After thirty years of existence, shopper marketing is widely adopted across industries and geographies but the discipline has remained confidential for the marketing community at large. It is not studied in business schools or universities. It’s not discussed in industry events or in the trade press, particularly in Europe where I live.
To give you a personal anecdote: in a recent assignment, I had to do shopper marketing inductions to young graduates in a large multinational company. Among the twenty or so interns I trained, none of them had heard about shopper marketing before. Not a statistically valid observation but a thought-provoking one.
Ironically, shopper marketing is a powerful answer to the challenges those young graduates will face in their jobs. The growth imperative made popular by Byron Sharp and the Ehrenberg Bass Institute for example. Shopper marketing is focused on generating incremental sales. At the core of every shopper marketing initiative, there is a pocket of growth, untapped so far. An unserved or underserved need that can be fulfilled. At a time when flat is the new up, knowing exactly where you can extract additional value can be precious.
I have been practicing shopper marketing for the last ten years and I love what I do. With this blog, I want to share the love and modestly contribute to raising awareness and interest for a strategic yet largely unknown marketing discipline.
Think Shopper 