Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

The Burlington Free Press recently ran a story on how “Companies get social with marketing”.  One major take away, if it can work for grocery it can and will work for your business.

MyWebGrocer was the feature for this story:

“Facebook and Twitter are fun, but they can also make a business thrive.

So say Alec Newcomb, vice president of MyWebGrocer, and Rebecca Roose, a project manager with the Colchester firm. MyWebGrocer provides digital services for leading retail grocers such as Shoprite, Lowes Food Stores, Big Y and Food Lion. Newcomb said the lessons he’s learned helping grocery chains can apply to almost any business.

Social media helps level the playing field, Newcomb said. There’s no need to spend thousands of dollars on an ad campaign when a business can use social media to do its bidding.”

Continue the full online story here

The above IAB Chart does a good job of showing that CPG spending online still lags other segments’ advertising spend. The latest Pew Internet study does a great job showing that 81% of US consumers use the internet for product research and 71% purchase online. If 2/3+ of the online adults are ready, why haven’t we seen a larger corresponding move in media dollars?

Three primary reasons:

1. It is hard to buy digital with many fragmented publishers and to many ad formats.
2. A transparent set of metrics: Is it the click? ROI? Engagement? What drives consumer product adoption and ultimately sales?
3. It takes effort and time to re-evaluate your media mix.

The IAB has done a good job addressing some of the issues with Measurement Guidlines and The Universial Ad Package . Yet, I think what is really pushing us forward is the economic downturn. There is no longer a paper in Denver to buy print ads on. That forces a reexamination and increasingly digital is the winning choice.

MyWebGrocer and Big in Japan have partnered to bring timely and relevant product data and advertising to the Google Android Platform. ShopSavvy, Big in Japan’s popular price comparison application, utilizes MyWebGrocer’s grocery data to help consumers find relevant products and pricing at their local grocery retailers.

Using any Google Android phone, shoppers can scan a barcode found on any grocery product and are instantly shown product results from ShopSavvy. These results include prices on the web and at local stores, consumer reviews, an option to save the product to their “wish list” and to sign up for results when the price changes on the item. As consumers are grocery shopping, from the palm of their hand they will be able to see information that they traditionally had to get from newspaper circulars or direct mail.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with a mobile leader like Big in Japan,” said Alec Newcomb, MyWebGrocer’s Vice President. “Customer response to ShopSavvy in the US has been incredible, and we are excited about being able to provide relevant and timely information on the 800,000 branded products across our 95 Grocery Retailers.”

“Grocery data has been a challenge for ShopSavvy from the very start. More than 25% of ShopSavvy users have scanned more than a million grocery items with limited success over the past year,” said Alexander Muse co-founder of Big in Japan. “Our partnership with MyWebGrocer means users can finally access real-time pricing and inventory for hundreds of thousands of grocery related items.”

ShopSavvy Demo

MyWebGrocer is currently live on ShopSavvy and relevant CPG Advertising is being deployed this quarter on the application.

About MyWebGrocer:

MyWebGrocer is the leading digital services provider for retail grocery, connecting retail brands to their consumers through ecommerce and online tools.  Retail partners include Shoprite, Lowes Food Stores, Big Y, Food Lion and 90 other leading grocery chains. MyWebGrocer has the largest online grocery-advertising network with 3.8 Million monthly shoppers, attracting advertisers such as Kellogg’s, Unilever, Nestle, P&G and 60 other leading brands. For more information please visit MyWebGrocer.com or call 1-888-662-2284.

About Big in Japan:

Big in Japan builds cool applications for mobile devices, including Apple’s award winning iPhone and Google’s open source Android platform, think of us as the mobile idea factory. Our latest application ShopSavvy™ won Google’s Android Developer Challenge and is available on T-Mobile’s G1 Google Android phone. Big in Japan is not just a development shop, they manage and support applications for millions of users for major brands including FX Network and LEGO.

MyWebGrocer Produces Facebook Application for Unilever’s Ben & Jerry’s

June 1st 2009, Colchester VT: Through the use of social media MyWebGrocer launched a customized Facebook application in twenty-one countries for premium ice cream manufacturer, Ben & Jerry’s. The custom Facebook application provides Ben & Jerry’s 900,000 Facebook Fans with enhanced lines of communication from manufacturer to consumer and consumer to manufacturer.

The global Facebook application, launched on April 14th, enabled Ben & Jerry’s to collect valuable global email addresses of their Facebook Fan base and provide consumer insights for individual countries. These email addresses opened the line of communication allowing Ben & Jerry’s to send news, product updates, specials and other relevant communications to their consumers. It also gave Ben & Jerry’s insight on how to geo-target their advertisements within different markets, and give insight for future product development based on country specific trends.

