Shopper marketing blog

Whether you're reformulating to comply with the UK's upcoming HFSS advertising restrictions or to address low product ratings, the imperative is clear: act swiftly and strategically.

From 5 January 2026, the UK will enforce new advertising restrictions on products high in fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS). These regulations will prohibit paid-for online ads for identifiable HFSS products at any time and restrict TV ads for such products before 9pm. Businesses with 250 or more employees will be affected.

Simultaneously, our analysis reveals that the bottom 20% of products with at least 30 reviews in UK supermarkets since 2023 have an average rating of less than 4.0. This figure underscores a vital truth: these products don’t need more reviews—they need reformulating to succeed.

At CheckoutSmart, we view these challenges not as obstacles but as opportunities. Our SmartReformulation solution is designed to help brand managers update and relaunch poorly rated SKUs, ensuring products not only meet regulatory standards but also resonate with consumers.

The opportunity for improved taste with HFSS/LHf compliance

The upcoming HFSS/LHF legislation, effective from 5 January 2026, presents a strategic opportunity for brands to enhance both the nutritional profile and taste of their products. By reformulating to reduce levels of fat, sugar, and salt, and incorporating beneficial ingredients like fibre, protein, and fruits, companies can not only comply with regulatory requirements but also meet the growing consumer demand for healthier options.

Most FMCG teams still obsess over their average star rating, but what if that number isn’t doing the heavy lifting? Independent business school research and our research data show that shoppers don’t buy based on ratingsalone  – it’s what the reviews actually say that makes the sale. If your top reviews are old or unfair, you’re losing customers even with a 4.5-star average.

In this article, we break down why review sentiment matters more than stars and how brands can use this fact to drive measurable sales uplift.

This article was originally inspired by: HU, Nan; KOH, Noi Sian; and REDDY, Srinivas K. Ratings Lead You to the Product, Reviews Help You Clinch It? The Dynamics and Impact of Online Review Sentiments on Product Sales. Singapore University.

Category management in Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) is a delicate balance of art and science. While data-driven insights have always played a key role, product reviews have become a powerful tool for sharpening strategies and boosting category performance. These reviews offer a goldmine of consumer feedback and can guide decisions from product reformulation to marketing focus.

This post will explore how incorporating product reviews into your category management strategy can unlock new opportunities for brands and retailers. The five areas of opportunity are:

1. Understanding consumer preferences
2. Optimising product performance
3. Driving category growth
4. Supporting retailer listing decisions
5. Enhancing the impact of shopper marketing

At the request of one of our brand partners, we are stepping into the world of FMCG brand tracking. We are going to research some of the top brands in the UK and find out what shoppers think of them in terms of buyer recommendation, and the results may surprise you. 

These are the brands we included were:

NB All these brands are "Top" brands in the UK. They were chosen after shoppers selected ones they bought regularly from a long list of brands to ensure a significant number of responses for every brand. As a result, this list's "bottom" performers are still amongst the most frequently bought and top recommended brands in the UK.

Introduction

In the fiercely competitive beverage industry, standing out on the shelf involves more than just striking designs and impactful displays. Today's consumers seek authenticity and trustworthiness in the brands they select. This is where genuine customer reviews become crucial, significantly swaying purchasing decisions.

Recognising this trend, Heineken launched an innovative campaign for Inch’s Cider, utilising CheckoutSmart’s SmartReputation program to tap into the power of genuine customer feedback. This case study delves into how CheckoutSmart assisted Heineken in transforming ordinary customer reviews into a compelling shopper marketing program, enhancing the brand's reputation and influencing buyer behaviour across Tesco and Sainsbury's.

Images from Heineken materials

Transform your FMCG brand with CheckoutSmart's innovative 3C Consumer Experience framework. Focus on complaints, complacency, and compliments to discover how continuous consumer feedback can enhance your consumers' experience.

Consumer-facing brands should leverage bespoke consumer feedback data to train or fine-tune AI / ML models to get ahead. These expert models can help them gain valuable insights into consumer preferences, behaviours, and sentiments, enabling them to optimise product descriptions, packaging design and advertising copy.

One application we have developed for such AI models is to assess and classify product reviews with helpful tags. Using consumer feedback as the basis, we have created proprietary measures of product reviews, such as how influential an individual review is and how strongly it reviews the product's taste or effectiveness.

By analysing these new measures, brand owners can identify their performance and patterns in consumer reviews, generate new insights, compare themselves to competition and even highlight individual reviews for a specific purpose, such as "suitable for advertising". 

Using bespoke shopper data to train AI models represents a significant opportunity for consumer-facing brands to enhance their understanding of consumers and markets.

In 2018 we conducted research that showed 65% of our members look at our app when they are planning their food shopping, and 35% while they shop in the supermarket*. It is clear that grocery cashback apps are an excellent route to deliver shopper marketing goals (we have more on the whole Shopper Marketing approach here)

For example, we can use Geo targeting to serve brand advertising right onto consumers mobile devices at the first moment of truth, but the power of these apps goes a lot further than simply helping to raise brand awareness.

Based on our experience as Europe's No.1 grocery cashback organisation, here are the top 10 ways you can start using these apps to your advantage today:

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:

After analysing the shopping basket data from than 500,000 grocery receipts uploaded by our members in the Decembers of 2013 - 2017, we can see that on average there is a steady rise in sales in the four days leading up to 23^rd December.

The team at leading Shopper Marketing Agency CheckoutSmart have produced their Christmas sales forecast for 2018. With Christmas Day falling on a Tuesday in 2018, it is predicted that many shoppers will leave their Christmas grocery shop until the weekend before, with an expected surge on Saturday 22^nd and Sunday 23^rd December. This will allow shoppers to take advantage of final Christmas promotional activity and stock up on perishables and fresh produce before the big day. Christmas Eve, will then see a dramatic fall-off in predicted sales at just 5.6% of the week, as everyone settles down at home or heads to friends and family for the festive period.