How grocers can transform their marketing strategies

The relationship between grocers and manufacturers is evolving as food retailers embrace the digital future.

According to Store Brands’ sister publication, Progressive Grocer, grocers must transform their data assets into programs that are easy to buy and easy to use for all of their vendors.

In a recent quarter, Amazon revealed that it generated more than $2 billion in ad sales during just one quarter. While this is a very large target to aim for, it also is what retailers must think about as they manage their own digital transformations.

Manufacturers need to realize that their relationships with grocers are about to change in ways never imagined as grocers embrace the digital future and begin to evolve into the next generation of media companies.

David Diamond, president of David Diamond Associates and contributing author for Progressive Grocer, says that his recommendations for grocers to evolve are simple, but not easy. To do this, they must know that:

• If you do not have a loyalty program, start one now. These programs have never been cheaper, easier or more effective than they are right now, and this data is the gateway to quality marketing services for consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs).

• If you have a loyalty program, build on what you have. Start developing more sophisticated programming; do a better job packaging and selling those programs to CPGs; and build your expertise.

• Consider appending outside data to your loyalty program.Purchasing data from the point of sale is the core of loyalty analysis, but additional info makes the data richer and more useable.  Add the "why they do it" to the "what they do."

• Integrate marketing into your existing systems. For example, build an e-receipt solution that really works for the consumer and for you, and build quality marketing programs into that system.

• Continue to evolve your organization from distributor to marketer. Focus your company not just on getting the right goods on the right shelves at the right time, but also on getting those goods to move off the shelves at a rapid pace.