How will retailers create tomorrow's promotions / Meta

The retail world is undergoing a profound transformation today. With the current testing of the Oui Pub system, the paper catalogue is at risk of extinction. For many retailers, the very fundamentals of their profession are being shaken up: both the store organisation and set-up are affected. What will the promotions of tomorrow look like?

The paper catalogue still structures the store and its aisles

Traditional paper catalogues have long been at the heart of retail. They are gradually losing their significance in the face of the value of commercial data. Promotions, negotiated and designed months in advance, are a precious treasure for retailers. The shift to the digital world is prompting retailers to reconsider the value of promotional data and to show it on other platforms.

30 to 40% of French customers and consumers are looking for promotional offers

The current inflation context encourages French people to pay attention to promotions. The tighter the economic situation is, the stronger the demand for promotions in households. This is why retailers must make promotions accessible to all French people on their favourite platforms.

Three major rules to highlight promotional data

In this new era, three main rules stand out. First, it is essential to overexpose the promotional offer in the digital world using various available channels such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. Retailers need to create relevant alerts for consumers throughout their digital journey.

We will have to multiply the exposures, meaning we need to make an effort to overexpose this famous promotional offer. It's essential that, throughout their digitised journey, customers are constantly alerted, reminding them that a particular product is on promotion at Carrefour, Aldi, Leclerc, Intermarché or Système U.

How to overexpose digital customers to more than 700 units of need?

The second crucial point is personalisation. We will need to use all the tools at our disposal to ensure that the commercial offer is as relevant, targeted and impactful as possible.

An attentive customer, representing 30 to 40% of French households, will spend roughly between 3 and 4 minutes browsing a 24- or 56-page catalogue.

A customer exposed to 400 offers only remembers 2 or 3

A digital customer will also browse their e-catalogue for 3 to 4 minutes. The key difference is that they will stop midway through the catalogue: the value of the last page is therefore zero.

The challenge for retailers is to expose each customer profile in a relevant pattern to achieve optimised browsing time.

Commercial data is an absolutely strategic element. A brand's commercial and promotional data has a short lifespan, yet it holds great value.

Amazon and the quest for food data

For almost 10 years now, Amazon has been trying to get its hands on the conversation of the food purchase relationship. The great difficulty with non-food items is that they have much weaker interpretation and knowledge characteristics than food items, and especially an extremely irregular frequency. The Holy Grail of commercial data is food data for a very simple reason: behind these contents — that is, knowledge of both the offers made and the offers chosen and consumed — we have a sharp understanding of what's going on. We can determine the number of people in a household, their income level, where they live and what they consume, etc.

The store media

The store is a genuine media and a place of consumption; it's a fixture now. Ten years ago, we saw Amazon wiping out everyone, and consumers were going to shop and have groceries delivered to their homes. However, we now know that even the younger generations X, Y and Z go to stores to shop.

The store is essential. In a logic of ultra-exposure combined with ultra-personalisation and sanctification, we will have to put these tools at the service of the store. This means we will need to take into account both the store's specifics and its catchment area, consider the store's pricing, and product availability.

Thirdly, in-store devices play a crucial role. In-store media represents a significant opportunity for retailers, as physical commerce remains a critical component despite the rise of online shopping. Stores must be integrated into the overall strategy and equipped with technological tools to maximise their performance.

No ideal mix

We are going to see evolving mixes; this means we will have to massively deploy a form of agility in terms of exposure, targeting, tools, partnerships and algorithms to achieve maximum performance.

In conclusion, there isn't a predefined ideal mix for this revolution. Retailers will need to combine increased exposure, sharp personalisation and advanced technological management for optimal results. The transition to the digital world will require high-tech tools and partnerships to effectively steer promotional strategies.