Nowadays the way we are doing shopping is constantly changing. Customers tend to use an omnichannel approach which provides a new level of experience. This revolution has set up new trends in retail. That is why brands need to redesign their strategies thanks to field marketing.

Modern Customers’ Behaviour

It is not a surprise that retail strategy has tremendously changed over the past years. The source of those significant alterations comes out from digital which is present in every aspect of our lives. Digitalisation has influenced also the way we are doing shopping and, in general, making decisions.

But after the period when it seemed that customers completely switched to online reality, including shopping, we have arrived in the times when retail is definitely not defeated by digital, but we would say, completely rediscovered.

Nowadays customers are looking for genuine experience while going to the store. The truth is that there are some sectors where you have to use your senses while making the decision.

Let’s take consumer electronics segment as an example – usually, items which you are purchasing are not the cheapest and you are buying them with a thought of using them for a long period (like a new camera, phone or TV). So the decision should be deliberate: check if the product provides an optimal user experience level, if the materials are high-quality and, in general, if you enjoy using the device. This broad overview is not possible while online shopping. What is more, in store there is always a specialist, ready to help or explain an operation of the appliance. This is the best example of an interaction between brand and customer.

The same regularity applies to the other sectors as well, like cosmetics (you do not want to spend money for the newest face cream and then notice some allergy on your visage -logic, isn’t it?)

Take a look at the Italian market nowadays. Although the e-commerce market is dynamically growing in Italy over the years, especially among younger generations, Italian customers are still more traditional and attached to in-store purchasing than in other European countries. The retail sector in Italy is constantly recording one of the highest volumes.

Tangible and present in the customer life

Those arguments, even more, highlight the importance of physical stores for customer experience which cannot be fulfilled by e-commerce. Nowadays, we can observe a retail transformation – from purchasing place to communication one. These days, retail serves as a “media” for the brand in the same way as the website. It has stopped to be only a selling point. Now it gains a new meaning as a place, where you can also you get closer to the company and learn about its values. Building the relationship is crucial to retain clients and acquire new ones, especially on the competitive market.

That is why retail strategy is more important than never before. And where there is a retail strategy, there also has to be field marketing – the channel which connects brands and their customers.

Field marketing covers many aspects: engagement, increasing loyalty, launching new products, taking care of in-store exposure. All of those activities lead to the fundamental goal – to increase the level of customer experience. This perception is crucial for the brands because there is nothing more important in modern retail than constant interactions with the target.

5 solutions in field marketing

The retail strategy is dependent on many factors: type of your company sector, target audience preferences, product lifecycle and positioning. There is no one, generic solution which is perfectly matched to all of the needs above. Every strategy, for every company, is unique considering specific aspects and requirements.

1. Looking for more interaction with your product? Try out merchandising!

Merchandising covers many important aspects like PoP materials, display materials, product layout but also implementing visual strategies to increase visibility and accessibility. The key point, in that case, is field staff who controls the whole process.

The supervision of merchandising ensures optimal and accurate management of the whole actions. Thanks to innovative tools and platforms, reporting and controlling can be incredibly easy and explicit. Take a look at TeamHaven, for example. This platform evolves the traditional concept of merchandising and allows to:

• view the schedule of visits for staff and individual merchandisers;
• optimize the movements of merchandisers;
• have real-time reports on stock, sold, refilling, the presence of exhibition materials;
• photo galleries of the campaigns.

We are extremely proud that Free-Way is the exclusive dealer of TeamHaven in Italy. Thanks to our experience with this platform, we have an excellent practice in terms of task management and in-store monitoring.

2. Craving for increasing brand awareness? Choose a promoter!

The promoter is a dedicated and specialised person with the expertise about the sector and your brand. The main task of this figure is providing information about your brand and product and satisfying customers curiosity. A specialised promoter is useful especially in competitive sectors, where in-store promotion is highly competitive.

