FA RETAIL was invited to participate on the past Tissue World Conference, the largest forum focused on the tissue business that took place in Barcelona, on the 17th-19th of March 2015. The trade show attracts key tissue industry professionals from all over the world as an opportunity to exchange technological advancements in the sector.
With an exhibition area – represented by manufactures, converters and other players in the industry – and a program of intriguing speeches, professionals had 3 days to discuss about innovation, sustainability and all kind of valuable content for the decision makers. And of course, the Retail track could not be out of the discussion and more than ever, it represents an essential role in the game.
Kit Vale, Global Director of Business Development at Daymon Worldwide, brought updates about the ‘private brands’ – giving special attention for the tissue sector. She showed us how the shoppers are changing their perception about the private labels and how their key purchase drivers are not based on being an ‘economical option’ anymore; they are now synonymous of quality as well.
Himanshu Pal, Retail Insights Director at Kantar Retail, exposed the different levels of consumption around the world, showing how Asia is an emerging market when compared to the occident countries – due to the still low penetration of the tissue categories. He also mentioned how important is for the brands to act locally, forgetting the successful global strategies and focusing on the local activation.
Make Tissue innovation relevant: more engaging to the shopper
Considering how important is the Retail for the final shopper decision, FA RETAIL suggested a discussion about ‘how effective and relevant are the product innovations for the tissue shoppers’, focusing on the product attributes, and not on the brands. The main question to be answered was: ‘what really matters to the shopper today’ – starting with the comparison among the different generation profiles: Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y (Millennials) and Gen Z.
After understanding the different purchase behaviors that belong to each generation, we reviewed the changes occurred on the business model – driven specially buy the adoption of the internet as a way to interact and communicate with the customer. For the Marketing 1.0 and 2.0, the real SALE TRANSACTION was important to generate LOYALTY and to establish A RELATIONSHIP. The focus was on the PRODUCT 1st, and then on the CONSUMER.
During Marketing 3.0, the RELATIONSHIP (dialogue) stablished between the brand and the shopper is the new focus to define if the SALES TRANSACTION will exist or not. – Its necessary to INTERACT, ENGAGE, to be RESPONSIBLE (socially and environmentally).
Some categories we love and other we just don’t care much
So, based on this new model, we know we need to engage and to establish a relationship with our shopper, but at the same time we feel how hard is to generate ‘engagement’ when we are just talking about paper. The brand Scottex, for example, developed a campaign called “Culitos Besables”, inviting the costumers to share their own videos and despite having turned ‘viral’, the campaign didn’t convince the customers to really participate like expected.
For some categories this task can be easier, because they are able to create an emotional link with their shoppers (specially the digital link, so valuable today for the conversations between brands x targets). Some categories we love as shoppers and consumers, but some categories we just don’t care that much (it is not bad, it is just normal) – and tissue is one of this categories.
Thinking of this, we suggested that the POS (Point of Sales) should be the 1st opportunity, for these categories (toilet paper, facial tissue, kitchen towel, napkins), to engage with the customer – starting with the task of ‘making their shopping easier and faster’ by offering:
- Ideal portfolio with the right package solutions (traditional packs vs promopacks)
- Applicable and clear claims, giving focus to the main attribute of the SKU (comfort, practicality, sustainability, fashion)
- Better category management
- Brand experiment with product demonstration
- Retail Campaigns, linking the POS with Social Media
- Cross-channel and cross-merchandising activities
An important Retail recommendation for all the brands and categories, in general, is to start to review their portfolios based in what is really relevant to the shoppers. Having SKUs with real attributes that add a special value and that are able to pop up on the shelf and to sell without too much effort. One thing we must take into consideration is: if we don’t review our portfolios, the retailers will do that for us, unsubscribing the products that do not perform well.
Do you need help to review you portfolio based in what your shopper expects? Let’s talk!
Written by Fernanda Accorsi
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