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Pfizer relies on multiple data sources for better shopper insights

Written by Guest contributor
Pat Lenius Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the bi-monthly e-zine, CPGmatters. By mixing and matching data resources, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, the maker of Advil, Centrum and other over-the-counter (OTC) brands, has been able to target shoppers more effectively and identify growth opportunities for its retailer customers. “It’s all about marketing and personalization. It’s no longer one size fits all. Where is my customer shopping,” said Amy Joyce, director-Walmart shopper and category insights to activation for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, at the 2019 Shopper Insights & Retail Activation conference in Chicago. “The data sources I use include Path to Purchase Institute, Mintel, WSL, Kantar Consulting.” She said using multiple sources of data generates more tools and more information for omnichannel insights. By relying on these multiple data sources to look at emerging shoppers/consumers of its product categories, Pfizer discovered a $130 million opportunity for Retailer X via driving shopping trips and online spending by boomers, based on data from IRI and Numerator. It’s not just where the dollars are going, but what they are buying at the competing store that proved to be helpful information. By using multiple sources of data, Pfizer was able to learn about the categories, brands and items those boomers were buying at the other stores. “Connect the dots. Keep it simple. Tell the story,” Ms. Joyce said. For data to lead to meaningful activation, these questions must be answered:
  • What? A commercial question regarding the macro opportunity.
  • Who? You need a shopper profile.
  • Why? How this is relevant to the customer or organization.
  • When? Point-of-sale shopper behavior.
  • Where? Geographic information regarding shoppers.
  • How? Psychographic/media usage.
During the Q&A session, Ms. Joyce was asked how she balanced the data obtained from different sources, such as IRI and Numerator. “For larger total retail data, total class of trade or brand, we use IRI; we use Numerator for more specific information to create people groups. For example: who buys economy-size peanut butter,” she said.  Asked by another attendee how to handle multiple sources of data, she stressed the importance of providing identical definitions and attributes to each source, then studying the data delivered to be sure it makes sense.   

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