Profitero customer Ocado’s recent announcement that it has made its first annual profit in its 15-year history highlights the continued channel shift towards online grocery shopping, as more UK consumers choose to drop the weekly supermarket shop in favour of buying online. But how should CPG brand manufacturers prepare for this growth?
According to IGD’s latest ShopperVista survey, over a quarter (26%) of all British grocery shoppers say they shopped online for their groceries in January, up from just a fifth of shoppers four years ago. Added to that, the number of UK shoppers claiming to buy most of their grocery shopping online has almost doubled – 11% in January 2015, compared to 6% in January 2011 – with IGD predicting that online will be the fastest growing segment of the UK grocery market.
Source: IGD. Base: all British grocery shoppers, Jan’15
As click and collect services continue to grow, driven by innovations such as grocery click and collect lockers in tube stations, IGD estimates that the UK online grocery market will more than double in value to £17 billion by 2019.
But what should CPG brand manufacturers be doing to ensure they’re fully equipped to exploit this online growth?
For CPG brands to be successful in the online channel, rand manufacturers increasingly need a new level of CPG eCommerce intelligence to truly optimise their brands’ online performance and exploit this online growth.
eCommerce insights that can optimize a product’s pricing, content, search ranking and ratings & reviews are all critical elements to ensure the new wave of online grocery shoppers can easily find as well as choose your product.
Pricing
Online pricing is dynamic, competitive and ultra-transparent for shoppers – therefore it’s increasingly essential to understand how your products and competitors’ products are priced online on a daily basis to ensure your brand is priced competitively.
Product content
High quality, comprehensive product information is key to driving conversion rates online. Product content is your ‘digital packaging’ so you need to be well-presented online. Good product content also influences search ranking at many online retailers, especially on Amazon.
Search ranking
Search ranking drives findability, therefore ranking on page 1 of an online retailer’s search results for key terms is critical for findability. Product titles, keywords in descriptions and sales ranking are often key factors.
Ratings & Reviews
CPG manufacturers need to be regularly monitoring and identifying negative reviews and responding quickly: 64% of consumers say reviews and ratings are important when grocery shopping online (source: Deloitte), whilst 59% of consumers said they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations (source: Balihoo).
Check out Profitero’s recently launched Amazon FastMovers reports
on retailers including Tesco, Ocado, and ASDA, Keith will share guidance on how brands can adapt their strategies and tactics to maximise the impact of their online presence.
About Profitero
Profitero is the leading global provider of eCommerce intelligence for global brands and retailers.
Profitero provides dozens of global brand manufacturers with critical eCommerce insights, helping to enhance their online sales and market positioning. We deliver key online metrics, including pricing, product content quality, search ranking, share of online shelf and promotions, in any country and from any online or multichannel retailer. Profitero collects online insights from 275 million product pages at more than 4,000 online retailers in 50+ countries every day.
Profitero also provides both brick & mortar and online retailers with their competitors’ prices, promotions and full product assortment information. More than 50 global retailers, including Staples, Waitrose, Ocado, Morrisons, Walmart-owned Sam’s Club and Worten, rely on Profitero’s accurate and timely competitor price intelligence to make better informed and more profitable pricing decisions, helping them to increase sales as well as margins.
For more information email sales@profitero.com or visit http://www.profitero.com.