”In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity” – Albert Einstein.

This old adage has never felt as relevant than with the current boom we are witnessing in sustainability that has emerged from the global climate crisis. From climate pledges to EV vehicles, brands are racing to position themselves as ’green’ to win over the growing market of environmentally conscious consumers.

This is especially true for the rapidly growing meat replacement market, which (unless you have been living under a rock for the last couple of years) you have probably seen appearing more and more on your TV screen, social media feed, and supermarket shelves. This is no coincidence: the meat replacement market has boomed over the last 5 years, with the global market value growing by over 210% since 2016 to $7.7Bn annually, and is predicted to continue this growth (reaching approximately $16.7Bn by 2026)[1].

Unfortunately, big opportunities also mean increased competition. Growing demand has led to an explosion of brands entering the market with their own answers to meat replacement products. From market leaders (including California based Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods) to supermarket private label, everyone wants a piece of the meat-free pie.

With so much competition, it is becoming increasingly difficult for brands to win the sales of meat replacement shoppers. Knowing where and how to communicate with shoppers has never been so important.

How Nepa got involved

In 2021, Nepa partnered with one of largest meat replacement brands in the Netherlands, who wanted to better understand the omnichannel shopper journey for meat replacement shoppers in the Dutch market. Through our Paths to Purchase solution, we set out to identify and understand how they could optimise their communication strategy at key points of influence across the shopper journey, in order to drive growth within existing and emerging channels.

What did we find?

Tracking more than 1,000 shoppers over a 6 week period, we found that the biggest opportunity to drive penetration growth of meat replacement brands in the Netherlands was actually among the biggest meat consumers! ‘Carnivores’ (shoppers who consumed meat daily) were the consumers most likely to try out a new brand of meat replacement products.

Interestingly, we also found that environmental concerns were among the top factors driving meat-eaters to try out meat replacement brands. This is hardly surprising: meat-free diets are becoming increasingly advocated as an effective way of reducing personal carbon footprint; and with meat-replacement products producing between 30 – 90% less greenhouse gas emissions than conventional meat [2], they are often recognised as a sustainable alternative.

What else?

But understanding who to talk to and what to communicate alone is not sufficient to beat the competition (after all, nearly all meat replacement brands position themselves as sustainable). It is equally important to understand where to speak to shoppers.

Through touchpoint conversion analysis we examined which key points influenced consumers most across their shopping journey. The results showed diverse and nuanced shopper journeys: consumers were both exposed to and influenced by brand touchpoints across the omnichannel landscape, as well as pre-shop and in-shop.

Above all, however, we found that shoppers were most influenced by brand interactions in-shop. This is an intuitive finding: the meat replacement market is young and growing, with many shoppers being light category buyers who are yet to settle into routine purchase habits, suggesting that they commonly make brand purchase decisions once in the shop aisle.

What does this mean for the future?

As the lucrative value of sustainable product offerings draws the attention of more brands, they are faced with an increasingly competitive market as contenders jostle for the approval and loyalty among the growing population of conscious consumers.

Understanding who to talk to and what to talk to them about has never been so important in order to stay ahead of your competition.

Want to know more about how Nepa can help you? Contact us today!

[1] https://www.statista.com/forecasts/877369/global-meat-substitutes-market-value
[2] https://gfi.org/resource/environmental-impact-of-meat-vs-plant-based-meat/

Key #1 – True Omnichannel Understanding

As digital’s presence grew over the past two decades as both a marketing medium and a sales platform, many businesses created digital incubators which later hardened into silos. Meanwhile, physical channels of the same businesses – often representing 90%+ of enterprise sales – powered on with barely a nod to the cross-channel impacts.

This bifurcated view means that the richness of real-world shopping behaviors – which are almost universally omnichannel behaviors – often remain under-appreciated and under-measured. Our research confirms that understanding the interaction between online and offline experiences is critical to mastering the path to purchase, even in businesses that skew heavily to physical points-of-purchase.

To master the omnichannel path to purchase, integrate all online and offline influences and buying points in your analysis.

