Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

In a recent publication by Grocery Headquarters Magazine, Rich Tarrant was quoted stating a few tips to stay alive in these tough economic times, read what he has to say,

“‘A good way for supermarkets to do that is by using their websites. Giving consumers the ability to pursue the items that are on sale on your website, and building a shopping list from that is clearly an area that will help people manage their budgets, and can help retailers differentiate themselves within the current environment’. Tarrant suggests retailers offer meal suggestions and recipes on their websites, and set it up so just a click of the mouse adds those ingredients to a shopping list. ‘Anything you can do to make that easier for the time-pressed consumer naturally gives you some assistance in combating other retailers who maybe don’t make it that easy for consumers,’ he says. ‘Retailers promoting online shopping can increase their sales in the high-margin HBA and non-foods categories. Customers who use the online channel consolidate their purchases back to the retailer and are not doing multiple stops. They may pay a service fee, but they’ve saved time by eliminating having to go to more outlets. In a time where a cup of coffee is $3, to save an hour and 20 minutes in a store, particularly if you are a young mother with kids, is a very easy value proposition to justify even in tight times.’”

Want to read the whole article? Check it out
here

Cheers!

-Courtney

In a recent New York Times article chronicling the success of NBC’s Olympics coverage , author Bill Carter identifies the critical moves the network made pre-Olympics to ensure viewership and cash in on advertising revenue. Certainly, as the article points out, the publicity surrounding the Olympics, the politics, the protests, the athletes and the expectations, all contributed to the event’s success.

But the driving success factor was timing.

With the support of U.S. swimming star and Olympic legend Michael Phelps , Dick Ebersol , chairman of NBC sports, not only convinced China and the International Olympics Committee to propose an August start date, he influenced them to schedule the swimming and gymnastics events in the morning so they would air live on NBC primetime. 200 million viewers and more than $100 million later, NBC concluded coverage of what was one of the most watched and talked about sporting events in recent history.

The main lesson to be learned from NBC’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is not new. Timing is everything. The early date of the Olympics, which began August 8^th, meant school had not resumed. The weakened economy forced Americans to stay home and not vacation. The primetime coverage pulled in viewers and intrigued advertisers; many ran advertisements congratulating Phelps’ gold medals in the first commercial break following each victory.

When advertising online, especially in an e-commerce setting, advertisers should take advantage of timing to increase relevancy and decrease waste. Advertising where your consumers are most likely to buy is a cost-effective and powerful way to increase sales and promote positive branding. Just as Ebersol took advantage of a time when he knew viewers would be watching television to air Olympics coverage, advertisers should take advantage of online e-commerce applications to influence consumers where they are already going to buy.

Rachel

To read the entire article click here.

Ok, Ok, so you’ve all heard about Green being Good for the Planet and Other Living Things, but what about YOUR business and YOUR profit? After all, according to “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”, (i.e., human motivation), an individual is ready to act on the next level of needs once the prior, more basic need is met. A brief overview of this follows (and how it relates to your business and green, which is why we’re reading this, right?)
On The Level
Here are the levels that must be satisfied to move to that next level (and then partake of your service or item as a great deal of what we provide or sell isn’t necessary to basic survival):
1) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.; Once that is satisfied, we move to #2.
2) Safety/security: out of danger;
3) Belonginess and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and
4) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition.
Stop right here – this is where Green and our business comes in although it also matters in 5 – 8 below.
5) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore;
6) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty;
7) Self-actualization: to find self-fulfillment and realize one’s potential; and
Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential.
The Business of Green, The Color of Money
Really, saving the Planet, being Green, and other societal pressure (and believe me, it is becoming pressure) could really go down the ladder all the way to #2 – safety. With all the top scientists telling us we need to stop global warming, going green with your business satisfies not only your own person growth/motivation, but reaches out to the motivation of the consumer.
Preemptive Green
So why not make your own Green preemptive proposition? Give away your branded reusable bags. Or certify that even 20% of your stock is from nearby farms. Or your products have reduced packaging by 10% and uses recycled material. Surely you can rise above your competition and do the world (and your consumers and yourself) some good by being Green, as well as satisfying some of the most basic human needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy, first proposed in the 1950’s, is still a basic truth of human needs today and is still taught in colleges. Your business really can be both greenly responsible AND profitable. And that’s good for everyone.

