The Evolution of Trade Marketing Strategies From The Physical to Digital Environment

We know that the shopping experience is a crucial element of building customer loyalty. Therefore, the role of trade marketing strategies in the physical environment has been to ensure the best form of exposure, differentiation, and promotion of products at the point of sale in order to make a product more visible among competitors. This could be done through the distribution and execution of the product mix, category management, inventory management, actions at the point of sale, and negotiation and relationship with distribution channels.

With the accelerated growth of e-commerce, there was a need to bring trade marketing strategies to the digital environment. The essence here is the same - to guarantee the best possible experience for the consumer at the point of sale through an optimal display of products on the shelves with a focus on increasing sales. On digital channels (whether they are owned or not) we have the advantage of collecting and monitoring in real-time the relevant information which drives consumer decision-making.

Over time, both retailers and brands have had to build out and adapt to the changing consumer landscape, which has involved finding a balance between physical and digital trade marketing strategies and figuring out every point in which they overlap.

Trade marketing strategies in the physical environment are assisted by a shopper’s ability to pick up a product off of the shelf. In the digital environment, shoppers rely on images, written content, ratings & reviews, etc. Consumers have more access to information than ever before to compare pricing and other features across different retailers on a product-by-product basis. For brands looking for strategies to win on the digital side of the business, speed and agility - being able to pivot content strategy, inventory, and prioritization across channels - are critical. What trade marketing once was is now an entirely different game for brands to evolve with - but the strategies across physical and digital cannot be siloed. Consumers interact with brands across endless touchpoints both in the digital and physical landscape. 

Here are some of the common pain points that brands face when trying to keep up with the omnichannel landscape:

• How to reduce cart abandonment rate (according to a study by Barilliance, the global average cart abandonment rate in online stores is around 77.73%.)some text
  •  One of the main reasons is the lack of product information due to product listings that are not optimized online - but this is fixable!)
• How to ensure that product pages in e-commerces have good content as this requires heavy investment from a digital content team often across thousands of items
• How to ensure availability and variety of the product mix some text
  • Certain retailers sell through a brand’s product better than others both in store and online - brands need to have a nimble supply chain in place to adapt to changing consumer behavior while analyzing which retailers and channels make sense for what products. A single bottle of nail polish would do well on a physical shelf but to drive profitability online, a brand might consider selling a set of bottles
• How to deal with the omnichannel consumer, who is in several channels and can make the purchase in any of themsome text
  • Measurement, measurement, measurement!

With that in mind, we’ve separated some tips to help your brand execute digital trade marketing. Check out:

Content and reviews: Always remember that the shopper is not physically interacting with your product, so the more information you provide, the more trust they will put in making the purchase. Offer as much information as possible: a complete description, coherent titles, images from different angles, with as much detail as possible and in excellent quality, and videos on how to use the products.

Ratings and reviews:  These are key decision-making drivers for many consumers. Have a space for people to share experiences about your product through rating and commenting, and engage with the feedback given.

Product availability: Ensure that the commercial team is aligned with the strategies of the e-commerce platforms and that the purchase parameters are sufficient to supply physical and virtual stores. In addition, have a sales analysis system to predict how much inventory is desired in different situations and, finally, ensure supply with good supply chain management.

Omnichannel excellence: Currently, the consumer journey takes place across several channels and involves many different touchpoints - and a brand needs to provide what the consumer is looking for or inspire the consumer consistently across every point. 

Regardless of which trade marketing strategies your brand is working for any given retailer, keeping track of a digital catalog while also running a physical business requires significant collaboration across teams and the combining of many disparate data sources to determine what strategies make sense and where. Flywheel’s software and team of experts is ready help your brand tackle the challenges of the omnichannel landscape.