Shopper marketing blog

Paul

Paul
Paul is Joint Founder & Managing Director of CheckoutSmart. Before this he spent 20 years with Mars & Heinz covering just about every role in Sales & Marketing working across Europe and the Middle East. Outside work you can most often find Paul watching or doing sport.
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Recent Posts

Webinar - CheckoutSmart & eStoremedia talk about Moisturiser

Posted by Paul on Mar 24, 2024 9:39:32 AM

Paul Lees our MD sat down with Francis Nicholas of eStoreMedia to talk about the ratings and reviews in the Moisturiser category. In 25 minutes they covered which retailers carry reviews, how many there are, which brands have them, whether they have enough reviews and then some fascinating insights from the reviews themselves.

The Top 3 points he made were:
  1. There are 7 dimensions to Moisturiser according to the shopper reviews and Nivea does very well in 4 of them, giving them a strong position.
  2. Individual reviews matter when it comes to reviews it is not just about numbers. Shoppers read the top few reviews they see regardless of how many there are in total.
  3. We have a measure of how influential reviews are: "Influence score". This shows that L'Oreal has the most influential reviews and Olay from Procter & Gamble (P&G) has the lowest in the category.

This kind of category work providing market coverage, opportunities and category insights is available for all categories. Contact us to understand what we can do for you.

Meanwhile, please watch and learn more about reviews and moisturisers:

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Topics: Supermarket, Rating and Reviews, Shopper Insights, Amazon, Insights

Shopper Reviews for Moisturisers - Quality vs Quantity

Posted by Paul on Jan 30, 2024 3:27:11 PM

This time we are looking at the face & body moisturiser category in the UK. We particularly want to look at which companies and brands are doing well i.e., have good positive reviews that are up to date and will influence shoppers and those who need to be a bit smarter.

We are also keen to understand more about moisturisers from a shoppers' perspective. What do they say about the category, what language do they use to describe it, and how do they see the relative merits of brands?

To do this, we have gathered and analysed all the reviews on facial and body moisturisers in the top UK online supermarkets since 2020. We processed them through quality control, removing all the unhelpful “!!!!!!!!” etc., that some reviewers like to use, then pivoted, tabled, graphed, AI-analysed, discussed, and debated. Finally, we came out with what we think are the more interesting points about the moisturiser reviews in UK supermarkets.

We focussed on the top 6 brands analysed, selected by the total number of reviews found across ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, and Ocado for 2020 - 2023.

  1. Brands with more reviews, have lower quality reviews
  2. The most popular Shopper dimensions for moisturiser are:
    1. Absorbs Easily – Doesn’t Absorb easily
    2. Not Greasy - Greasy
    3. Smells great – Does not smell Great
    4. Good for Dry skin – Not good for dry skin
    5. Good for Sensitive skin – Not good for sensitive skin
    6. Good for Lines/wrinkles – Not good for lines/wrinkles
    7. Good to Soft skin – Not good to soften skin
  3. Despite having lots of reviews all brands need new reviews on the majority of SKUs.

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Topics: FMCG, Rating and Reviews, Shopper Insights, Insights

New Year, New Products? Get off to the best start by utilising reviews

Posted by Paul on Dec 13, 2023 8:00:00 AM

Launching new products in the New Year can be quite an adventure, it's no secret that the road to success for any NPD is filled with many bumps and mostly arrives at a dead end. As reported by Harvard Business Review, a staggering 90% of new products face failure within their first year, despite the substantial investments by FMCG manufacturers in R&D, marketing, and advertising.

To help your new products have the best possible start in the New Year, we'll explain the crucial role of consumer reviews. Here are four compelling reasons why securing a good number of consumer reviews as early as possible is essential for the success of your new offerings.

PS For even more on why reviews are critical for NPD, see our post 10 Reasons why Shopper Reviews are vital for Successful New Products.

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Topics: Supermarket, Grocery, FMCG, NPD, Shopper Marketing

Unlocking Shopper Insights with AI: Reviews analysis & beer

Posted by Paul on Nov 28, 2023 8:00:00 AM

In this article, you will discover how we use AI text analysis to unlock valuable shopper insights and change the way our clients understand customer preferences and behaviours. By the end, you will understand how we go from thousands of text-based product reviews to something as simple and useful as this:

Creating actionable shopper insights has always been crucial for businesses looking to get an advantage in consumer goods. By analysing the text content of shopper reviews using AI technology, consumer goods businesses can gain valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviours. AI (Large Language Model) text analysis allows businesses to go beyond simple quantitative data and understand the emotions, opinions, and sentiments expressed by shoppers in their reviews.

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Topics: Rating and Reviews, Shopper Insights, Shopper Marketing Agency, Shopper Research, Insights

Maximizing Sales and ROI with smart product reviews

Posted by Paul on Oct 26, 2023 7:18:36 AM

In the digitally-centred grocery landscape, product reviews have become essential for all serious businesses. Not only do they influence purchasing decisions, but they also have a significant impact on a company's online reputation.

So how do you know you are if you're getting a genuine return on investment (ROI) from these product evaluations?

