Targeted and tactical advertising: sales up tenfold

Targeted and tactical advertising: sales increase tenfold

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K-retailer Toni Pokela wanted to advertise as close to the point of purchase as possible. The aim was to direct visitors to Iso Omena to the K-store next door with attractive discount products. Two products were promoted in each campaign week, one targeted at the beginning of the week and the other at the end. Sales of batch products increased five- and even tenfold!

Customer: K-retailer Toni Pokela's K-Citymarket Iso Omena and K-Market Iso Omena

Campaign objective: to attract passers-by to the K-store with a tactical, price-driven advertising message

Target group: consumers who drive to Iso Omena for grocery shopping and metro passengers travelling via Iso Omena

Advertising surfaces: Iso Omena Shopping Wall and Shopping Digital advertising surfaces in the store and at the escalators of the metro and parking garage

Campaign period: weeks 24, 25 & 33-38 (2023)

Although K-stores are marketed extensively in different channels and over a large area, the majority of K-Citymarket and K-Market Iso Omena customers come from the surrounding area and passers-by. Shopkeeper Toni Pokela wanted to see what kind of results could be achieved by advertising in the shopping centre, strongly targeted at the vicinity of the store.

A large part of consumer choice is instantaneous and on average one in three grocery products is an impulse purchase. Moreover, Finns do not concentrate their shopping in just one chain of shops, but are very price-conscious. Conveying the right price image is therefore crucial: at best, a well-planned and well-timed tactical message is all that is needed to direct a passer-by to a store.

"The experiment was really interesting, as the batch products were not advertised anywhere else. Sales of all the products advertised increased, and for many products we saw sales figures increase by a factor of five to ten," says Toni Pokela, a retailer.

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Effective use of budget and multiple sales

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Small local operators often have more limited budgets than international chains - making it even more important to consider how to use the budget most effectively and where to reach potential customers.

"We wanted to change the customer journey by marketing good product offers as close to the store as possible," Pokela explains.

For the campaign, only a few advertising spaces were selected in key access routes for K-Citymarket and K-Market Iso Omena: in front of the metro escalators and in the escalators near the store. The advertisements were targeted at the beginning and end of the week, when the effectiveness of the discount campaigns has been found to be the best.

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The secret of a successful tactical campaign

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The multiple sales of promotional products cannot be explained solely by a good offer and a well-targeted campaign. Creative execution must also be successful to achieve the best results.

"Creative is exceptionally good: a simple and clear look and feel and a main message that combines limited product availability (only from us) and limited time (only now)," admires Nina Myllyharju, Head of Marketing & Communications at Bauer Media Outdoor.

The campaign's discount products changed weekly and each week of the campaign always featured two discount products, one targeted for the first week and the other for the rest of the week.

In the future, the plan is to target the ads by time of day or by store, so that products that are particularly relevant to hypermarket customers are promoted near K-Citymarket and products that are more relevant to fast food and snacks are promoted near K-Market.

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