Digital CPG Blog

“From Procter & Gamble to AT&T and Pandora, firms are taking notice that mothers, newly armed with smartphones, are becoming a new kind of shopping force online,” reports The Washington Post. “A decade ago, these women were single and childless 18- to 34-year-olds who captured the hearts of Madison Avenue marketing executives with their voracious consumer appetites. Now, they are older and often in charge of the household wallet.”

Between business meetings, in carpool lines and at sports practices, moms are spending downtime on smartphones to update the family calendar, buy soccer cleats, research cheap flights and fit in a few rounds of Angry Birds.

Nielsen calls these women“power moms.” They represent one in five online users — a proportion that is growing quickly — and some research shows they are an even greater force on mobile devices.

The number of moms with smartphones is about equal to men of the same age, but they are adopting the technology at a faster pace. The number of moms who purchased iPhones grew 132?percent in the first quarter of 2011 compared with the same time last year — outpacing men, who rose by 121?percent, according to NPD. Overall, adult purchases of the smartphone grew 117?percent.

“Early adopters are no longer young people and men,” said Candace Corlett, president of marketing consulting group WSL Strategic Retail in New York. “What the smartphone does is allow women who are hungry for information to get what they want from the Internet instead of calling up a sister or friend for advice.”

I especially love the last point. Too often we think of technology being dominated by men. Well, moms are hip too! How is your marketing strategy reaching mobile wallets?

“CPG brands’ biggest challenge is the rapid adoption of eCommerce, and needing to align its brick-and-mortar infrastructure (sales force) with a new focus of providing more insights, and helping its retail partners who are losing high margin sales to eTailers,” says Bonnie Carlson, President of PMA Marketing (Promotion Marketing Association). “eCommerce is on a rapid ascent, with shopper benefits of convenience, assortment, and pricing, and is changing the retail playing field for giants like Amazon and WalMart, and their respective vendors. I would advise marketers to focus on content and authenticity to meet consumers’ needs — the rest will follow, and consumers will spread the word socially.”

Bonnie and her team conceptualized and brought to life  the The Smarter Shopper: Marketing to the Digital Consumer conference, which she desrcibes as “a confluence of two trends: digital marketing and shopper marketing. It is a recognition that consumers are increasingly using digital technology in every sphere of their lives, including retail, and that both smarter shoppers and smarter retailers are increasingly experimenting with new technologies to enhance the shopping experience.”

“Digital technologies are making the shopper experience more efficient and more convenient,” Carlson says, “making it easier for the shopper to find the products and services they want. Whether it’s helping the shopper to navigate the aisles, comparison shop, generate coupons, get more information, or check out without lines, all the technologies are being developed to improve the shopper experience.”

The Smarter Shopper: Marketing to the Digital Consumer
Tue – Wed, September 20-21, 2011
Stamford, CT
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Don’t forget – Use the code “digitalcpg”  at registration for a 10% discount just for DigitalCPG.com readers!