Shopper Marketing

These days, there is lot of buzz on shopper marketing. However,the are wide range of perspectives to this discipline of marketing. But at fundamental level, shopper marketing deals with gaining insights of a shopper. It tries to understand what makes a consumer shop at a particular store, what makes him navigate in a particular manner at the store, what makes him buy a particular brand and so on. The emergence of large retailers and their power has made this Shopper Marketing possible.

Shoppers can be broadly classified into recreational shoppers, planned list shoppers, impulse buyers, and planned item shoppers. A customer or a consumer can switch among the above classification of shoppers on the basis of his need, state of mind etc. So, shopper marketing aims to target a particular category of shopper and not on type of consumers.

Spare a minute and think about various retailers in the country. You will spot that retailers target particular category of shoppers. Retailer MORE, mainly targets Planned List and Planned Item shoppers, but Big Bazaar targets all the above category of shoppers.

Shopper marketing covers other dimensions such as the merchandising initiatives, enhancing the shopping experience etc. It deals with providing the right assortment of “products and services” depending on the target shopper group, thus increasing the business.

However Shopper Marketing is not a replacement for Consumer Marketing. In fact, there is a very thin line of difference between the two. Also, I was not able to identify the advantages of shopper marketing, but not now after I came across this statement “It is difficult to reach Consumers”.

DTH Brands: Failing to deliver Expected Value?

DTH industry, at present, is undoubtedly experiencing a growth phase in India. We see many people switching to DTH service from the cable television. A recent study reported that the number of DTH subscribers in India, touched 27 million. DTH brands have tasted success in rural areas too especially in areas where there are no cable operators.

The pricing strategy of DTH brands has changed over the years. During the initial years of DTH in India, the Set Top Boxes attracted a price of about Rs.2000 approx. but came with free channel subscriptions for 6months or a year. This method of pricing was quite successful in attracting non-users to DTH service. However, now every DTH brand has reduced the price of set top boxes by about 50% but the channel subscription comes for a price.

However a large chunk of market is yet to be tapped considering that there are 150 million television sets in India. So all the DTH brands are going for it by rolling out various customer centric services and benefits.

DishTV is communicating about its emphasis on after sales services in its campaign. Its "Call Me" feature where a customer care executive calls the subscriber upon receiving a message, shows the brand's emphasis on customer service.

Airtel launched "lifetime free language pack" which offers free channels of one regional language when one subscribes for base pack. This can be a huge hit in the South where the regional channels rule the television.

Tata Sky since its entry into DTH has concentrated on providing innovative customer centric features. Its “Once a year Subscription Holiday”, allows a subscriber to temporarily disconnect Tata Sky services for a period of 5-15 days once a year. Its “TruChoice” package is a customer friendly initiative that gives its customers the option to view channels according to their taste, budget, and language or genre preferences. However the complexity that involves in choosing channels will benefit only the tech savvy customers.

All the DTH brands are betting on High Definition Channels too.

But there are bigger questions to be answered. To what extent these customer centric services can be successful in motivating a cable user to switch to DTH service? Are these services inline with the expected value from the DTH services?

The monthly channel subscription charges of DTH ranges between Rs250-Rs450, which is substantially higher than what the traditional dish operators charge. This, at times can act as a barrier for switching to DTH services. From the perspective of mass market, affordable prices are perceived as value offering. Hence, rather than concentrating on unique services, DTH brands should provide lower price points to attract non users to DTH services.

The communication efforts of DTH brands fail to communicate a strong reason to shift to DTH connection. A DishTv campaign "Don’t be Santusht, Dish karo, Wish Karo" had done the trick of attracting people to shift to DTH, when DTH was launched in India. Similar attempts are required as the DTH industry is not groomed completely and it becomes necessary for the brands to reinforce the benefits through a proper communication strategy.

So if the priority is to attract non users and target the mass market, DTH brands have to work out a proper pricing and communication strategy,well of course packaging it with customer centric services.

Visual Merchandising In Kirana Store

Before you move on with the post, just find out as to which category of reader you belong to.
Category A: Readers belonging to this category do not know what visual merchandising is.
Category B: Readers belonging to this category feel that, Visual Merchandising is restricted to only in large retail stores and it can’t be attempted in a Kirana store.
Category C: Readers belonging to this category feel that Visual Merchandising is quite possible in a Kirana store.

If you belong to Category A or Category B, move on with the article. If you belong to Category C, spend a minute to recall visual merchandising at your neighboring Kirana store and then move on with the article.


“Visual merchandising” is an activity of arranging products, so as to convert a passive buyer into an active buyer through the use of visual medium. It is an activity of promoting a sale of product by displaying it in such a way that it stimulates and encourages buying in retail store. The aim of visual merchandising is also to induce impulse buying.

The concept of Visual Merchandising emerged in the large retail outlets and the shopping malls. There were mainly two reasons for the same, firstly, to increase the amount of purchases and secondly to convert a window shopper into a buyer. Today this concept of visual merchandising has become an integral part of retailing. The store design, store layout is planned in such a way that, it is inline with the products and also creates a buying environment for the potential customers. The combination of lights, colors also contribute to visual merchandising. Today, the stores have visual merchandising executives who will plan the display of products. However, Visual Merchandising though seems to be a creative process, in reality, it involves deep understanding of “The Customer”.


Many have a misconception that Visual Merchandising is possible only in large retail stores. However a closer look at the definition itself says that visual merchandising can be done in a Kirana store too. In a Kirana store, it is not possible to create an integrated environment for visual merchandising. However, effective display of products will make for it. Here I have analyzed how the visual merchandising has been evolved in a kirana store over the years.

