It can be a challenge to stand out in a crowded supermarket aisle. How do you get shoppers to look at and consider products that may be new, unfamiliar, or simply not on their shopping list? Most shoppers arrive at the store with their smartphones in hand. They actively use their phones to research products, look up prices, and make decisions. Greeting these open-minded, tech-savvy shoppers with a warm yet virtual welcome, and guiding them throughout their shopping journey, offer obvious advantages to CPG brands.

What Is Shopkick?

Shopkick is a mobile shopping app that offers CPG brands a unique advertising platform to influence shoppers when they are most vulnerable—when they are in the store, at-shelf, with a product in their hands. 

Shoppers earn rewards points called “kicks,” which are redeemed for free gift cards to the retailer of their choosing. Users can earn kicks for doing all of the things they normally do, whether they’re in-store or at home. This includes browsing content and online offers, watching videos, walking into stores, engaging with products at-shelf, and making purchases. This fun, engaging app turns an ordinary trip to the store into a treasure hunt for new products and exclusive incentives. 

The following success stories are taken from brands that have incorporated Shopkick into their CPG marketing strategy to expand market reach while informing and engaging shoppers like never before.

How Shopkick Can Improve Your CPG Marketing Strategy

Shopkick improves partnering brands’ marketing strategies by:

• Providing ideas for use to inspire bundled purchases. Sometimes shoppers need a little help figuring out how to use a bundle of your products. Like Pinterest, Shopkick offers a great platform for inspiration. Kraft wanted to increase market share on Baker’s chocolate, Jell-O pudding, and Jet-Puffed marshmallows during the holiday baking season. Using the Shopkick app, Kraft incentivized shoppers to seek out the products in-aisle by offering rewards points in exchange for scanning the product barcodes at-shelf. Then, they offered additional kicks to shoppers who went on to purchase all three items. To further drive trial and consideration, Kraft provided shoppers with recipes—like Marshmallow Chocolate Pudding Cake and Boston Cream Pie Mini—which contained all three ingredients. More than a quarter of the scanners purchased all three items, and over half of those who purchased said they hadn’t been planning to purchase these ingredients when they first walked into the store. The overall ROI for the campaign was greater than 7:1.
• Creating scan-triggered videos to differentiate your product at a crucial moment. There is no time where purchase intent is greater than when your product is in a consumer’s hands. This is the make-or-break decision: do they put it back on the shelf, or into the cart? Georgia-Pacific launched a new Dixie deep-dish plate and wanted to highlight how it outshined the competition. Their first step was to guide Shopkickers down the aisle to the new product, promising kicks in return for scanning the barcode. Using a post-scan video, the brand highlighted key product details and delivered a branded video while the product was still in shoppers’ hands. A whopping 99% of video viewers watched the branded video to completion, and 50% of those who purchased the product weren’t originally intending to.
• Offering choices to gain insight into consumer preferences. Often, brands use Shopkick to encourage shoppers to try new flavors. However, an alternative approach would be to offer consumers a choice of flavors to gauge preference. A leading yogurt brand incentivized Shopkickers to scan and purchase any five flavors of yogurt. Since 78% of the purchases were unplanned, they gained critical insights on purchases specifically from newcomers to the brand.
• Using your branded lookbook to delight and surprise. Shopkickers can earn points just by entering a store, but they soon learn they can earn even more points by flipping through a brand’s “lookbook” content. Here you can visually showcase your promotional items as well as other items of interest. When scrolling through a branded lookbook, users are often invited to “tap here for a surprise,” and receive an extra kick deposit. This extra kick reward helps build positive brand affinity.

Next-level digital marketing strategies involve bridging the gap between different channels.

Partnering with a mobile app like Shopkick can be a fast and effective tool for ramping up your digital marketing efforts. However, these digital marketing tips are best used as part of an overall digital marketing strategy that focuses on achieving greater convenience and personalization for your shoppers. At the bare minimum, you’ll want to make sure your website is optimized for mobile, you have a freshly updated social media presence, and you have relationship-nurturing email campaigns in place. Next-level digital marketing strategies involve bridging the gap between different channels, offering shoppers the ability to choose their own retail shopping adventure from a myriad of digitally-fueled options.

At Shopkick, we believe in offering ways to engage shoppers in the aisle that also encourage brand loyalty. That’s why our partners find such success when incorporating our innovative shopping app into their CPG marketing strategy. Contact us to start using Shopkick to help improve customer engagement.

Image courtesy of Iam_Anupong