The Crucial Difference between Consumers and Shoppers.

“If it looks good I buy it”. Sounds familiar? Then you’re like 57% of US Millennials according to a Nielsen survey. It also means that design – however abstract you might find it – is one of the most important drivers to create that pull effect any FMCG brand is looking to inspire.

While a lot of money and effort is spent creating awareness, too few focus on actual engagement. Something that requires a complete shift of perspective. From a moving ad campaign to making sure that your product also tickles people’s fancy at point of purchase. At Everland, we call it consumer-centric brand building with shopper-centric design.

This shopper mindset is crucial for a product’s commercial success. As most decisions are made instinctively and based on emotions, brand owners should think of their product as a billboard on steroids. A touchpoint that helps consumers discover and engage while actually shopping.

Combine that with the fact that in most FMCG categories, people chose a product within 2.5 seconds – in store. You might as well make the most of them.

Time for a new mantra

For too long, FMCG has been driven by a “buy one, get one free” mantra. Certainly good to push a product and generate sales volume, but not necessarily viable in terms of building a brand or to ensure value. And, while your beautiful ad campaign might drive customers to the stores, it isn’t worth much if they still end up with the competitive brand in the basket.

While accepting that promos and campaigns are an essential part of the market dynamics, we’d still like to advocate for an alternative approach. One that sees design as a consumer brand’s most critical marketing asset in influencing shoppers at the point of purchase. One that promotes emotional selling points over rational ones. One that seeks to position your brand from the outside-in, rather than the inside-out.

To reach shoppers in the store, you need to inspire demand more than merely satisfy a need. Design thus needs to be an engaging experience, not just information or features. That ambition is to be the baseline if you look for ROI. Then we can always make it pop on the shelf too.