Winning at Grocery Delivery is the Key to the Walmart Power-shopper
If you thought Walmart’s acceleration into grocery pickup was aggressive, consider their plans for 2019: grocery delivery available at about 1 in 4 Walmart stores in the US, reaching about 40% of all US households.
While your competitors are telling themselves they have some time before they need to worry about a grocery delivery marketing strategy, it’s your chance to lead the category in omnichannel excellence.
Let’s take a look at how consumers view grocery delivery, why & how they use it, and what you can do to begin capitalizing on this powerful opportunity.
Grocery Delivery Demand Indicates It Will Do Even Better Than Pickup
While grocery pickup adoption is higher than grocery delivery, the appeal for online grocery delivery is much higher than it is & was for pickup. This is a huge sign for the rapid growth you can expect in Walmart grocery delivery adoption in 2019.
Grocery Delivery Can Drive Incremental Growth for Brands
People who use online grocery delivery and pickup overwhelmingly see it as a complement (68%) to their in-store shopping experience and not a replacement. According to a recent report from market research firm Packaged Facts, Walmart’s loyal online grocery shoppers are 30 percent more likely than the average online grocery shopper to cite in-store pickup or curbside pickup as a major influencer when choosing where to shop among online grocers.
What does this mean for suppliers? It means that customers are more likely to buy more, not less, of your product. Just because online grocery orders may be slightly smaller than in-store stockup baskets, you’re not losing those physical trips to the store.
Rather than cannibalising the core, customer perception of delivery and usage of pickup suggests this will only expand a brand’s share of category & wallet. Not only that, you have the halo effect of improved loyalty to the box, which improves your customer retention and lifetime value.
Get into Grocery Delivery with Hyper-targeted Media
So how do you get started? There’s not exactly a playbook for Walmart grocery delivery, so what’s a smart way to begin testing, learning and positioning your brand for growth?
Let’s start by identifying a few rich micro-moment opportunities for grocery delivery. Ask yourself, “When and why would I ever consider getting groceries and essential home goods delivered to me?” Here are a few things consumers are saying, to give you head start…
1. On the Go Parents
With most households with kids depending on two working parents, the juggling act of day care, soccer practice and keeping the household running is a full time job in itself.
One of the most powerful ways to reach these busy parents and save the day is grocery delivery, aptly timed. Geotargeting with additional behavioral data on top of it can help you reach families with working parents at various hot spots around town: from high schools to rec centers to sports complexes.
2. Bad Weather & Bad Traffic
From last-minute meals to simply running out of time for that after-work stock-up trip, unexpected severe weather or traffic can throw an entire household’s routine off.
You can reach this audience a number of ways using powerful mobile, behavioral and environmental data layers. First, there’s the obvious one: is this person currently geo-located in an area prone to rush-hour gridlock? We all know those parts of town, and a simple geofencing campaign can help. Another way is to use traffic-driven triggers in markets you’d like to reach.
3. Sick Days & Physically Challenged
Whether your customer is fighting the flu during peak season or is simply stuck at home because getting around presents major inconveniences, these people need help – often with even getting their basic needs met. That’s where grocery delivery can help, but many don’t even know it’s available in their area. Using both behavioral and mobile signals, you can reach people actively searching online for cold & flu symptoms and solutions. You can even retarget people who have recently visited an Urgent Care and the Pharmacy drive-thru section of Walmart.
4. Meal Kits & Party Delivery
Target people in their place of work! Maybe they’re planning how to make getting dinner on the table that night or maybe they’re planning a work or personal party and don’t have time for another trip to get everything just right.
5. And Many More “Just Because” Moments
There are countless other situations you can imagine targeting, from simple bad days to moments when you just don’t feel like leaving the house. Work through those stories and we can partner with you to find creative ways to leverage digital and mobile footprints to reach and engage your audience.
Breaking Down Targeting Methods
We touched on some of the media targeting tactics you can employ, but let’s do a quick recap of the “levers” you can pull to better reach your target customer at the right time and place…
- Behavioral
People who love your brand, your category or even just regularly use services like meal delivery, grocery delivery, etc. We can help you build these layers into your targeting - Location
– Where was your customer? Past & recent visits to Walmart in your specific category/section of the store.
– Walmart customers who don’t live within 2 miles of a Walmart might be a ripe target for delivery.
– Real-time traffic data, weather data and other indications that someone’s day didn’t go well and might be prime targets for grocery delivery. - Keyword Intent
People who live near a Walmart currently looking at your product, category or considering delivery.
We walked through how grocery delivery presents major potential to drive incremental growth with Walmart customers, now let’s work together to help you take the next step of putting your digital media strategy in place. Give us a call or drop us a note, we’d love to chat and provide solutions to your marketing objectives.
Why use BrandLift™? We have developed the only database of mobile IDs that have physically visited OGP pickup lanes, giving you extreme precision to advertise to only your ideal customer. Learn more
