NEW YORK — The Promotion Marketing Association (PMA) revealed that better collaboration is critical to the success of shopper marketing for both retailers and manufacturers. These findings are based on the proprietary research commissioned by the PMA Shopper Marketing Center of Excellence with Nielsen Business Media.  Key findings of "The PMA Survey on Managing and Measuring Shopper Marketing" were presented at a panel discussion held at the PMA Shopper Marketing Conference, "Making Shopper Marketing Work for You — a 360 Degree View," in Minneapolis. 

The comprehensive online survey, fielded in March of this year with Brandweek, Progressive Grocer and Convenience Store News, polled manufacturers and retailers as well as the agencies and marketing service organizations working with them. The study was conducted to gain insight into the latest practices and trends in shopper marketing.

Shopper marketing is a high-growth discipline within integrated marketing that is very distinct way of targeting consumers. More than 60 percent of those surveyed reported that they are currently practicing shopper marketing; and 94 percent of retailers perceive that all or some of their competitors are already practicing shopper marketing. The PMA urges that any shopper marketing definition include three essential elements: grounded in an actionable understanding of the shopper; involves reaching/connecting with consumers when they're in the shopping mindset, whether within or outside of the retail environment itself; and a joint effort between manufacturers and retailers.

Key findings of "The PMA Survey on Managing and Measuring Shopper Marketing" include:

Benefits of collaboration:

• Retailer: two-thirds have seen increases in sales and improvements in profitability.
• Manufacturer: two-thirds have also realized enhanced profitability.  All reported increased sales, enhanced brand equity, stronger retailer relationships/greater cooperation and stronger consumer relationships.

Bringing shopper insights to the table

• Two out of three manufacturers report that they are conducting primary quantitative and qualitative research to better understand shoppers, and their shopper insights could be stronger.
• In general, both manufacturers and retailers feel that it is primarily the manufacturers' responsibility to bring shopper insights to the planning table, though a good portion of manufacturers want to see more shopper insights coming from retailers.

Measurement and follow-through

• Only six in 10 manufacturers report that they consistently performed a postmortem, and just 55 percent of the total said they share these evaluations with their retail customers.
• Only one-third of both retailers and manufacturers report that they agree on the metrics for evaluating programs even "most of the time."
• Nearly two-thirds of manufacturers said they only "occasionally" or "never" reach agreement with retailers on how to measure programs, while no retailers reported that they agree regularly with their vendors.

More to do in knowing the consumer

• Two in three retailers reported that manufacturers are aware of their segmentation, but are not well-versed.  In fact two-thirds of manufacturers do not consistently build their programming around the retailer's segmentation.
• Part of the problem is that 64 percent of manufacturers said they have developed their own shopper segmentation.

Primary objectives of shopper marketing programs

• Increased sales is the number one objective for both retailers and manufacturers.
• Among retailers, 31 percent listed strengthening consumer relationships as their primary reason, while less than 10 percent of manufacturers had this same objective.
• Some 22 percent of manufacturers reported that their primary reason was to strengthen relationships or gain greater cooperation with their retailers, but none of the retailers surveyed felt this way about their vendors 

There is demand for more shopper marketing programs

• 78 percent of who say they do not see enough and are looking for more, while none reported that they are being offered too much.
• Some 44 percent of retailers responded that they are more likely to support shopper marketing programs than standard initiatives, and none indicated that they receive a lesser level of support.
• Nearly 6 in 10 manufacturers report that retailers are giving more support to shopper marketing than they did just one year ago, although just one-third of retailers said they are seeing more support from manufacturers over this same period.