4 Brand Strategies To Maximize Pre-Shop Engagement

In the competitive consumer packaged goods world, engaging with shoppers during their pre-shop planning phase is critical for brands. This phase presents a unique opportunity to influence consumer behavior and secure purchase decisions before shoppers enter the store. With the continued rise of innovative products like functional beverages and the growth of mainstay categories like snacks, brands must find creative ways to stand out in this crowded market. This blog post will explore four data-driven strategies to help advertisers maximize pre-shop engagement and gain a competitive edge in the always-evolving CPG industry.

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Strategy 1: Target by Ingredient or Diet Plan

As the grocery industry witnesses a growing consumer interest in health-conscious or diet-driven products, brands must target consumers based on their dietary and ingredient preferences. Our recent research indicates that roughly 50% of consumers consider health and diet plans when making pre-shop decisions. By leveraging first-party shopping behavior data, advertisers can precisely target consumers seeking specific ingredients or diet plans. For instance, a beverage brand promoting a product with gut health benefits can target consumers interested in probiotics or digestive health. Contextually targeted ads can showcase products that align with consumers' health goals, resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates.

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Strategy 2: Target by Meal Occasion

Food is an integral part of our lives, and meal occasions play a significant role in pre-shop planning. Gen-X, for example, represents the group most likely to be influenced by special occasions when grocery list planning, with the remaining generations not far behind. Advertisers can reach shoppers at the right moment of planning by strategically targeting consumers based on meal occasions, including holidays, seasons, or other meal themes. For example, a beer brand can focus its advertising efforts on consumers seeking BBQ recipes, aligning its message with relevant meal moments. This targeted approach ensures that the brand's products are top-of-mind when consumers plan their shopping lists, leading to increased product consideration and purchase intent.

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Strategy 3: Provide Multi-Retailer Shoppable Ads

Grocery shoppers visit multiple retailers across various channels each month. To capture the attention of these omnishoppers, brands need to provide multi-retailer shoppable ads. While retail media networks (RMNs) are valuable for leveraging customer purchase data, they offer a single retailer solution. With CPG shoppers visiting over five unique store brands across nearly three channels per month, brands should look to opportunities to reach shoppers across multiple retailers. By offering purchase options that align with consumer preferences, brands can influence pre-shop planning and ensure their products are on shopping lists.

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Strategy 4: Turn Impressions into Action with Add-to-List Shoppable Media

While awareness campaigns hold value, converting ad impressions to immediate purchases in the CPG industry remains challenging. An average store's overwhelming array of product choices makes ad recall difficult. However, the increasing adoption of digital shopping lists provides a solution. Add-to-list shoppable media enables consumers to add products to their digital shopping list with a single click. This click-to-list tech guarantees interested consumers will view the product again during their next grocery shopping trip. Using the "Save Now, Buy Later" approach, brands can retarget pre-shop consumers effectively and drive higher conversion rates.

Engaging pre-shop consumers is crucial to succeeding in the competitive CPG industry. By adopting data-driven strategies such as ingredient and diet plan targeting, meal occasion targeting, multi-retailer shoppable ads, and add-to-list shoppable media, brand advertisers can effectively influence pre-shop planning and drive higher engagement and better conversion rates. As more innovative products continue to shape the market, implementing these strategies will give brands a competitive edge in captivating grocery shoppers during the pivotal planning phase. Contact us to learn more about leveraging pre-shop targeting into your brand strategy, today!