Gap between what shoppers say and do

Through a special arrangement with e-zine, CPG matters, Retailwire prints an article investigating the results of a two-year study examining 250 million shopping baskets weekly by Catalina Marketing. The goal was to probe the gap between what shoppers say in surveys and what they actually buy, and it’s quite revealing. Fewer than three in ten (29.6 percent) consumers remained loyal to Sprite brand beverage from year 1 to year 2. A quarter (25.9 percent) became switchers, not loyal to any brand. Another 14.8 percent became loyal to competitors, and 29.7 percent left the brand entirely. CPGs also need to know what percentage of brand volume is actually reached by their traditional demographic media target. An analysis of three different client brands found a jarring separation between the media target and the actual target, one as high as 88 percent. "If you don't observe their behavior, if you don't know their preferences and tastes, how can you customize your content or your marketing to meet that and respond to this 'me' generation?" said Todd Morris, Catalina's SVP-business development, in a recent webcast called, "What If You Could 'Search' Your Consumers' Shopping Basket?" "Understanding this behavior is core to actually making [a brand] part of the 'me' generation and searching... to reach smaller subsets of households, provide relevant subject matter to the right audience, and ultimately improve ROI," Morris added. Retailwire discussion Catalina Marketing