You need to know who buys your products online
Every successful food and beverage business understands who buys their products. You really do need to define your target market to develop effective promotion plans and maximize return on the investments you make. When you are selling online this is more important than ever.
Yes, online provides access to everyone connected to the internet but you have to be realistic, they will not all buy your product.
Just the same as selling in bricks and mortar success is not just about making great products to sell, it is about selling the great products you make. To help you do this we have designed a new SKUFood C.A.R.T. process specifically for e-commerce. We have been learning a lot about this channel and invested the time to develop our proven process for this channel.
You can maximize the opportunity when you put the resources and effort into selling your products in a different channel. In the first segment of our C.A.R.T. process for e-commerce we ask the question ‘Who buys your product?”
Your online buyer could be different
Consumers who shop online can be different than the people buying your products in store. They have also changed a lot in the last 12-18 months. Prior to the pandemic we would have said online consumers were usually younger, lived in urban areas and might have been leery of perishable products. We have experienced a significant increase in online shopping which means the people buying are very different. It really is a much broader segment of the population.
Although it is a much larger group of people buying food and beverage online, they can be different. To ensure you are promoting your products effectively you should define your online buyer.
Demographics
The best place to start is to begin with dome demographics such as age, economic resources, education, household size etc. These parameters will help you determine the most effective message and even where to promote.
Each social media platform has a profile of their users. For example the consumers you would interact with on Facebook are very different than the people on TikTok. When you create posts you can learn about your consumers when they react, comment or share.
One of the largest benefits of selling online is the knowledge you can gain about your consumers.
Psychographics
Consumer behaviour is always interesting and the more you can understand about your target market the better. Psychographics help you determine what motivates your consumers. Considerations such as value, convenience and quality will influence who buys.
One great benefit of selling online is the opportunity to determine what works and what does not. You can measure results to different offers and promotions. For example, if you develop an online promotion use 2 or 3 different approaches to the program. Measure the reaction online shoppers have to your promotions and also when they actually do buy.
Amazon refers to this as A/B testing. The A and the B are simply two options. Implement the options and measure the reactions and results. You can learn so much and improve the effectiveness of your promotions.
Define your target market and continue refining this definition as you learn more.
If you have any questions or help figuring out how to get your product online or in the virtual shopping cart you can always call me at (902) 489-2900 or send me an email peter@skufood.com.
We are adding more industry updates and interesting ideas to your SKUFood newsletter. Hopefully you have heard me say this before and that it resonated with you in your business.
“Success in this industry is not just about making a great product to sell; it is about selling the great products you make”
Peter Chapman
If you see things happening let us know so we can share them with our community. We also want to hear if you find this helpful and benefits your food and beverage business!
Refillable packaging
It is interesting to see companies experimenting with this concept. I am still not convinced consumers will do their part but with these large CPG companies investing resources it will increase the exposure. If your target market would be interested in this it can be an effective point of differentiation.
New technology in packaging
Kellogg in partnership with NaviLens has added technology to their packaging that will allow a smartphone to scan and detect product information. It was designed to allow blind and partially sighted people access to ingredient, allergen, and recycling information. It is set to hit store shelves in the UK in 2022.
Food Marketing
Health Canada is examining the new rules put in place in the UK around the advertising of food products high in fat, salt and sugar between the hours of 5:30am and 9pm. It will be interesting to see how the review goes as many people support this change and some industry players will push back.
