Talking about fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) or consumer packaged goods (CPG) now that the online shopping has been growing so fast in the past few years, are the branding rules going to be the same? Or should we consider a different approach? Consider reading this piece from top to bottom before you design your Orange County branding strategies if you are in this market segment.
A little bit of background: You probably know by now that supermarket layouts are not random. There’s a reason why you can always find the store’s bakery, the produce department and the plant and flower shop at the entrance of most recognized supermarket chains. They lure you in with beautiful fruits and flowers of many colors and add the extra touch of the freshly baked scent. Yes, an inviting, welcoming, healthy environment that most of us like. They make us happy and hungry at the same time.
Not only that, have you noticed that most supermarkets now conveniently have resting areas where you can have a snack while you take a break? This is not a coincidence either; supermarkets want you to stay as long as possible so they can bombard you with all the shiny products that you can get at great prices. After a while of shopping, you stop buying rationally and you begin stuffing your cart with things that you don’t need at all or that you were not planning on buying. And if you are feeling that you have been manipulated by the supermarkets, let me tell you, the companies are involved in this too. Who pays for your kids’ cereal? And have you noticed how bright and fun the packages are? Why are those designed to attract the children instead of the buyer? And next time you are looking for this item, check out the distribution on the shelves: the boring grown up choices with lots of “healthy” and “low sugar, high fiber” words are at an adult eye level, while the sugary fun stuff is right at your kids’ eye level. And this is just an example – we can do this with each aisle of the supermarket, where everything is carefully displayed for maximum shopping. But hey, it works!
Now that we are aware or reminded of the supermarket layout manipulation, let’s go back to the topic. How are we going to deal with this if we are the ones selling when you no longer have a physical display? Even worse, if you are a seller of one of those “opportunity” items, how are you going to show your products so people feel the urge of buying them?
Ah, this is where things get a little bit tricky, as we can’t follow the same rules, so we need to stand out and create new strategies to show our products and make people buy them, even if we don’t have a display that works in our favor. We need to start building up strong branding rules to deal with this way of shopping. If you have questions about this and any other concern regarding Orange County branding, give us a call today and set up an appointment. At Twelve12 we’ll be happy to help you with all your branding needs.