How Do Shoppers Shop?

People buy categories first and foremost. They write down coffee, soup or butter rather than Nescafé, Heinz or Kerrygold. (You know your brand has arrived when its full brand name appears on a shopper’s shopping list.)

We have repertoires within each product category, within which we rotate according to price promos. This will be particularly so in categories where waste is an issue for the retailer and producer and needs to be minimised, like yoghurt, and where there are more promotions because they need to shift stock.

Respect the ease of product identification and recognition by the consumer. Make it easy for them to spot your brand in an aisle and shopping environment which is one of constant visual and sensory bombardment for the shopper.

Consumers’ calculation of value is based on the relative value your product delivers compared with its competition. Nespresso capsules sell at a tremendous price premium by removing all comparison by selling in their own retail stores and online.

What do shoppers need to understand about your product in those first three seconds?

What is the right balance between your brand and your product information on pack?

What shoppers most want to know is: what is the product and what do I do with it?

(I have seen so many brands shouting their brand name at consumers and not leaving enough space on pack to explain what the product is or why the consumer should be interested.)

Don’t do this. You waste your communication opportunity.

How to get your food product flying off those supermarket shelves

Shoppers in supermarkets are talking on their phone. They’re listening to music, chatting to a friend or family member, burbling to their baby or racing round the store, earbuds in, on their precious lunch hour.

I’ve interviewed hundreds of shoppers at point of purchase across all the multiples and categories for numerous food brands. Here is a collection of methods that I’ve seen work on shelf to catch the eye of these busy, distracted shoppers.

Have a window in your packaging. It’s the surest way to customers’ hearts – they love to see the product. They are deeply suspicious of imagery – “it’s never as big as it looks in photos on the pack”.

Spend big to make sure your food photography is mouth-watering. Take a look at Wahaca’s rebranded soft taco meal kits to see beautifully filled, Instagram-ready tacos. If you’re using line drawings or poor images of your healthy snack, prepare to have customers dismiss it as “rabbit food that won’t taste good”.

Be bright to get noticed. Use distinctive colours by variant to help shoppers spot, identify and remember you next time. Going for a ‘health food’ look might imply you taste ‘too healthy’, i.e. like cardboard.

Don’t over-package and leave space inside your pack – they’ll spot it. Shoppers poke, shake and press packs to work out what’s inside. They weigh them in their hand to feel what they’re getting.

Use evocative, descriptive language. See: “sweet ancho and smoky chipotle seasoning with a honeyed habanero salsa”. Are you hungry now?

If yours is a ready meal, go for the homemade look. Not machine-piped mashed potato, but that ‘roughed up with a fork at home’ look. Charlie Bigham’s gets this absolutely right for its discerning affluent consumers.

Combine fast-growth, fashionable and healthy ingredients. Pip & Nut’s coconut almond butter has a huge following. Oh, and oats get all the votes.

If your products are vegan or gluten-free, make sure you say so on the front of pack.

Use Instagram or Tiktok to give value with recipe ideas or serving suggestions.

Watch how your price per 100g compares with your competitors. Shoppers are adept at spotting who is really giving the best value. There are too many premium brands out there who assume that just being premium is enough. It isn’t. It merely rules out shoppers who might actually like to buy the product – it’s about value these days at all price points.

Think about your sizing. Shoppers hate waste – and often worry about using up a kilo pack of peanut butter or being overly tempted by it. Make your product the right size.

Innovate carefully. Winterbotham Darby’s Tear & Share Camembert Bread was an instant hit in the summer – sufficiently interesting to take as a gift to a barbecue, but also an easy answer on Friday nights for tired mums.

Demonstrating value to consumers in a time of food inflation and squeezed wallets

When recently asked about their shopping habits by the Office of National Statistics, over 4 in 10 UK adults said that they were buying less food when food shopping.

In my shopper research of over 200 people this July, I found that shoppers were switching to own label from brands in many categories, switching out of their supermarket to a cheaper one, or to a discounter, and very alert to promotions in supermarkets.

They are quick to reject what they see as “excessive” pricing and they shop comparatively, comparing the price of your product to own label.

As a food or drink brand, it is more important than ever to demonstrate value to the UK consumer.

Value is special ingredient combinations, like Pip & Nut’s unique Cherry Bakewell nut butter flavour.

You can win by offering something they can’t get in own label.

Value is versatility, like plain Dairy Free yogurt, which can be combined with fruit or granolas.

Bold Bean, a premium jarred bean brand, fill their Instagram reels with tempting easy recipes and send out an email newsletter to their online bean buyers with links to these recipes.

So, show the value, through versatility, ingredients, ease of use, and don’t over-price too far.

If you’re new, use straightforward promotions to de-risk the purchase for shoppers.

How To De-risk Your Food Challenger Brand For Shoppers So They Buy

1. We are creatures of habit and risk-averse. Buying something new in food requires mental effort and involves a risk. What if we waste our money?

2. Consumers usually have a repertoire of brands that they shop from in any category, switching by promotion. Breaking into that repertoire is your brand’s job.

3. The shopper’s thinking when evaluating something new goes like this: “Does this offer me more? Is it cheaper? Is it healthier? Is it a flavour I fancy?”

4. If you make it too hard for them to work this out, they’ll revert to their normal purchase.

5. Don’t use too many unfamiliar ingredients that they don’t recognise. You might be food-forward; chances are they may not be.

6. Use a promotion. Shoppers expect you to do this to bring them into the brand.

The Top Ten Mistakes Food and Drink Businesses Make When Reaching Out to Retail Buyers

1. You don’t know your costs.

2. You have no budget to support a listing.

3. You don’t know your profit margin.

4. You have no idea what margins the buyers want.

5. You are ineffective at negotiating.

6. You have no awareness of GSCOP (The UK Grocery Supplies Code Of Practice.)

7. There is no plan to support the listing.

8. You haven’t analysed in the first place if retail is the correct route for you.

9. You haven’t forecast how volume demands could impact positively or negatively.

10. You think a retail listing is the one stop answer to your prayers.

It is so important to be clear on your cost of goods (COGS). These are your raw ingredients, the cost of production, packaging and the logistics to get it to the retailer.

What margins do retailers want? Retailers (supermarkets) will want 35-40%. Specialist retailers like Sourced Market in London will want 50%.

If you are dealing with a retailer, unless you deliver direct, you will need to pay an additional 30% margin to wholesalers.

Ocado will want roughly £5K in the first year of marketing support from you. For example, it will cost you £500 per SKU (product) plus the cost of goods for for new SKU reviews on Ocado. Supermarkets will likely want a similar spend and a clear plan of how you will drive customers into store and what promotions you will use.

Wholesalers will charge you £500- £1K a year to be in their catalogue twice a year.

You need to be aware of each and every one of these areas, and have costed out promotional plans before approaching UK grocery retail buyers.