To develop customer loyalty and ultimately grow revenue, businesses can follow these FMCG marketing strategies.
Key FMCG marketing strategy #1: Build a strong brand positioning (product)
The FMCG industry is filled with brands selling the same products in similar environments. With various supermarkets laid out across a given city, this furthers the importance of creating and implementing a strong brand purpose — a company’s reason for existing beyond profit-making — throughout the in-store and online experience as a way of standing out among the competition.
Things to consider when implementing a brand purpose
- The brand purpose should differentiate the business from competitors, being sure to highlight the brand’s strongest selling points (for example, organic goods, lowest prices, or sustainable production).
- The brand colors, fonts, messages, and graphics should be consistent across all channels.
- The brand tone of voice should be established and consistent across all channels.
- As consumer behavior and societal changes occur, the brand purpose should evolve to meet the needs of consumers and connect with them on relevant interests.
A brand purpose is a company’s way of speaking to its target audience about what is important to them. A study shows that 63% of consumers prefer to buy goods and services from companies whose purpose reflects their values and beliefs. A company should allow its brand purpose to evolve with the times, being sure to make a clear stance that shows consumers it stands with them on what is important.
Sainsbury’s, the second-largest supermarket chain in the U.K., is a prime example of the importance of a company’s ability and willingness to adapt and evolve its brand purpose. It found its success by using an effective marketing strategy that involved a shift in its brand positioning. This supermarket chain changed its slogan from “Live Well for Less” to “Helping Everyone Eat Better” when it saw the importance of health and wellness to its target consumer.
Although low prices will always be an appealing factor for for-profit companies, Sainsbury’s recognized that its customers were more concerned with healthy, sustainably produced goods and made sure its brand purpose reflected those values. Sainsbury’s attributed much of its success as a supermarket to this change.
When creating an effective FMCG marketing strategy, retailers should prioritize their brand purpose, as it can make or break a customer’s perception of the company and greatly affect customer loyalty.
Key FMCG marketing strategy #2: Optimize your pricing by investing in private labels (price)
Creating a pricing strategy is essential for the FMCG industry, as it allows supermarkets and grocery stores to attract consumers with competitive prices.
Pricing tactics to consider for an FMCG marketing strategy
- Invest in private labels (own-brand) and market above other brands in-store and online.
- Create a rewards program that offers savings as an incentive for purchasing from the private label.
- Engage in penetration pricing, offering a lower price at a product’s initial launch, to target a specific market.
- Utilize promotional pricing, which temporarily lowers the price of a given product to attract consumers for future purchases.
- Offer online pricing that matches in-store pricing.
- Offer online incentives like free shipping to encourage online shopping activity from consumers.
With inflation on the rise, 60% of consumers are paying more attention to the prices they spend on their goods, with nearly a quarter of them planning on switching to private labels to save money. When a company invests in a private label and engages in other effective pricing strategies, it can get ahead of the competition and establish customer loyalty.
Key FMCG marketing strategy #3: Design an excellent online and in-store customer journey (place)
The customer journey is identified by the steps a customer takes that guide them to complete a purchase either in-store or online — and can be enhanced by adjusting the environment, points of contact, and ease of transaction for consumers.
Tips for creating an effective online and in-store customer journey
- Emphasize excellence in customer service to ensure that consumers are being taken care of and issues are being resolved properly.
- Create an easy-to-navigate in-store layout.
- Create an online user experience that is easy to follow.
- Ensure a balance of consumer freedom and assistance. Allow the consumer to shop without constant interruption while also having assistance available when needed in both the in-store and online sectors.
- Create multiple touchpoints with the consumer to create customer relationships (for example, greeting at the store entrance, assistance while shopping, or a follow-up email after the purchase).
For 65% of U.S. customers, an excellent shopping experience is more influential than advertising. When building effective FMCG marketing strategies, it is vital to go beyond traditional advertising and marketing tactics, and focus on the customer experience both online and in-store.
You can find more FMCG Marketing Strategies here.