The 10 core trends for brand owners and retailers to think about and act on in 2016

1. SHOPPER
MARKETING
TRENDS
2016

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LIFE IN THE MAINSTREAM FOR DISCOUNTERS
REACH SHOPPERS ALONG THE MO’TA’WAY
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH FOR PROSPERITY
SEEKING SUPER SPECIALISTS
FIRST THEY CAME TWO-BY-TWO
ROCKSTAR SHOPPERS WANT BRAND GROUPIES
RETAILER FRAGMENTATION NEEDS RENEWED FOCUS
WLTM... THE REAL YOU
GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES IN A LOCAL WORLD
MEANINGFUL CARE DEFINES A BRAND’S PURPOSE
SHOPPER
MARKETING
TRENDS
2016

3. Attitudes continue to change towards the likes of Lidl
and Aldi who between them now have a combined
greater UK market share than Morrisions, proven
further by the ever-increasing number of families that
include them in their regular shopping repertoire.
Their confident and purposeful repositioning realigns
shoppers’ perceptions of them from simply being a
low cost, inferior alternative to moving to a primary
player among regular main shop missions. Perhaps it’s
now time to re-categorise this super sub-set of retailer
challengers from Discounters to Price Champions.
This closer paralleling to the established grocery
retailer landscape creates more ubiquity, not less,
which will forcefully encourage retailers, supported by
their brand suppliers, to find a broader range of
differentiating reasons to visit, centred around quality,
format, pricing (of course) and experiences to lure
already spoilt for choice shoppers. In turn, this also
creates new headroom for the Pound & Euro Store
players.
realigns shoppers’ perceptions
of them from simply being a
low cost, inferior alternative to
a primary player
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LIFE IN THE MAINSTREAM
FOR DISCOUNTERS

4. In 2015 contactless tap-and-go purchases grew by
600% driving billions of everyday transactions. The
comfort with the mechanics of this technology has
now embedded a trust foundation and rendered it
normal behaviour across most shopper groups.
However beyond the excitement in technique, the
reality is this new transaction habit has made little
impact on the decision of WHAT is being purchased.
As shoppers welcomingly step-change their payment
behaviour in 2016 and begin Mo’Ta’ring (mobile
tapping) with Android and Apple payment platforms,
the experiences that will emerge immediately before
and after the clinical transaction will be infinite and a
major force in influencing decision as location and
recognition systems open the potential for
instantaneous messaging, incentives and rewards.
experiences that will emerge
immediately before and after
the clinical transaction will
become infinite
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REACH SHOPPERS
ALONG THE MO’TA’WAY

5. Back in 2008, few mere mortals could have
envisaged the severity of the biggest global turndown
in a century. Whist the ‘R’ word echoes less across
news and social media, there remains nervousness
on a global economic basis about what is actually
going to happen next.
Whilst these unpredictable grey clouds serve as a
cautious reminder to political and business leaders,
human nature is driving the common man to reprise
his you’re-a-long-term-dead instinct coupled with the
ever-present desire for betterment. This will lead to
taking the plunge 7 years on from self-imposed thrifty
behaviours, even in light of amassing more debt.
This mild caution to the wind attitude can be
leveraged by brands to up-sell and premiumise
regular shopper behaviours and attract new buyers to
more hard-to-reach luxuries.
shoppers take the plunge seven
years on from self-imposed
thrifty behaviours
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THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH
FOR PROSPERITY

6. The refocusing – and in several cases returning to core
offer – of the many large scale retailers is testament
to the both ever-aggressive competitive landscape
and the decreasing demand by shoppers for the need
to find everything all under one roof. And this
phenomenon is not restricted to bricks and mortar
stores.
Shoppers are now expecting and actively seeking out
retail experiences, across all commodities, that give
them the optimised solutions they require, which in
turn is reframing the value equation away from a
price-only differential.
Driven by extreme category know-how, brands will
need to identify and prioritise how to support both
the likes of Amazon and Walmart as they create
distinct sub-sets to prove their fields of expertise as
well as the smaller specialists that shoppers naturally
gravitate to.
shoppers are actively seeking
out retail experiences that give
them the optimised solutions
they require
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SEEKING
SUPER SPECIALISTS

