Packaging company Smurfit Kappa has published an analysis which says that companies are missing out on significant opportunities in fighting for shoppers' attention and market share in European supermarkets.
The report 'Marketing on the shelf - exactly how in control are you?' has revealed that about 76% of customers make their purchase decisions in-store. However, brands are not been able to make use of the opportunity.
The company says that many brands are missing out on using the emerging trend of shelf-ready packaging to attract shoppers at the point-of-purchase.
Smurfit also revealed that up to 40% of on-shelf products can be made up of secondary packaging which is a valuable marketing channel, but is not explored sufficiently by brand teams.
Smurfit Kappa vice president marketing, research and development Arco Berkenbosch said: "Our analysis found that there is approximately 125 square metres for brands to market to shoppers at the point of purchase in a typical European supermarket, through Shelf-Ready Packaging.
"That would normally be regarded as an important marketing channel with brands doing everything they can to take advantage of it. If compared to the cost of a typical 6-sheet poster site, for example, in advertising terms that's the equivalent of €424,320 of additional marketing per store every year. Across the whole of Europe this equates to a multi-million euro channel available to brands.
"In a more complex retail world where marketers have to work even harder to compete for shopper attention, this represents a sizeable opportunity. Yet, it largely remains one of the most under-utilised parts of the marketing mix and one which still rarely makes it onto the priority list of most brand directors. In reality, it is one of the last areas in-store that offers new marketing opportunities at the point-of-purchase."
Smurfit Kappa said that to help brands create new marketing solutions and make the most of shelf-ready packaging, it uses marketing expertise and insights which help brand owners to test and understand its impact on shoppers, by visualising it on a virtual supermarket shelf and collating eye-tracking results through webcam, with the help of a system developed through a partnership with Eyesee.