-Rebecca

In the past couple of years, advertisers have expressed two main concerns about online advertising. Is it measurable? And, does it work for branding? In last week’s post,
Web Metrics 101 , I explained how metrics can be confusing, but do exist and do allow us to measure online advertising’s effectiveness. And, I have been saying for years that online advertising is an effective branding tool. So today, when I opened my inbox, I almost cried for joy upon seeing that ComScore just concluded a study proving it.

According to the study, conducted with pharmaceutical marketing consultancy Evolution Road , driving traffic to a branded website is the most effective form of online pharmaceutical marketing. The results showed an incremental patient adherence rate that was 20 percentage points higher and a new start rate for prospects that was 5 percentage points higher than those who did not visit the website and than the control, respectively.

Online ads improved adherence rates among existing patients, showing a 4-point lift in adherence among patients exposed to an ad and a 9.5-point lift among patients who interacted with an ad.

The study encompassed 32 individual studies, involved more than ten prescription pharmaceutical brands and used the ComScore million-person panel for behavior observation. ComScore executive vice president Bridget O’Toole said “The most effective online marketing tool… is the brand’s Web site… visits to a brand Web site (though) are achieved through the use of a variety of offline and online tactics, such as online banner ads, search and offline advertising… marketers (should) develop fully-integrated campaigns… raise awareness, educate consumers, … (and) drive visitation to a site.”

Exposure to, and, even more so, interaction with banner ads yielded an increase in brand awareness and favorability among current and potential patients. Exposure to an ad significantly impacted both aided and unaided brand awareness and interaction boosted both types of awareness even more.

So, what does this mean for online advertising? Although the study concentrated on pharmaceutical advertising, with ComScore’s endorsement, online advertising should be considered as effective a branding tool, if not more so, than other, more expensive, less targeted traditional media like print and television. Advertisers take note: it’s time to re-think your media buy.

Rachel

Visit ComScore’s Press Center to view the study’s press release.

July 31 2008, Colchester VT: MyWebGrocer has increased the number of new customer orders an average of 16% through its partnership with NetElixir for its participating retail grocers. NetElixir is the Pay Per Click partner that powers MyWebGrocer’s unique retail grocery acquisition program where retailers only pay for new customers that place a new order. This CPA based program takes the complexity and risk out of traditional customer acquisition programs for retail grocers.

“Our team has been working closely with NetElixir over the last year and right out of the gate they improved our internal efforts by 60%. This with their ability to build a dedicated team to support our Grocery CPA program 24-7-365 has given MyWebGrocer a significant advantage to our retailers who are competing against Wal-Mart, Target, and Amazon’s massive PPC efforts.” Explained Alec Newcomb, Vice President of Business Development at MyWebGrocer.

“Our partnership drives significant efficiency in the search advertising management program for online retailers” explains Udayan Bose Founder & CEO of NetElixir. “The domain expertise of MyWebGrocer and search advertising optimization capabilities and technology of NetElixir would combine to generate disproportionate return on advertising dollars for our customers.”

About MyWebGrocer: MyWebGrocer was one of the first to launch online services for retail grocers in 1999. MyWebGrocer increases basket size, acquires new customers, retains current customers, and drives revenue in-store and online business for their clients. MyWebGrocer has the largest grocery advertising network in the country covering 85% of the US, earning their clients direct ad revenue. Some of their clients include Shoprite, Lowes Food Stores, Big Y, Food Lion and 80 other leading grocery chains. For more information please visit www.mywebgrocer.com or call 1-888-662-2284.

About NetElixir: NetElixir, Inc (www.NetElixir.com) is one-stop-shop for all search advertising management needs. NetElixir offers both technology and full-service 24×7x365 management of pay-per-click search marketing campaigns that help online retail marketers generate profitable and predictable returns from their search marketing dollars. NetElixir has helped more than 50 online retailers including NetGrocer, Vermont Teddy Bear, KSwiss, Luggage Online & Carpet One run consistently profitable SEM campaigns, through a combination of proprietary technology and sophisticated processes. For information regarding NetElixir’s search engine marketing solutions please contact Udayan Bose at udayan@netelixir.com or call at 609-356-5112.