless digital grocery experience for shoppers.
“We are very excited to offer our guests this new digital coupon capability,” said Michael Moore, CMO of Lowes Foods. “It will simplify our guest’s experience and will empower them to maximize savings on their grocery basket. At Lowes Foods, this is just another step in our rebranding journey and is part of our continuing effort to innovate for our guests.”
Unata is a provider of 1-to-1 digital solutions for grocers. Inmar is the well-known technology and analytics company. Lowes Foods is the first grocery retailer to launch this new integrated solution, embedding Inmar’s digital coupons into the Unata-powered eCommerce and eCircular experiences.
While Inmar’s shopper behavior research finds nearly 40 percent of consumers regularly use digital coupons, these offers typically are found in a separate section of a grocer’s website, not allowing shoppers to view or clip coupons while list planning or online shopping. This has left shoppers unable to know which products have associated coupons or how the savings from their clipped coupons will reduce their cart total, making it more difficult for shoppers to save.
To solve these problems, the vendors developed an integrated experience that includes the following never-been-done-before capabilities:
- Dedicated Coupons Section within eCommerce Portal: Shoppers can access all coupons in one view within the eCommerce experience, with the ability to filter them by department.
- Coupon Pages Listing All Applicable SKUs: Shoppers can now view all eligible products for each coupon on the coupon page, with the ability to add product to the cart and clip coupons directly from the coupon page.
- Coupons Displayed on Product Pages: Whenever Applicable: Shoppers can now view all available coupons for each product on the product page, with the ability to clip a coupon directly from the product page.
- Digital Coupon Suggestions in Cart: If a product has been added to the cart for which there is a related, unclipped coupon, it will be displayed in the cart, with the ability to clip the coupon directly in the cart.
- Savings Incorporated into Estimated Total: Once the coupon has been clipped and the right amount of associated products has been added to the cart, shoppers are able to see how the savings reduce the cart total in real time, helping them to better manage their budgets and have a more enjoyable customer experience.
“By working with Unata to enable this transformational solution, we help retailers and brands take full advantage of sales opportunities generated by the growth of eCommerce in the grocery vertical,” says David Mounts, Chairman and CEO of Inmar. “Research by Inmar Analytics shows that online grocery shopping is growing at a rate of 20 percent per year — with that growth accelerating every year. As shoppers look to save time and money when grocery shopping, Inmar and Unata help them do both through an integrated eCommerce experience,” adds Mounts.
Kroger Names IRI as Preferred Market Measurement Partner
The Kroger Co. has named IRI as its preferred market measurement partner to enhance the grocer’s Customer 1st Strategy and strengthen the industry-leading solutions and services offered by the two companies.
The pact gives Kroger and its supplier partners a common view of their business performance compared to the rest of the market. The IRI Liquid Data technology platform and extensive product movement and causal data - including weather, gas and macroeconomic factors - are designed to help both Kroger and its suppliers collaborate more easily and make better decisions to benefit customers.
“In everything we do and every decision we make, we put our customers first. Our partnership with IRI is another step in this direction,” said Mike Donnelly, Kroger’s executive vice president of merchandising. “We believe IRI has the best tools and technology to allow both Kroger and our suppliers to share a comprehensive view of industry-wide product-movement data, which will lead to better insights and help us create even better experiences for every customer.
Andrew Appel, president and chief executive officer, IRI, said, “IRI and Kroger are at the forefront of the shifting landscape by providing better market measurement data and industry-leading technology to create highly personalized consumer marketing to drive growth.
Next LEAD Marketing Conference Scheduled Nov. 16
The Shopper Technology Institute (STI) has announced that its next LEAD Marketing Conference will be Wednesday, Nov. 16.
STI’s 10th LEAD is a virtual event that features some of the industry’s most knowledgeable experts speaking about trends and developments in Loyalty, Engagement, Analytics and Digital Application. The slate of presentations will be announced next month.
More information about the conference, co-hosted by CPGmatters.com, is available at www.LEADMarketingConference.com.
GS1, Global Retail Industry Collaborate to Improve Commerce
A GS1 collaboration with retail industry leaders offers a simplified path forward for the unique identification of products to better support commerce initiatives.
On June 30, 2016, GS1, the global standards organization, approved the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) Management Standard, a change that supports a more intuitive product identification management process for today’s retail marketplace. GTINs are the series of numbers indicated under a U.P.C. barcode symbol and are used by brands to uniquely identify trade items in the supply chain and online.
Presented in an easy-to-understand format, the GTIN Management Standard simplifies a set of business principles previously outlined in its predecessor, the GTIN Allocation Rules, which has been industry’s adopted method for making decisions about changing GTINs for product identification. At the heart of the new standard are 10 unique product identification rules, condensed from 46, designed to help companies make faster and better-informed business decisions about when to change a GTIN.
The GTIN Management Standard is part of a larger industry initiative that is dedicated to making the rules for GTIN management—and the sharing of data about minor product changes—simpler and more effective. Senior-level business, e-commerce and IT decision-makers from around the world, representing retailers, manufacturers, selling platforms and solution providers, have voiced their support.
“The new standard made it easier to make clear decisions and communicate these decisions across the organization—saving the company time and money,” says Lori Bigler, director, industry initiatives and standards at The J.M. Smucker Company. “Using the new rules, we completed the evaluation of all 125 products in minutes instead of days.”
“The collaboration around the GTIN Management Standard is the first step in a series of efforts that will help make unique product identification standards better suited to faster and more agile brick-and-mortar and e-commerce business environments,” said Carrie Wilkie, vice president, standards management, GS1 US®. “With the unprecedented support and enthusiasm from executives at major brands and retailers, GS1 US is committed to facilitating these important steps to enable future innovation and move at the speed the industry needs to succeed now.”
Industry can begin using the new GTIN Management Standard immediately. However, there is no expected need to change processes or systems already in place that were based on the former rules.
CPGToolBox Debuts GPS for TPM to Accelerate User Adoption
CPG ToolBox Trade Planner, the only Trade Promotion Management (TPM) solution built on the Salesforce platform, has launched GPS for TPM, an on-screen tutor, onboarding tool and change management aid to accelerate software adoption.
He company says it is the first and only TPM solution offering built-in functionality to address common pain points consumer goods (CG) companies encounter when implementing new trade promotion technology.
According to the 2015 TPx Survey conducted by the Promotion Optimization Institute, 80 percent of CG companies have challenges training and supporting new users. GPS for TPM is designed to proactively navigate users through each step of building, managing and settling a trade promotion using a series of pop-up balloons and call to action buttons - without the need to change screens or reference video tutorials.
The on-screen navigation functionality within GPS for TPM is specific to each user’s role to increase knowledge retention and improve the learning curve of using the CPGToolBox Trade Planner platform. By focusing on the individual user and acknowledging behavioral components that come with adopting new software and processes, GPS for TPM will enable CG companies of all sizes to achieve faster training times and reduce support requests.
“The ever-present training tool within CPGToolBox Trade Planner is a significant step toward tackling change management issues surrounding software adoption rates, user experience and long-term training retention,” says Rick Pensa, CEO of CPGToolBox. “The GPS for TPM functionality is a real game changer; there are literally no more excuses to continue using spreadsheets to manage trade spend.”
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