Shopping, Shoppable Media, Self-Checkout, Product Discovery

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Shoppable Media

• 2 key advantages: compress the purchase funnel by allowing shoppers to purchase products directly from the media they consume + potential for closed-loop measurement: media placements can directly be attributed to ecommerce sales (improving perfirmance tracking for media platforms and ad networks); Source: eMarketer

• almost all digital media can be shoppable: Source: eMarketer

  • Marketing Channels: Original/Owned Content, Paid Advertising, Brand Partnerships, Affiliate Marketing

  • Content Formats: Images, Videos, Written Content, Gaming and Metaverse

  • Platforms: digital video platforms, social media, retail sites, publisher sites, connected TV/streaming platforms; Source: eMarketer

Self-Checkout

• self-checkout: the introduction of self-checkout machines in 1986 was part of a long history of stores transferring work from paid employees to unpaid customers, a practice that dates all the way back to Piggly Wiggly – the first self-service supermarket in the early 1900s; Source: CNN 

• in 2021: 30% of all grocery store transactions went through a self-checkout; research shows self-checkouts aren’t actually any faster than a regular checkout line (only feels like it because your time is occupied doing tasks); BLS data shows the number of cashiers employed in the U.S. has remained virtually the same over the last 10 years; any reduction in low-wage workers has been offset by the need to pay technicians to maintain the kiosks (kiosks can cost as much as $150,000 for a single row); in 1916: Clarence Saunders opened the first modern supermarket (a Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, Tennessee) where customers were asked to take items off of the shelves themselves and received a discount for doing so; in 1986: a handful of Kroger stores installed the first self-checkout machines (cost $5 million to develop); Source: The Guardian 

Product Discovery

• leading ways U.S. shoppers stay updated on their favorite brands to shop (2024): proactively visit the brand's website, subscribe to the brand's email list, proactively visit the brand's physical store, sign up for loyalty program and/or app, follow the brand's social media account, follow social account of a store that carries the brand, subscribe to email list of a store carrying the brand, subscribe to text messages from the brand, follow an influencer who often talks about the brand; price is the biggest factor that influences U.S. shoppers to purchase from a marketplace vs going directly to a retailer's site; Source: eMarketer

• knowing where consumers discover and research products allows brands to invest ad dollars in the channels that drive the largest impact; 69.3% of customers discover new products weekly (brands need not only to reach those customers but be able to drive conversion anywhere discovery happens); consumers typically engage with a brand at least 3 times before buying (each interaction should be adding value and moving the customer closer to conversion); personalization across channels, value-driven messaging, and affiliate marketing can all help move customers closer to conversion; 22.8% of customers research products 5+ times before buying (shoppers are demanding transparency regarding the quality, brand reputation, and the experiences of others) - so brands should make sure they offer educational materials, are consistent with messaging across platforms, and leverage third-party sources like reviews and influencers to deliver information; customers often mix online and in-store discovery, research, and purchase - so make sure marketing efforts are consistent in both places; Source: eMarketer