Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the monthly e-zine, CPGmatters.
Digital marketing is making an impact in grocery shopping as consumers look for coupons before and during their trip to the store. But most food brands haven't reacted to this shift in shopper behavior.
That's the view presented in the Food Insight Report: Digital Coupons from L2 ThinkTank, which benchmarks the digital competence of brands.
L2's review of 80 major food brands found that, although 36 percent had coupon sections on their websites, just 24 percent were offering coupons during the data collection period (January to April 2014).
The report states that online grocery sites and coupon aggregator applications like Coupon Queen, Cellfire, and Grocery IQ receive the majority of coupon traffic, as opposed to food brand sites, which only attract a small percentage of visits.
As Amazon and Walmart ramp up the development of their online grocery strategies, according to L2's report, less than two of three food brands distribute coupons on Amazon and only one of three on Walmart. "Digital coupon distribution is even lower through current online grocery leaders Peapod and FreshDirect. While e-grocery players Amazon and FreshDirect have fully developed integrated coupons into the online shopping process, the majority of brands rely on the consumer to print coupons at home for in-store redemption."
Other findings in the study:
- While digital e-commerce represented just 3.3 percent of grocery in 2013, that share is expected to explode to a range from 6.7 percent on the conservative side to 16.9 percent on the aggressive side by 2023, according to Brick Meets Click research.
- According to Packaged Facts, browsing for coupons is the second most popular digital activity for grocery shoppers (55 percent) after reading online circulars (62 percent). According to Google, 90 percent of smartphone shoppers use their device in the shopping aisle.
- The 2014 NCH Coupon Facts Report said digital coupons have average redemption rates of 14 percent, outpacing print coupons that tally rates of just 1 percent.
- Surveys from Google suggest mobile shoppers spend upward of 15 hours per week researching products or services on their smartphones and are 4.8 times more likely to convert in-store than on their phones. L2 wrote, "Such behavior adds credence to the theory that 'mobile-influenced' sales already dwarf mobile sales and will soon overshadow all online purchases."