At POPAI’s 2013 Marketsmart in January, Jason Dubroy of DDB Canada gave a very insightful presentation into ways shopper marketing evolved in 2012 and what retailers, manufacturers, and their brands can expect in 2013. As always, our Charlotte shopper marketing agency was paying close attention. Here are few highlights:

• It all ends in-store. This past year, Unilever Canada moved almost all of its marketing spending for its Knorr products – about $5 million annually – to in-store initiatives. ”POP can never be an afterthought, but retailers are now realizing planned display is not the only way to plan incremental volume, but it’s still the best way – for now.”
• In-store is BIG, but multichannel is still the real deal. If you’re unaware of the big changes in retail concerning the idea of multichannel, then you must have been living under a rock in 2012. Flights, hotels, books, music, movies/tv, clothes, software, games, & electronics – what do they have in common? They’re all predominantly bought online. Multichannel retail is clearly here to stay, and if you need more proof, Macy’s just named its first-ever Chief Omnichannel Executive.
• The Why of Buy. “How we buy stuff will continue to change, every minute.” The why behind the buy can be broken down into a tried-and-true formula–societal changes affect and alter us, and therefore, our shopping habits and behavior. A good example of that in 2012 (and beginning in late 2008 and 2009 after our economic downturn) was the entrenchment of a two-shopper world: the “discount” shopper and, well, everybody else.
• It’s time to move forward. ”Functional POP is designed not just to facilitate a purchase…but become part of it. In short: POP must respond, and adapt, for the changing shopper moving forward.” What does all of this mean? Frankly, it means adaptation. For the most part, retailers have not kept up with these resulting changes in behavior – from those brought on by societal influencers, to the introduction of multichannel, to shoppers demanding more of in-store. That change is required if we’re like to succeed, and that means designing offerings based on how shoppers are now absorbing information, from digital to in-store to everything else under the sun that influences them.

You can download the full presentation here.