UT Welcomed Top Executives to Campus
to Launch Shopper Marketing Forum
Also see article in Progressive Grocer
KNOXVILLE, TN — A group of top executives from some of the nation's leading companies — including PepsiCo Americas Foods, Wal-Mart, Nestlé, Kimberly-Clark and The Walt Disney Co. — gathered at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to help the College of Business Administration launch its inaugural Shopper Marketing Forum.
"It is the hottest issue in retail and consumer package goods," said forum organizer Dan Flint, UT's Proffitt's Inc. Associate Professor of Marketing. "Few other universities are paying serious attention to it — so far."
"Shopper marketing" is understanding how one's target consumers behave as shoppers and leveraging this intelligence to benefit the company or brand, consumers, retailers and shoppers," said forum organizer Dan Flint, UT's Proffitt's Inc. Associate Professor of Marketing. "The way shoppers are influenced by signage, coupons, packaging, in-store radio, promotions, etc. —all of this is shopper marketing. It is the strategy of engaging consumers while they are in the 'shopping mode' to build brand equity and persuade them to make purchases."
Some of the issues explored at the forum included collaboration among supply chain partners in retail; improved metrics and return on investment (ROI) for marketing initiatives; gaining deeper insights into shopper thinking, behavior and value perceptions; and enhancing shopper experiences through state-of-the-art technology such as social networking and virtual simulations and displays.
The economic downturn, coupled with changes in shoppers' behavior and attitudes, has forced companies to think about new ways to entice customers to buy their products, Flint said. For instance, he said, research shows that, 70 percent of the time, shoppers choose what brand to buy while they are shopping; eight percent of buying decisions are unplanned; and only five percent of customers are loyal to the brand of one product group.
Flint said that some of the participants in the inaugural Shopper Marketing Forum — including Pepsico/Fritolay, CROSSMARK, Anderson Companies, Pilot, and Mars Advertising — are becoming annual sponsors of the forum. (For additional information about the forum, visit http://bus.utk.edu/smf/ or contact Flint at dflint@utk.edu.)
The University of Tennessee College of Business Administration has two other forums: the Supply Chain Strategy and Management Forum and the Forecasting and Demand Management Forum, both under the umbrella of Demand Supply Integration Forums. The forums are research-based think tanks that bring UT faculty together with company executives to address key industry issues. Member companies pay a fee to belong to the forums and attend the twice-yearly meetings.
Through forum discussions, faculty members —and sometimes doctoral and MBA students — learn about the types of research that can be done on campus to help businesses. Business members, who sometimes choose to fund particular areas of research, then get "first dibs" on findings. Business executives also get to know UT students who might then be recruited for employment.
"UT Knoxville is a leader in establishing and running these forums. And niche programs are our strength," Flint said.
The three sponsors of the kick-off Shopper Marketing Forum were CROSSMARK, a consumer package goods broker; Deloitte, a consulting firm; and the Nielsen Co., a data company. Forum participants included retailers (Pilot Corp. Pilot Travel Center, Wal-Mart), manufacturers (Bush Bros., Kimberly-Clark, Nestlé, Novartis, Pepperidge Farm/Campbell’s Soup Co., PepsiCo Americas Foods, Frito-Lay, Procter & Gamble, The Walt Disney Co.), and advertisers (Anderson Merchandising, Mars Advertising, Tracy-Locke).
The forum also involved UT faculty members from the College of Business Administration dean’s office, development office and MBA program; statistics, operations and management science; and the hosting department, marketing and logistics. Faculty from retailing, hospitality and tourism and advertising also were involved.
