Given the slowdown in consumer spending on furniture and home electronics, it’s no surprise that marketers are looking for new strategies to grow sales. An article posted in Twice last month summarized the historical tendencies of department stores and furniture stores to cross-merchandise furniture and TVs, one of the earliest pieces of consumer electronics. But the specialty retailing trends of the last decade led consumers to purchase electronics in one type of store and home furnishings in another. All that seems to be changing.

Alan Wolf highlights a new trend that’s been popping up in Boston, MA and a few other markets. Home furnishings stores are beginning to advertise their solutions for storing or supporting consumer electronics equipment like wide-screen TVs. And they’re also promising consumers a good deal on a TV.  Similarly, CE stores are selling home furnishings to help consumers envision a  total solution to a home entertainment system upgrade.

A Nebraska Furniture Mart spokesperson notes that strategies such as presenting these lifestyle settings are ‘attracting a customer base that’s heavily skewed toward women and families’. As the holiday season rolls in, more marketers may be promoting packages that include furnishings and consumer electronics, proving that the ‘what’s old is new again’ strategy yields results.

[Source: Wolf, Alan.  Retailers See Synergies in Furniture, CE Sales]

If Procter and Gamble’s increased emphasis on shopper marketing is any indication of the future, more companies will be upping their budgets to reach consumers when they are in stores. This conclusion was reached by Jack Neff, writing for Advertising Age. He notes that renewed focus on ‘store-back’ comes as P&G and other packaged goods firms are struggling to meet sales targets during the recession.

Neff also points out that when it comes to packaged goods marketing, spending on  trade and store promotions can easily exceed media spending.  As a result, more agencies are building shopper marketing expertise into their offerings and finding ways to extend consumer campaigns into in-store campaigns. This can be easy to do in some cases, such as adding a packaging blurb. However, consumers who are attached to a company’s brand aren’t always the same people as the actual shoppers. In those cases, reaching consumers in stores is often about “product formulation..and packaging” which translates into higher marketing expenditures.

The increased emphasis on shopper marketing is expected to continue because:

• Marketers believe these campaigns return an effective ROI
• Shopper marketing will be easy to merge with digital, especially mobile media and coupons
• Retailers are asking for more co-op advertising and telling manufacturers how to spend money allocated for ‘store-back’ programs

[Source: Neff, Jack. P&G Taking Its Marketing Back to the Store, Advertising Age, 9.21.09]

Ad-ology Research recently updated their Industry Marketing Insights report for Electronics Stores. The following are the predicted Top 5
Opportunities/Challenges from the report for this industry for the upcoming year:

• DVRs are expected to be in 50% of households by 2011.
• Sixty-five percent of consumers say it’s important for electronics to be environmentally-friendly, and 57% say environmentally friendly attributes of a product will be an important factor for their next purchase.
• Approximately 71% of U.S. homes with televisions (approximately 82.3 million) are expected to have an HDTV set by the end of 2009.
• Sales of DVD players are shrinking, due in part to the fact that approximately 80% of U.S. homes have a DVD player.
• Traditional stores face major competition from Web-based retailers.

The Industry Marketing Insights report for Electronics Stores is available on Ad-ology.com (Research Store) for $295 USD with local market data for any U.S. market.

[Source: Ad-ology Research. October 1, 2009.]

Generational differences have contributed to a steady decline in consumer brand loyalty when purchasing gasoline, according to The NPD Group, a leading market research company. According to NPD’s Motor Fuels Index, which tracks consumer motor fuel purchasing behaviors, older consumers, those over 65, have always been more likely to limit brand choice to only one brand, while younger consumers historically have been more willing to shop around.

NPD finds that the percentage reporting they “always buy one brand of gasoline” measured 28% in the first quarter of 2009, compared to 34% in the first quarter of 2000. When comparing first quarter 2009 loyalty measures versus first quarter 2000, the age group that experienced the greatest decline was the 30-to-44 age segment. In 2000, 18- to 29-year-olds were the least brand loyal; in the intervening nine years, many of them brought their brand switching behavior into the 30-to-44 age bracket. Compared to overall brand loyalty, the 30-to-44 age group is now the most likely group to try multiple brands among those who have purchased a major brand, according to NPD’s Motor Fuels Index.

“I believe we can expect the trend to continue as drivers, ages 18 to 29, also exhibit less loyalty than previous generations,” says David Portalatin, industry analyst for NPD’s  automotive unit. “This group is beginning to be influenced by the ‘echo boom,’ children of Baby Boomers, who will be the largest generation of drivers in the history of the automobile.”

NPD analyzed the most loyal consumers (those over 65 who only use one brand) and finds their brand choice drivers are more likely to be related to the credit card offering. And, while quality and performance always will be important to the gasoline purchase decision, younger consumers who report loyalty to a single fuel brand also report their brand choice is more likely to be driven by the convenience store offering where they buy gas.

“It’s going to take best-in-class retailing, including fresh food offerings and a diversity of products and services to attract and retain drivers’ fuel purchases in the future,” says Portalatin. “Gasoline marketers will want to leverage today’s technology to implement loyalty promotions at the pump, such as discounts, rebates, and the rewards tied to in-store purchasing.”

“Motor Fuels Index,” conducted by The NPD Group, September 21, 2009.  Website: www.npd.com.