Key #2 – Touchpoint Conversion Power on the Path to Purchase

There’s no shortage of methodologies and metrics for evaluating marketing and promotional effectiveness. Over time, three factors have driven new variations: (1) Pressure on growth, (2) prove-it-or-lose-it budgeting, and (3) new touchpoints, largely driven by digital channels and the expansion of shopper marketing.

Experts know there’s no perfect analytical approach, just the question of fitness for use. Today, given fitness for use increasingly calls for understanding the conversion power of each touchpoint on the omnichannel path to purchase. Our research across multiple CPG categories has identified that shoppers are exposed to up to 40 different touchpoints as they initiate, research, purchase, use, and review categories, brands, and products.

Today’s business pressures make it essential to understand the conversion power of every touchpoint along the omnichannel path to purchase.

Key #3 – Shoppers, Missions, and the Path to Purchase

Mastering the path to purchase is critical for brands seeking efficient growth from shopper retention and acquisition. Previous posts have touched on two key success criteria:

(1) An omnichannel approach, including all offline and online touchpoints, and (2) Understanding the conversion power of each touchpoint along the path to purchase.

To ensure the insights will result in efficient and business-building outcomes, it’s essential to understand them in the context of specific shopper segments and shopping missions. Our research has identified important variations in how different shopper segments engage with touchpoints, and the impact of those touchpoints on conversion. Similarly, different shopping missions drive different patterns of engagement and impact.

Each shopper segment and mission has its own unique considerations and reactions to touchpoints on the path to purchase

Key #4 – Brand, Retailers, and the Path to Purchase

Many of the touchpoints on the omnichannel path to purchase are shaped by brands, some are shaped by retailers, and some are shaped through collaboration between brands and retailers. (Others are shaped communally, for example, through reviews on social media.)

To optimize touchpoints shaped collaboratively by brands and retailers, use insights which offer the following benefits:

1. Objectivity
2. An omnichannel approach
3. Touchpoint conversion power ratings
4. Shopper segment- and mission-specific results
5. Retailer-level insights

With these benefits, you’ll improve planning and results.

Apply objective insights from omnichannel path to purchase analyses to strengthen collaboration, joint business plans, and growth with key retail partners.

This concludes Nepa’s series of posts on the four key points to mastering omnichannel Path to Purchase created for the P2PX Expo in Minneapolis. Our team will be at the event Oct 2-4 and looks forward to connecting (and reconnecting) with you.

Connect with us at P2PX:

As consumers become more connected, some companies are embracing Omnichannel better than others and reshaping the way we do business. Here’s Nepa’s summer round up of our favorite Onmichannel examples in the marketplace.

Domino’s Heats Up Summer With “HotSpots”

What’s better than pressing a few buttons and having a fresh pizza show up at your door? Having it show up this summer at 200,000 parks, sports fields and beaches that don’t have a traditional address. Domino’s has extended it’s “Hotspots” program and the company even polled users to suggest delivery spots.

Domino’s continues to prioritize investments in their Omnichannel strategy leveraging technology and mobile features to enhance convenience for customers. In fact, they began to focus on online/mobile ordering long before Uber Eats, Grubhub and Seamless became ubiquitous. The techy pizza company launched “The Pizza Tracker” 10 years ago!

Whole Foods Omnichannel Prime Day Play

After being acquired by Amazon, many in the retail industry have been watching to see how the 800lb gorilla would weave Whole Foods into their Omnichannel strategy. Well, Prime Day gave some us hints. Here’s what they offered.

Prime members who spent $10 in stores from July 11-17 received $10 in Amazon credit usable on Prime Day. Shoppers were eligible once they downloaded the Whole Foods app and connected their Amazon accounts. To sweeten the deal, they also offered shoppers who used their Amazon Visa Card in stores from July 14-1710% back on up to a total purchase of $400, double the usual reward.

