Coca-Cola Co. Sponsors Commission on Shopper Marketing

The Coca-Cola Co. is sponsoring a new commission to standardize shopper marketing.

As consumers reset shopping habits during the recession, a change that many experts expect to become the norm for the long term, Coca-Cola North America is sponsoring the creation of a commission dedicated to shopper marketing.

The purpose of the commission is to work with industry experts to determine how to best leverage manufacturers’ insights to develop shopper-based marketing approaches and capabilities that enhance the shopping experience and increase same-store sales and profit performance, Coca-Cola said.

“Our strategy is to provide leadership to our retail customers in the area of shopper insight-driven shopper merchandising and marketing solutions in store,” Diane Wallace, vice president of shopper marketing, Coca-Cola North America, said. “Our objective is to drive more beverage sell through to shoppers, and to do this by connecting with shoppers in store through relevant shopper insight-driven ideas and solutions that include our brands.”

The goal is to standardize the approach to shopper marketing from the retailer’s perspective.

Called the Retail Commission on Shopper Marketing, the group will be guided Dr. Brian Harris, chairman of The Partnering Group. The process is expected to take one year, and will be facilitated by The In-Store Marketing Institute, which is in the process of identifying members. The end result will be the development of a “Shopper Marketing Best Practices” white paper that will detail what changes must take place, why and how the industry can change.

“The commission is one way of ensuring that we work collaboratively across key retailers to fully understand their ideas and practices around shopper merchandising and marketing,” Wallace said. “The white paper that we jointly develop that can then be used across the retail industry to clarify and drive consistency around an approach to shopper marketing.”

The commission is expected to “stimulate precedent-setting dialog,” Peter Hoyt, the executive director of the In-Store Marketing Institute, said in a release.

“Shopper marketing is the next big step in the evolution of strategic retail marketing.  It logically builds on the foundation of the collaborative business methods of category management, but is enhanced by the strong linkage to shopper attitudes and behaviors, as well as the improved creative activation in store,” said Harris.  “Manufacturers, like The Coca-Cola Co, are on the leading edge of this trend and are producing new and highly valuable insights about shoppers and their behavior. Leading retailers recognize the power of this information. What’s needed now is to create the collaborative business practices and retailer organizational capabilities to fully realize its potential and convert more shoppers into buyers. This is the focus of the commission’s work, which will develop and publish related principles, processes and organizational capabilities.”