The custom Facebook application, “Do the World a Flavor”, mirrored the promotion from Ben & Jerry’s website and further enhanced their marketing promotions currently in place. MyWebGrocer worked with Ben & Jerry’s internal development team to make their application function on Facebook.

“We were excited to be able to offer a solution to a key client’s problem” explains Gerry Howatt, Director of Marketing Services at MyWebGrocer. “While discussing an email acquisition program we were launching for Ben & Jerry’s, they expressed the desire to also capture information from their Fans on Facebook. MyWebGrocer had made the commitment to creating solutions for grocery retailers on Facebook, so it was an environment we knew we could navigate for Ben & Jerry’s.”

“MyWebGrocer worked diligently on creating a Facebook application that truly mirrored our brand” explained Katie O’Brien, Web Marketing Manager of Ben & Jerry’s. “Their level of dedication and detail oriented skill set made them a pleasure to work with. We had many changing needs throughout the course of this project and MyWebGrocer was completely flexible. Our Facebook application opens the lines of communication between us and our Facebook fan base.

About Ben and Jerry’s:
Known not only for their funky flavor names like Cherry Garcia®, New York Super Fudge Chunk®, and Phish Food®, but for their dedication to social causes, the company operates its business on a three-part mission statement emphasizing product quality, economic reward and a commitment to the community. A wholly-owned autonomous subsidiary of Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s contributes a minimum of $1.1 million annually through corporate philanthropy that is primarily employee led. Additionally, the company makes significant product donations to community groups and nonprofits both in Vermont and across the nation. The purpose of Ben & Jerry’s philanthropy is to support the founding values of the company: economic and social justice, environmental restoration and peace through understanding, and to support our Vermont communities. For the full scoop on all Ben & Jerry’s fabulous flavors and social mission initiatives, visit www.benjerry.com.

About MyWebGrocer:
MyWebGrocer provides digital services for leading retail grocers since 1999. MyWebGrocer has the largest grocery advertising network in the country covering 85% of the US, earning their clients direct ad revenue. Some of our clients include Shoprite, Lowes Food Stores, Big Y, Food Lion and 95 other leading grocery chains. For more information please visit www.mywebgrocer.com or call 1-888-662-2284.

As more advertising budget dollars are shifted to online efforts, search marketing is becoming an essential part of an online strategy. Search marketing is a method of internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs)  through search engine optimization, paid placement, paid inclusion and paid search. Though paid search is only one aspect of search marketing, its popularity has increased as it allows for a quick setup and can be managed by either an agency or in-house. Free tools from Google make it easy to set up campaigns and get on the search results pages quickly. Once established, your paid search campaign will produce quantifiable results in as little as seven days. Paid search campaigns can be used to achieve many goals, from increasing brand / online awareness to selling products and services. Regardless what your goal is – if you’re not advertising with the search engines, you should be.

So you want to try paid search? The first step is to choose a search engine and set up a campaign. Below are some quick tips to get your campaign up and running:

• Keyword Research – Knowing what terms customers associate with your brand, product/service is essential. Once you have identified core and assist keywords on your own site, check out your competition. Checking a site’s keyword density with the SeoQuake toolbar or SpyFu is a good place to start.
• Creative – Be creative and clever with your Ad Copy. Writing text ads can be hard – look at other text ads in the space and see what your competition is using, and then write something that stands apart from the rest (while still conveying the message of course).
• Landing Pages – Never be more than 3 clicks from completing the desired action. If the goal is to have users sign up for a newsletter, put the form on the landing page. Landing pages should be simple and designed to produce the desired action within three clicks.
• Geo-Targeting – A million eyeballs is better than a thousand, right? Not with PPC. There is no use in spending money on eyeballs that will not convert. If your flower shop only delivers within a 20 mile radius, set your campaign to only target that area. Do NOT waste your impressions on unqualified individuals that decrease ROI and lower your CTR.
• Pre-qualify with Ad Copy – If you’re only selling $40 red widgets, say that in your text ad. This will help weed out searchers who are searching for the $20 blue widgets.
• Iterate & Test – Think the first headline converts better than the other? Test it. And then test it with the copy. Combine different copy with different headlines and test that too.

Search marketing requires continual tweaking and refinement. Monitor what goes on in your space and apply it to your campaigns. Google Alerts can notify you of current articles, postings and blogs about your product. Read the comments and join discussions to see which benefits matter most to your customers, then incorporate them into keywords and copy.

Remember, search is constantly changing and affected by external influences. It reflects what’s going on in society, the market and, your customers head; how people think and what’s important to them – your campaigns should too.

Good luck & happy bidding!
Elise