To drive awareness they used everything they had: Outdoor and indoor banners, stanchion signs and ceiling signs promoted the sale in stores. Whole Foods supported the event with a banner ads on wholefoodsmarket.com, email blasts, and Facebook and Twitter updates. The retailer also invested in radio spots and sponsored Facebook ads.

Need more Omnichannel? Amazon also used the occasion to encourage trial of delivery from Whole Foods via the Prime Now service. Shoppers who made their first grocery delivery purchase from July 3-17 received $10 off their order and a $10 credit for a future order. Well played.

Honorable Mentions

Other major retailers such as Walmart, Kohls and Target deserve an honorable mention for firing a shot across Amazon’s bow by launching their own aggressive sales promotions during Prime Day. Many of them such as Target flexed new customer centric strategies of their own such as their “Drive up” click-and-collect program.

Kindred Group Goes All In on The World Cup

How does the one of the largest gambling businesses capitalize on the biggest global sporting event? By going fully Onmichannel.

Our brand tracking client Kindred Group parent company to well known brands like Unibet and Red32 catered to players in over 100 countries using their mobile app, online platforms and licensing agreements at physical locations. By investing heavily in online and offline content focused on teaching new players how to place better bets, they were able to engage with their target of single young males. A total of 1.55 million Kindred players were classed as active in the three months to June 30, up 32% from 1.17 million in the same period last year. Sounds like a win to us.

We hope you had a fantastic Summer. Come back in the Fall for our next seasonal roundup of “Awesomeness In Onmichannel.” We can chat about Omnichannel all day, contact our team here.

Consumer journeys become more and more complex

and changes happen faster than ever. Consumers learn about products, compare prices, share opinions, consume content, and make their decisions where and when it best serves them on their path to purchase.

Different websites, devices, store channels and media types (both online and offline) interacts and impact consumers throughout their journey. This forms the consumer experience that is ultimately decisive for the success or failure for brands and retailers. To make things even more complex, consumers paths to purchase are highly different for different consumer segments; purchase channels and shopper missions. Most CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) giants and top retailers agree with the importance of an omnichannel perspective on the consumer experience. However, most of them have yet to move beyond single-channel tactics.

READ ALSO: Benefits of Path to Purchase analysis

The gap between online and offline shopper insights

There is one big challenge that companies who do not choose to move into an omnichannel perspective face. It is the lack of easy to implement and robust research methods to ultimately measure consumers’ omnichannel paths to purchase. Which online and offline touchpoints should be prioritized for brand building and ultimately conversion? Currently, most CPG companies have a good understanding of how their shoppers are behaving; both online and offline. However, this understanding often does not link the online world to the offline world together. It also does not link how shoppers are interacting and behaving across the entire Path to Purchase.

There are several reasons why marketing research methods are not able to uncover the omnichannel paths to purchase.

Let’s go through the most common approaches:

1. Self-stated surveys: The most traditional way of researching path to purchase is asking consumers about their Path to Purchase, the touchpoints they encounter, and the impact they’ve had on them. This method allows for mapping of typical Paths to Purchase, including all types of touchpoints. However, it is typically difficult for people to simply tell which specific touchpoints made them take a specific action. As a result, this method gives very limited insight into the impact of different touchpoints.
2. Monitor consumers’ digital behavior: This method has a higher validity since it’s based on actual behavior. However, it only links to online behavior not capturing the interaction between online and offline interactions; which is the central aspect of omnichannel paths to purchase. Moreover, companies do not have access to online purchase data from different e-retailers which is why conversions cannot be captured.
3. Qualitative research: Focus groups, online diaries, or in-depth interviews enable research to dig deeper into consumers reasoning and motives behind behaviors. Qualitative methods are therefore widely used to understand Path to Purchase. The main problem with using a qualitative approach is that it does not quantify either your finding or measure of the impact of individual touchpoints.
4. Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM): In this method, advanced statistical modeling is applied on historical data on media spend and sales. MMM does not rely on surveys. Therefore it is free from any research biases. It also allows for understanding the impact of individual touchpoints which guides media planning. However, MMM requires high quality time series data of all relevant media spend and sales. This is difficult for media owners to get a hold of. MMM is also limited to the media channels used by the advertiser historically. Moreover, interactions between and sequences of touchpoints are very difficult to capture with MMM.