First phase was during the 1970s and 80s.This was the period in which products were not identified by brand names. During this period, products in a kirana store were mainly arranged for shopkeeper convenience. The products were just kept such that shopkeeper could easily serve the customers. Only few items like peppermints etc were placed in front at the counter so as to lure kids.


During the second phase, with the increase in number of brands in a product category, the shops started getting shelves across the three sides of store. The counters that were usually wooden earlier, got see through glasses. The brands were neatly displayed in the shelves. With time, the attractive containers of confectioneries replaced the dull glass confectionery containers at the counter. Also, shopkeepers would display the products, which he newly introduced in his store. Suppose say the he would not stock loaf of bread, once he started stocking them, he would place them at the counter, especially above the confectionary containers. This was a period in which the storeowners had realized the need for displaying products.


In the third phase, brands have played major role to facilitate visual merchandising. The brands are providing products in attractive containers, which facilitates proper display and grab the attention of customers as well. To mention a few, Vicks came up with white coloured ‘wall hanging display kit’, which the shop owners had to fix beside the cash counter. It had compartments for holding vicks vaporub bottles and inhalers. Similarly Maggi , started proving large nets to the shops which had hung in the store. The shopkeepers have to keep maggi in these nets. HUL came up with “Red Label hangers” which would hold the pouches of Red Label. The main intention was that their brand should stand out amongst others. Also, small warfare began for the space at counters, especially among confectionary brands. Wreigleys, strepsils containers would have a stand at the bottom. The motive here was that they should be visible at the eye level of the customers when placed at the small counter of kirana stores. Also the storeowners have understood the need of Visual Merchandising. Snacks like Lays, Kurkure have taken space beside the shampoo sachets to induce impulse buying.


However, now HUL has started hiring shelf spaces in the Kirana shops where the storeowner has to place only HUL products. Every month, it keeps changing the products, which should be kept in that space. It usually promotes Lux and Red Label using that space. Also the local sales executive is under the obligation that, every month he has to capture the images of the shelf arrangement and send it to the Branch offices. So clearly we can see a new trend here, so this is what forms the fourth phase. However, third phase prominently exists in most of the Kirana stores.


Now if we clearly look at third and fourth phase, it is mainly the category specialists who have taken the responsibility of Visual Merchandising. A question pops up into to my mind. Are these initiatives of category specialists, fair on the part of shopkeepers? Will these initiatives contribute to overall sales of the store?

***********************************************************************
The readers of Category B, who still feel that visual merchandising is not possible in Kirana store, visit your neighboring kirana store and observe the attempts of visual merchandising.

Deodorant Advertisements: Going all wrong

If you are not of those, who switch channels, during advertisement break, then you would have definitely observed the increase in frequency of deodorant ads as well as increase in number of deodorant brands. We can roughly say, of all the advertisements, about 4% are that of deodorant's, which means there are more brands in the market and every brand is making an effort to establish itself in the minds of it’s target customers.

Among the many, which are advertised these days, I remember few brands like FUEL, DENVER and the new one, ADDICTION for which NNM is the brand ambassador. I have not mentioned about AXE, reason is that, AXE easily forms the part of the evoked set. It is only the new Men’s deodorants, I am writing about. I remember these few brands because of my explicit efforts in remembering the names, once I decided that I am writing about Deodorant ads.

All these ads are attempting to POSITION their brand on one theme, “Sex Appeal”. See a Men’s Deodorant ad; you will get to see one of the two types. Type A , will have a male model flaunting his six packs with a gal or bunch of skimpily clad gals pouncing upon him (of course after using that particular deodorant). Type B, ad is one in which the gal starts to strip because of the fragrance of the deodorant. So, say about 7-8 different brands, and only two types of ads, it is obvious that I will be able to recall only a few among them.
There was one more brand, which highlighted the fantasies of married women. This ad seemed to be a little different from the rest, though based on sex appeal. However I am not able to recall the name. I messaged some friends of mine, asking them if they remember the name of that brand. However none of them were able to recall the name. I thought, well its good that they don’t remember, I have some sort of evidence to what I am writing.

On the whole, when I see deodorant ads, I feel, the ad is for one single brand and only the models change every time. What I mean is, all the brands in this category are using the same positioning concept i.e. Sex Appeal. Not only is the positioning theme is same, even the manner in which they are trying to position is the same. So, a person will feel, the ad mite be of one brand and thus will not be able to recall all the brands.

The entire purpose of advertisement and the concept of distinctive positioning itself are not being served. And thus the brand will fail in its attempt of establishing itself in the minds of its target customers. So the upcoming brands should realize, following the leader’s Positioning Strategy will not help, and it should make some serious attempts to position itself in a unique manner if it has to form the part of evoked set. Also, not even a single brand is making an attempt to position itself on the purpose for which a deodorant is used. Also, the deodorant ads are such that, in a way they seem to convey that middle-aged men are too old to use a deodorant. So its time to come out the “Sex Appeal” thing and do something that will really provoke the target customers. Everybody knows what purpose a deodorant serves.

Basically, a brand tries to follow a trend of advertisement that exists. Take for example; IDEA came with the concept of social benefit (Save Trees) in its advertisement. To go with the trend, AIRCEL came up with Save Tiger campaign. Some times in an attempt to go with the trend, brands fail in its attempt to distinguish itself from other brands. Thus entire expenditure will go for a toss.
Not just deodorant, take any particular product category. If all the players in a product category base their ads on a similar concept and also use the same method to convey a message, then it will just seem that all the players together are promoting the “entire product category” rather than their respective brand in particular. However, if a brand uses a medium or media vehicle, which other brands do not use, then there are possibilities that, people exposed to this particular media vehicle may recall the brand. But again, the success will solely depend on the effectiveness of media vehicle and may turn out to be a gamble on the part of brand.

So it is important for a brand to make its advertisement different from other brands of same product category in order to increase it chances of getting into consideration set.