7. The looming global wave delivering The Internet of
Things is undeniably unstoppable but within the
momentum there’s a reality surrounding the gap
between the passive or connectable and the truly
OmniConnected. Only a small number of devout (and
deep-pocketed) early adopters will one-stop refresh
their tech room-by-room.
In 2016 however there will be a movement towards
future-proofing, as new appliances, systems and
gadgets are scheduled for replacement. The resulting
buying behaviour will initially see tech-pairing
between important systems such as internet
connectivity and domestic utilities and security, later
followed by the duelling of mobiles and life-engaging
platforms delivering convenience, efficiency and
entertainment.
This will allow brands to explore and early-test
alliances in this space without the unrealistic
investments required for all-in engagement from the
get-go.
there’s a reality surrounding
the gap between the passive or
connectable and the truly
OmniConnected
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FIRST THEY CAME
TWO-BY-TWO

8. Whilst direct-to-consumer and personalisation have
been coveted buzz strategies over the past three
years, the reality of applying these to practical
execution for most mass market brands has been
difficult to achieve.
There is an increasing number of like-minded social,
lifestyle or attitudinal groups that are looking for
products and services that have been considerately
developed and adapted, not personalised, for people
like them.
This re-focus will increasingly allow brands to shape
credible brand extensions and bespoke product
solutions, marketed by heavily colloquial
communication, to micro-segment shoppers without
the implausible effort of delivering absolute
individualism at scale.
shoppers are looking for
products that have been
considerately developed and
adapted for people like them
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ROCKSTAR SHOPPERS
WANT BRAND GROUPIES

9. The increasing number of smaller retail operators
emerging online, in niche high streets and within the
movement for pop-ups has led to the accelerated
splintering of where and when shoppers can chose to
find the products they want. This is further
exaggerated by the complex feel-good desire by
shoppers to sometimes buy from a less corporate
facia.
The challenge this represents for brands is how best
to deploy their customer and channel marketing
efforts in gaining the best chance for exposure on
everyone’s shelves, not just the big retail players’.
The opportunity now exists for brands to take
evolutionary steps against the traditional via-
wholesaler model and create direct brand hubs
specifically for small sized retailers to gain the
tailored, format-specific insight and selling support
for the benefit of their shoppers.
the opportunity now exists for
brands to take evolutionary
steps against the traditional
via-wholesaler model
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RETAILER FRAGMENTATION
NEEDS RENEWED FOCUS

10. After a decade in the omni-channel space race, all
serious brands and retailers that want to be present
in their respective multi-channels are there (albeit for
many a work in progress) OR have learnt that being
everywhere is not the necessity to trade successfully,
returning to marketing 101’s go where your shoppers
are, not where they’re not.
The preoccupation of WHERE my shopper sees my
brand has, for many, understandably taken precedent
to HOW shoppers see their brand and, in 2016, being
differentiated will be more important than ever in the
competitive stakes.
In 2016, shoppers will be seeking brands and retail
experiences that explicitly empathise and match up
to the complexities of their own lives and will again
be basing their purchase decisions beyond multi-
channel availability – A facet now considered a
hygiene factor – as shoppers Would Like To Meet
brands that see the world as they do.
in 2016, being differentiated
will be more important than
ever in the competitive stakes
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WLTM...
THE REAL YOU

11. It is now common convention that the internet has
provided shoppers everywhere with access to global
goods and services, but the reality of how this has
changed shoppers’ buying behaviour is largely driven
by localised scarcity or price competitiveness in other
geographies.
Shoppers ultimately have used the practicality of
web-based purchasing to garner brands that they
already have affinity with. Driven by an established
cycle of over-familiarity, the thrill of regularly
shopping online has now become the norm for most
people.
In 2016 shoppers across the world will begin to
further explore the net and seek new solutions from
both established and developing global cultures,
meaning brands need to properly focus an element of
their channel strategy on fulfilling geographically-new
consumers’ desire for their brands.
shoppers ultimately have used
the practicality of web-based
purchasing to garner brands that
they already have affinity with
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GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES
IN A LOCAL WORLD

12. The closer-to-home nature of humanitarian
responses to ongoing world events is reawakening
the desire for people to want to contribute – and be
consulted – in reaching realistic, serious solutions in
helping those less fortunate than themselves.
Better-off people have also raised their expectations
of scaled organisations’ attitudes and responsiveness
to these difficult and complex realities and judge
them both positively and negatively depending upon
their actions.
Brands and retailers who, in 2016, take a measured
and credible approach to recognising the source or
consequences of these issues through deliberate CSR
programmes will be heralded and attract loyalties
from large factions of shoppers.
shoppers have raised their
expectations of scaled
organisations’ attitudes and
responsiveness to these
difficult and complex realities
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MEANINGFUL CARE DEFINES
A BRAND’S PURPOSE

13. CONTACT
GREG THORPE
DIRECTOR, CLIENT LEADERSHIP
GTHORPE@MARSLONDON.CO.UK
+44 20 3119 3200
SHOPPER
MARKETING
TRENDS
2016