READ ALSO: Brand research: What is it & why is it important?

Do you recognize the challenges above?

I understand if it’s hard to find a research methodology to capture Path to Purchase across channels. Share how you have solved this situation by writing in the comments section. Otherwise, you’re most welcome to get in touch with me to discuss this subject.

What methods does your company use to understand Path to Purchase?

Nepa’s approach to map consumers’ omnichannel Path to Purchase is to use both monitored and self-stated data. We do this by collecting individual single source data (both attitudinal and behavioral) through a focused panel of respondents for a limited time period (via web scraping, browser monitoring, app monitoring, and a self-reporting portal). This way we can capture all touchpoints that consumers interact with. As well as their actions (e.g. makes a visit or purchase) not limited to bought media or owned channels. By modeling this data, we help our clients understand the impact of individual touchpoints and the combinations of them. As a bonus, we use trigger-based surveys to capture motivations behind actions and experiences of touchpoints.

“The output gives our clients an actionable framework to make market-by-market decisions about how to focus their media, marketing, and sales investments along the Path to Purchase.”

I help businesses to thrive with customer-centricity by utilizing the power of continuous consumer insights. There is no end to what you can achieve with real-time consumer insights, customer feedback, and footprints. Do you want to know more about our approach or share your view on these challenges? You’re most welcome to get in touch with me.

Robert Beatus
Head of R&D at Nepa

Profitable growth is ever more challenging

Market conditions, increased competition from new channels and providers coupled with changing consumer and shopper expectations and demands makes growth harder than ever to generate.

However, those that are winning are doing so by creating a new understanding of their business and what’s important through combining multiple data sources and aligning their organisation to execute against these “superior” insights across all touchpoints and channels.

The business challenge on the path to purchase

Most consumer focused companies currently understand how their customers are behaving across touch points. However, this understanding often does not link the online world to the offline world. Nor does it join up data sources to identify how consumers, shoppers and customers are interacting and behaving across all channels and touch points, across the entire Path to Purchase.

Many organisations have already established programs/teams/data insights for separate parts of the journey. However, these insights are often created in silos within the business. To truly optimize revenue, we need to understand the end-to-end journey. We also need to understand how this differs for your different target customers, shoppers and consumers.

READ ALSO: Benefits of Path to Purchase analysis

How?

The key is to track all of their engagements, across your business, to understand the entire Path to Purchase. For example:

• What drives the purchase, spend or engagement decisions?
• Which are the priority touch points and why – across all channels and including the online and offline worlds?
• Which ones influence awareness, consideration and actual purchase or sign up?
• How does this differ by need and occasion/mission?
• What is the impact on value growth, bottom line and your KPIs?

To clearly evaluate the financial impact to KPIs of each touchpoint, a true “through the line” perspective of key touch points must be a requirement.

Ultimately, the question to be answered is:

Where should you focus your media, marketing and sales investment along the Path to Purchase to optimize growth?

Nepa combines technology and proven methodologies to create an end to end “single source view” of the Path to Purchase. Specifically, we combine attitudinal and behavioral data. Hence, this helps us to understand what customers are doing, thinking, feeling and experiencing at each stage of the journey.

READ ALSO: Optimise your marketing budget with Marketing Mix Modeling

So, our multiple methodologies can be combined to create the most relevant and tailored solution to your specific business requirements. These methodologies enable us to create an understanding of customers in a broad spectrum. This includes the where, when, why and how customers, consumers and shoppers are engaging for ALL online touch points.

Most importantly, we identify which touch points are the priority ones for driving:

• Awareness
• Consideration
• Purchase
• Re Purchase (Retention and Reactivation) and which ones most impact your bottom line financials.

If you want to find out more about how Nepa can help your business, please get in touch.

Lindsay Cowan
Managing Director of Nepa UK