The Shopping Mission - does up-to-date data shape your NPD strategy?
What drives your NPD? Is it coming up with new flavours and variations in the kitchen, is it following trends in your category?
Do you come up with new product ideas, and then figure out how best to sell them to shoppers?
Or, do you think about the Shopping Mission and what your brand could do for the consumer, before coming up with new ideas?
We were pleased to have guest speakers from Kantar (Fraser McKevitt) and Tesco (Callum Nimmo) on our recent TRKR webinar.
Fraser’s Kantar retailer data was hot off the press, and 2 slides in particular caught our attention…
1. Fewer shoppers are visiting multiple stores….
”Main Shop” (or trolley shop) share is back to 2013 levels, after 7 years of gradual decline before lockdown.
Source: Kantar Worldpanel (click on the image to enlarge it)
What does that mean for NPD?
Retailers use new products to attract shoppers to their store, outside of their Main Shop. Since 2013 shoppers were more and more willing to visit a number of different retailers for specific shopping missions. NPD would be used to specialise in certain sectors within categories, be that local produce, speciality BWS ranges, or premium fish products.
If people are now less likely to shop around, is NPD less important now?
Not necessarily, maybe NPD just needs a different focus at the moment – less at specialisation, more about value, to ensure that shoppers do their main shop in your store.
We know, from discussions with Retail Buyers, that their focus in 2023 is very much about providing shoppers with more value. Could your NPD provide this?
However……while fewer shoppers are visiting multiple stores, there is a flip side…
2. Top up missions can justify a substantial price premium vs main shop
Source: Kantar Worldpanel (click on the image to enlarge it)
Shoppers spend a 19% premium on “For Tonight” shopping missions, compared to their Main/Trolley shop, and a whopping 52% on a “Specific Journey” mission. In other words, they spend more per item on their basket than they do on their Main/Trolley shop.
The “For Tonight” premium tends to be driven by both the location e.g. Convenience channel and a more branded offer and also inclusion of treat/ reward aspect. “Specific Journey” can include BBQ, Sunday Dinner, Celebration etc
Clearly these are NPD opportunities, especially if your product is clearly aligned to either mission.
How does this impact your business?
From adding value to the Main/Trolley shop, to bringing customers into store for a specific top up mission – very different NPD strategies, requiring very different propositions.
It’s important to know which is right for your business, but also, which is right or the Retailer? When asked what makes a stand-out pitch, Callum Nimmo at Tesco said “I want to know why it’s right for Tesco customers, and to see the data that backs that up.”
Why is it right for Tesco shoppers... What is the shopping mission, and what can your brand do for the consumer that is better than the options currently available to them?
Food for thought…