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Marketers have long sought to influence grocery shoppers at or near the point of purchase, whether through traditional or digital ads, and yet a new NRF report suggests moms may just be too busy to bother.
A National Retail Federation (NRF) study finds the goal of getting in-and-out and managing kids while shopping are partly to blame for lackluster responses to two in-store ad mechanisms: ads on shopping carts and checkout ads.
The study found that only two in 10 moms are influenced by ads on shopping carts and that ads in checkout lanes persuade only three in 10 moms with younger children to buy.
“No doubt, the challenge of having kids in tow plays a part,” wrote NRF’s authors in their summary.
NRF’s study, based on data from Prosper Insights & Analytics, found that direct mail and coupons play a bigger influence for moms in grocery. Indeed, coupons were found to be more influential with moms than other demographics considered as part of a broader study. Coupons influenced 67 percent of grocery purchases for moms versus about 50 percent each for Millennials and Hispanics and 64 percent of homeowners
Still, NRF found that e-mail and magazine ads were more influential in guiding purchases of apparel, which NRF said was likely because apparel is more of a considered purchase. NRF wrote, “Perhaps the most influence is made when that busy mom can take a focused moment for herself.”
Overall, the study found that, compared to mothers of teens, those with children ages five and under are more likely to:
- Compare prices and purchase from the same retailer’s website using a device (68 percent vs. 58 percent);
- Regularly compare prices on a device while in-store and purchase from another retailer’s physical store (33 percent vs. 25 percent).