The article yesterday in the e-marketer posting was on how buyers in today's economy use shopping lists (91%) and rarely deviate from it. The state of most people's finances is not currently well, and a list is a great way to limit spending.The key to success with marketers is that it isn't typical for people to list brand names, but instead items.
So now we face the challenge of acquisition of new customers. The best strategy by far is coupons (78%) and discounts (<30%) which can be issued right to stores as well as online. (Manufact. coupons) People will overwhelmingly choose the cheaper name brand if given the choice. The surveys taken in the article, show strong support that people not only want to save money, but also want a hand in it. Consumers want the choice, so that it doesn't feel so 'discounted' and more of a bargain they had discovered. Trying to keep this balance is hard for marketers, but attainable.
Applications are continually helping facilitate the consumers needs while improving sales to the retailer. The new wave that will come will be a customer will make a list online, and then the application will use special algorithms to search web sites and online ads to find brand coupons for those products. A really good application would also take information that was given and draw coupon suggestions. Example:
You type in bread, mayo, lettuce and roast beef. Then it searches for that but also suggests a special on ham and a coupon to go with it.
For most consumable retailers, this is the future. If you can get people to consistently buy your product over the competition, clearly you will increase your market share. This also gives the company who builds the application to have sponsorships and push certain retailers coupons more frequently.
More then anything else this new medium is great for initial sales but unfortunately does not contribute to retention. People are simply looking for a deal so the CLV is going to be low as the turnover and the market share will decrease as competitors mirror your coupons and promotions. The only thing i can think of is to offer special coupons on a temporary basis to retain registration information, and then send promotional offer. You could also give free coupons if they refer friends, or just really forward the message. In the end i think that if you want people to choose Cheeze-its instead of Great value, your going to have to save them some cheddar.
I agree entirely with consumers using lists and sticking to them. Up until a few years I never used coupons or wrote lists, but like you mentioned with the financial state of many U.S. households consumer purchasing behavior is going to change as well. I still find myself writing down items by brand name although I rarely purchase them anymore. Again, it shows how developed some of these corporations have become with their branding and imaging.
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