In that case, the reporting is also extremely important. Thanks to the combination of classic and dynamic reports, that brand can collect all the data about promotion activities, including pictures of the branded area in-store. This insight allows to measure customer experience and analyze geo-target point of sales which improves retail strategies in the future.

In Free-Way we are running this kind of platform. Let us introduce, PromoterNet – the place where you can find not only reports but also potential field staff ready to represent your brand and increase its awareness.

3. A specific target on the viewfinder? Maybe it’s time for sales promotion

Sales promotion is the best way to increase engagement among your customers and strengthen loyalty between you and the audience. A competition with prizes or other entertaining activities at the final part should encourage to taking an action. What is more, along with a precise analysis of the target audience and customers can be a great script for further strategy.

4.  In-store event with your brand? Create Demo Days with product specialists

Demo Days with product specialists bring all the benefits of the products, directly to the customer. It is a great chance to try out the product or service and get closer to the brand. This kind of promotion is extremely important for sectors like dermocosmetics, nutrition, technology or DIY.

In any case, a dedicated product specialist with extensive knowledge describes the product and explain them to meet the expectations of the customers.

Not sure what type of promotion is the perfect match for your needs?

5.  Clever materials – innovation for the retail strategy

Naturally, the process does not close as soon as the interaction between the client and (for example) in-store sales representative is finished. Field marketing means also collecting data about customer behaviour, getting the deep insight into their actions and interactions in-store. It is necessary to analyze the present strategy and draw conclusions for the future. As you can see the digitalization and the rising importance of technology can also improve retail strategy and field marketing operation.

One of the indispensable elements of in-store marketing are promotional materials. Branded area, logos of the company, totems and dedicated field staff or sales specialists are the must-have of every campaign, but the question is “How to analyze the effectiveness of those actions?”.

Fortunately, nowadays technology is the best friend of field marketing. Thanks to Free-Way Clever Materials it is possible to monitor customers behaviour in-store. The technology inside enables to detect the presence of people who have the WiFi mode turned on, on their smartphones and tablets. The good news is that almost 80 % of shoppers have their WiFi activated.

When they are passing through this zone, they are treated as an impression, whereas they stop they are recognised as an engagement. The correlation between impression and engagement is called a conversion rate that indicates which amount of traffic has been transformed into interaction. It describes the effectiveness of display materials, the totem, product exposure and even the dedicated promoter.

How to choose the best field marketing agency for your needs?

No matter what type of promotion you choose, it is also important to take care of management and event scheduling. And that is why to achieve the best results its worth to cooperate with a professional field marketing agency which ensures you the highest quality of services and project management with logistic aspects.

The question is how to choose the best one. The task is difficult especially you are considering to run your promotional campaign in a foreign country. Below you can find 3 main aspects you should verify to choose the best field strategy company.

1. Experience

Experience is a crucial feature while choosing your business partner. Companies with many years of professional background have a huge knowledge of regularities on a given market and own the management procedures. Thanks to their presence on the market they are trustworthy, and what is more, you can check out their rich portfolio of previous clients.

2. Knowledge of the sector

Every product, from each sector, requires a different type of promotion and different customer approach. There is no generic recipe for a successful campaign. That is why the knowledge about each sector is a high-priority for field marketing. With that expertise, it is possible to choose a proper strategy for every action.

3. Knowledge of the territory

The question of how to promote comes along with also important question where to promote. The good field marketing strategy is based on territorial coverage of the most bustling places including shopping centres and big stores. Reaching any agency, make sure that it has representatives spread all over Italy to get the best insight about each localisation.

With over 20 years of experience, Free-Way is supporting companies from various markets like Consumer Electronics, Beauty, Telco, Automotive, Pharma, Food, Leisure, Petcare and Gardening. We perfectly understand the diverse needs of each sector and thanks to our experience and know-how, we are able to provide innovative solutions for each of them. Our field marketing strategies always take into account regional differences to provide the highest performance of campaigns.

Sounds like a perfect match for you? We’re waiting for your message