5 Ways to Market CPG in the Everywhere Aisle

To understand how shoppers buy and what marketers can do to future-proof their marketing, we surveyed CPG shoppers and crunched our data.
Updated on September 29, 2020

In 2018, 89% of consumer packaged goods (CPG) sales happened in a store1. But the gap is closing. Today, nearly half (49%) of consumers shop for CPG products online.2

Emarketer predicts that in 2019, U.S. grocery ecommerce will grow by 18.2% to reach $19.89 billion sales, becoming the fastest-growing online product category.3 Statista projects that by 2021, U.S. online grocery sales could reach nearly $30 billion.4

To really understand what shoppers are thinking, how they buy, and what marketers can do to future-proof their marketing, we surveyed CPG shoppers and analyzed data from Criteo’s retail network across 1.9 billion active monthly shoppers.

In our new report, “Behind the Cart: Customer Experience in the Everywhere Aisle”, you’ll learn:

  • Why convenience is king in the land of grocery
  • How customer loyalty has evolved in CPG
  • Consumer buying patterns for different product categories

Here’s a sneak peek at the takeaways your business needs to know to adapt and succeed:

1. Deliver on convenience.

Be sure you’re reducing as much friction as possible. A 2019 study by Phononic shows that the vast majority of consumers want grocery stores to speed up the CPG shopping experience5:

2. Build great product pages.

The Criteo “Shopper Story” asked consumers what they like in a good product page. Free return shipping, discounts, photos, and reviews were tops. Here’s what our respondents said6:

3. Know your audience.

Criteo’s Shopper Story research also shows that consumers from different generations have different buying habits. Nearly half of Gen Z and Millennials already use online delivery, while only 3 in 10 Boomers utilize delivery services7:

4. Make your products discoverable across channels.

Criteo research shows that if consumers can’t find the product they need, they’ll visit another site. Almost 30% of consumers browse different websites because the product they want is unavailable, and 20% want better product selection.7

5. Rethink loyalty.

Our Why We Buy research revealed that 73% of all consumers are willing to change brands.8 Brands and retailers should focus more on memberships and subscriptions. But how do you drive memberships?

With Criteo, Shipt tripled memberships while significantly reducing acquisition costs:

Want more? Download our full CPG report below or contact Criteo today!

1Information Resources Inc E-Market Insights: https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2019/02/08/online-cpg-sales-in-the-us-grew-35-4-in-2018-and-represented-11-of-the-total-market/
2 Food Marketing Institute: https://www.fmi.org/digital-shopper/
3 eMarketer: https://www.emarketer.com/content/grocery-ecommerce-2019
4 Statista: https://www.statista.com/topics/1915/us-consumers-online-grocery-shopping/
5 Phononic’s 2019 “Store of the Future” report
6 Criteo Shopper Story, US, UK, FR, DE, JP, BR, 2017, n=9033.
7Criteo Shopper Story, US, July-August 2019, n=1000.
8Criteo “Why We Buy” Survey​, US, February 2019, n=1003.

Michelle Pruett

As Global Head of Content at Criteo, Michelle leads a high-performing, multi-disciplinary team of marketers packaging insights, copy, design, and video into integrated campaigns. Her own writing has been featured in Entrepreneur, Business Insider, AdWeek, eMarketer, and more. Before joining the ...

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