We'll examine the key indicators of a strong ROI and take a closer look at a helpful case study featuring Kellogg's Coco Pops. We will explore topics that directly demonstrate a good ROI:

  1. - Online sales increases
  2. - In-store sales increase
  3. - Retailer search ranking improvements

Before we do, it is worth noting just how powerful reviews are as an influencer of choice, especially amongst younger shoppers. A Local Consumer Review Survey by Bright Local found that 91% of 18-34-year-old consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

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Topics: Supermarket, Rating and Reviews, Always On, ROI

Bridging the Review Gap in UK Grocery: A wake up call to Brands

Posted by Paul on Oct 10, 2023 8:50:41 AM

When it comes to the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, many brands may feel confident about their customer reviews. However, our comprehensive analysis shows a different reality, highlighting a significant and often overlooked gap in consumer feedback.

With a staggering 85% of FMCG products in top UK supermarkets needing new reviews, this isn't just a minor issue—it's a business-critical concern. So, let's dive deeper into the data, look at a leading example from the industry, and explore the tangible opportunities that await brands willing to bridge this gap..

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Topics: FMCG, Rating and Reviews, ecommerce, Shopper Research, digital shelf

Category Retailer Insights Report: Biscuits in Ocado

Posted by Paul on Aug 7, 2023 5:04:50 PM

This is a summary of the work we have done using hybrid AI/Human analysis of shopper reviews of the sweet biscuit category in Ocado. This analysis uses AI to understand what is new and different across huge volumes of text while the experienced human sifts the output looking for category relevance and actionability.

Highlights

  • Ocado has 875k (11.4%) of the 7.7m reviews across all categories in the Top 6 online grocery retailers*.

  • The Category has 4k (1%) of the 421k reviews across all brands in Ocado over 2021-23. 

  • 85 Biscuit brands have reviews on Ocado with an average of 47.8 reviews per brand

  • There is a big opportunity for all brands to improve their review presence in Ocado by getting at least 30 reviews per SKU and the important area to shoppers of the most recent 3 reviews.

  • Looking at individual SKUs in the category (see the Appendix for the full category list) 277 of the 308 listed need new reviews to optimise their sales online and in-store (see “How to get more reviews” below).

*Reports are available for the Top 6 grocery retailers (Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Ocado and Waitrose plus Boots and Superdrug)

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Topics: Grocery, Rating and Reviews, Shopper Research, Ocado, Insights

Consumer insights into Coffee brands from Morrisons reviews

Posted by Paul on Jul 11, 2023 6:20:52 AM

At CheckoutSmart, we are passionate about consumer product reviews. We not only provide up-to-date reviews for brands nationwide, but we also take the time to analyse and learn from them. Reviews offer valuable insights from shoppers, giving us a glimpse into the latest trends and category-specific information. With over half a million reviews from the top 6 supermarkets in the UK alone at our disposal, we have a wealth of information to explore.

Whether it is the latest trends, such as we bring alive in our Moaning March post or category specific insights from the Haircare category, there is always plenty to hear and learn. As we have all the up to date reviews for the Top 6 supermarkets in the UK in our database (over half a million) we have plenty to delve into.

We also use the review data to run our Always On SmartReputation solution, delivering reviews with precision where they are needed by SKU and retailer. This ensures that our clients can have complete confidence in the freshness and impact of the reviews on their brands, alleviating any concerns they may have. This frees up resource to get on with more added value activity as well as reducing the anxiety of surprises when someone in the team spots a series of poor reviews on one of your key packs.

In this blog post, we will be delving into the fascinating world of coffee reviews in Morrisons. Morrisons stands out as an intriguing space for reviews, as they do not participate in syndication like some other retailers. This means that not all products have a significant number of reviews for analysis, potentially causing them to be overlooked. However, in the coffee category alone, we have gathered over 100 reviews for each brand we are examining from the past 2 years. This wealth of reviews provides us with a solid foundation for uncovering valuable insights.

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Topics: Grocery, Rating and Reviews, Shopper Insights, Shopper Research, Morrisons

Food & Drink Trends & Innovations event write up

Posted by Paul on Jun 15, 2023 7:53:58 AM

The event held in London was an intimate and relaxed gathering, featuring a knowledgeable group of industry experts who weren't there to push products, but rather, to share their thoughts and ideas. The audience consisted of a diverse mix of food and beverage manufacturers, food service providers and operators, and a handful of retailers, contributing to a well-rounded and informative day filled with lively conversations and shared insights.

Rather than rehashing the entire agenda, my intention is to provide a condensed summary of the relevant topics, with a focus on novel and significant areas. However, summarising is not an exact science, so my apologies if I missed any insightful comments made by presenters.

The Food industry challenges

My overall summary of the themes for the day:

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Topics: Grocery, marketing, Shopper Insights, Shopper Research

Health and Beauty reviews insights

Posted by Paul on Jun 12, 2023 7:30:00 AM

You can learn a lot from spiders

ML Measures for reviews insight

We believe that there is lots more to understand about ratings and reviews than just "How many do I have?" and "What's my average rating"?

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Topics: Grocery, Rating and Reviews, Shopper Insights, Shopper Research

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  • Actively manage your shopper reputation in all online retailers
  • Create instant shopper action in any retailer, on any sku in the way you want
  • Start a genuine dialogue with shoppers about your products
  • Launch more successful NPD faster and use immediate feedback to improve your mix
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