Key factors influencing shopper marketing

Introduction

Shopper marketing is a relatively new discipline. It has developed in parallel with the development of the internet and the introduction of new media. That is why one of the most important topics is the influence of digital media on shopper behavior and in particular on the shopper journey. This development has a big impact on the role of brick-and-mortar retail and the interrelationship with e-commerce and digital touchpoints.

Shopping plays an important role in our society and is heavily dependent on economic and societal factors. In order to have an idea about what the future challenges will be. both short and medium term, it is important to understand trends and the possible implications on the purchase process and shopper marketing. Understanding trends and their potential influence on shoppers’ purchasing habits is important from a strategic viewpoint, as they will play a key role in the current and future success of a company. This is a challenging task, as no one can see into the future and know which trends will have an impact, what the impact will be and how important they will be.

It is always interesting to read what people have said about the future. One of the great protagonists of the internet is Bill Gates, the founder of Windows. In 1995, he said that the internet was only hype; in 2004, he commented that the problem of spam would be solved in two years and in 2010 that the iPad would not have a future, because it belonged to netbooks. To keep the internet theme, in 1998 Paul Krugmann, the famous 2008 Nobel Prize

Figure 1.8 Trends influencing shopper behavior

Trends that influence shopper behavior and shopper marketing.

Source: Author

laureate, predicted that the internet would have no more influence on the economy than a fax machine. On a different theme, in 1982, the head of Philips believed that the CD had no future. Moreover, the interesting thing is that not only did it have a future; today it has had to give way to other technologies, like streaming. The CD has undergone almost all phases of the product life cycle, based on Vernon’s theories from the sixties on investment products.¹⁵ One of the most famous phrases is that of Thomas Watson in the 1940s that there is no room for more than perhaps five computers in the world. Likewise, many did not believe hi the car at the end of the nineteenth century, like the German Emperor who was convinced that the car was just a fashion that would disappear. Trends are not only about products and services, but also about society. For example, hi 1905 US President Theodore Roosevelt said that intelligent women did not want to vote, and in 1973, Margaret Thatcher believed that in her life she would not see a woman as prime minister in the United Kingdom. The political map has also changed in an important way. In South America from the 1970s until the 1990s, many countries were still led by military juntas, and there were two opposing ideological blocs worldwide. In the 1990s and into the new century much has been about free trade with the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and MERCOSUR in South America. There are now some indications of counter-developments, such as the relationship between the USA and China, Brexit and the renegotiation of the NAFTA agreement.

There are three themes that have a major impact on shopper marketing. One is clearly technology, another is economics, in terms of economic policy, but also economic differences between groups and economic development between countries. The third is society and politics, such as environmental regulations, which are becoming more and more of a focus due to global wanning.

These trends affect the behavior of shoppers, and thereby the discipline of shopper marketing in three main areas: where shoppers buy, e.g. omnichanneling; their different economic realities and needs, e.g. personalization and segmentation; and what they believe in, e.g. their values. These three areas influence shoppers’ behavior and purchase habits.

10 Shopper marketing and society