Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) is one of the sectors most impacted by the recent pandemic and lockdown. With in-store experiences being much more limited, and deliveries rapidly taking over, many businesses have had to fast track their move to online. 

A recent McKinsey study illustrates the pace of change describing how ‘... we have vaulted five years forward in consumer and business digital adoption in a matter of around eight weeks. Banks have transitioned to remote sales and service teams and launched digital outreach to customers to make flexible payment arrangements for loans and mortgages. Grocery stores have shifted to online ordering and delivery as their primary business. Schools in many locales have pivoted to 100 percent online learning and digital classrooms.’ ( Source: McKinsey) 

But translating the in-store experience online has proved a challenge for many brands.

In a traditional retail space competing for customer’s attention while difficult was significantly less challenging. With carefully thought out merchandising, premium product placements, and point of sale stands attracting customers' attention and encouraging spur of the moment purchasing was much more attainable than it is in an online setting.

With real estate reduced to the size of a mobile phone screen, lack of peripheral vision triggers and an even greater number of competitors pushing their products in front of the audiences, targeting the right customer with the right content at the right time has become increasingly difficult.

Here at Indeemo, we understand many of the challenges of transitioning from brick and mortar stores to e-commerce. In this article, we outline how you can leverage Remote Mobile Ethnography to understand your customer journey and optimize your new, digital path to purchase.

Rethink your 4 Ps

Before moving your product online consider your product, price, promotion, and place. Depending on the level of consideration involved in the purchase decision, not all products succeed as well online.

If your product or service doesn’t read well on a mobile and cannot be experienced digitally you may want to consider an online catalog or virtual reality experience instead of an ecommerce approach.

Price is another critical factor. Online sales may incur additional logistical costs such as delivery or returns or hiring extra staff to support order fulfillment which might have to be reflected in the price of the product or service.

Even the online retail giant Amazon had to expand their operation during covid and has hired over 175,000 associates to allow the business keep up with the demand.

The move to digital also completely transforms your promotional strategy and where you promote and sell the product. It is not only about taking your current business model and moving it online - you need to rethink and re-build your customer experience. From reducing friction points and ensuring seamless UX to allowing for sufficient support and product education, there is much to do.

Connect with Your Digital Customer 

The key to translating your brand experience online is having a deep understanding of your audience and where and how they shop online. Your in-store target audience might be very different from your online shoppers. Take the time to understand who your new audience is, what are their needs, how their approach has changed, and how their habits differ from those of traditional in-store shoppers.

Ask how are they shopping and where are they shopping? Are they looking for your products on Amazon, your website or are they choosing to go with their trusted retailers? 

Look at their new habits. Are they spending more time comparing value and looking at alternative products or is your product essential they are happy to add to cart and checkout immediately?

Understanding where to best spend your resources is key in ensuring your digital campaigns and e-commerce sales are successful. Investing in platforms that don’t resonate with your target audience can not only use up a lot of your budget but can also affect your customer’s perception of the brand.

With the help of a Remote Diary Study, you can connect with your target audience and step into the shoes of these respondents to fully understand their shopping journey, how they shop your and competitor’s products and what influences or challenges they experience in the path to purchase. 

Leveraging tools such as mobile screen recording or video notes will enable you to pinpoint the correlation between your ideal customer, their ideal platform, and your product allowing you to create the optimal customer journey. 

The Power of the Brand 

What role does your brand play in your customer journey? 

A recent report from Accenture argues brands need to rethink their purpose in the “new normal” - “ Relevant brands are rooted in human purpose. What is required is a true shift in perspective. A brand’s purpose will only be relevant if it sits within people’s own purpose, and not the other way around. If you’re not sure what direction to head in, your customers and employees will help lead the way.” ( Source: Accenture)

When creating your mobile diary research task list ensure you incorporate this aspect into your research.

Are your respondents looking for a specific product or is your market much more competitive? Does your strategy need an “economies of scale” approach with discounts and offers enticing shoppers to try your product? Or are your customers familiar with your brand and trust your offering, and are thus prepared to pay full price for your product?

These are the sorts of questions your respondents can help you answer so as to help inform your online strategy. With a mobile video diary study you can follow your customer journey and get a deeper understanding of their relationship with your brand, as well as with competitor brands. The Indeemo app also enables you to prompt the respondents meaning you can comment on questions and ellicit deeper insight for an even richer reponse.

Conclusion

The almost overnight shift to online can be seen as a challenge but it is also a great opportunity to reinvent your brand and product.

By connecting with your customers and understandin their feelings, experiences, motivations, behaviors, and attitudes you can evolve you digital offering.

With an educated strategy inspired by your new customer journey you can truly transform your business and not only react to current challenging circumstances but grow and expand.

To learn more about how Indeemo can support your research, schedule an appointment with one of our strategists today.

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