BY STEVE MARIN, SparkPPC
Is there a day where you don’t notice the top food and beverage brands advertising all over Instagram and Facebook?
Whether snack, beverage, or organic; the top brands in each category are already making their presence known because they know what’s coming…
Ecommerce is the final frontier for the food and beverage sector.
Currently, only a little over 2% of sales within the sector come from digital.
However, 82% of the growth within food and beverage is coming from ecommerce according to Nielsen.
A 2018 study by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Nielsen noted that 70% of consumers will be grocery shopping online within 2022-2024.
So while your customers are currently only purchasing through traditional retail channels, tomorrow tells a different story.
Will you be ready?
While leveraging the power of ecommerce is a worthwhile strategic decision, your brand can easily become a victim to the three most common traps…
1. “The cost to acquire a customer is more than the purchase value.”
One of the most common problems in the snack industry is being able to afford the marketing that gets you customers online.
You want to sell directly to consumers online so you’ll spend enough so that you can still break even, but acquiring a customer is more expensive than the value they’d bring from one small purchase from your store.
2. “Our customers aren’t returning to repeat a purchase.”
It’s cheaper to re-engage an existing customer than to acquire a new customer, but sometimes your customers may not return for a multitude of reasons.
You’ve done all this work to acquire new customers, so keeping them engaged and returning to purchase from you again is a top priority.
If they’re not coming back and becoming repeat buyers then they may be turning to your competitors instead.
3. “We haven’t gotten customers online after spending on Facebook/Google.”
You may have already tried advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and Google to no avail.
Maybe you saw the increase in traffic but no sales. You might’ve gotten some sales but the ROI wasn’t positive.
These common problems can affect your growth when trying to successfully leverage ecommerce as a sales channel.
However, here’s the simple secret to ecommerce success…
Pull any one of these 3 levers to maximize the growth of your business online.
The ABC Formula is a simple framework to focus your marketing and sales efforts on the only 3 levers that will grow your brand.
It stands for:
● Average order value (AOV)
● Buyer frequency
● Customers
…and if you can double, triple, or quadruple each lever; expect 6x, 9x, 12x growth for your brand.
1. AOV
Increase the average order value of your customers.
Snack brands have a major challenge with being able to afford acquiring customers online because they sell one-off items at a low price.
Increasing AOV is imperative to allow you to spend more to acquire a customer digitally and to outspend your competitors – and the cost of online advertising keeps rising!
Action items to increase AOV:
● Create various bundles and bulk packages
● Offer post-purchase upgrades, up-sells, and cross-sells
● Allow free shipping with a minimum order
2. Buyer Frequency
Increase the amount of times your previous customers return to purchase.
Consumers tend to make impulse purchases in traditional retail environments but online shoppers tend to be less adventurous and more habitual.
Capitalize on those online habitual purchases by creating opportunities of increased buying frequency.
Action items to increase Buyer Frequency:
● Create a membership program that delivers at a predetermined frequency
● Create a loyalty program with incentives to continue regular purchases
● Leverage retargeting campaigns that re-engage previous customers
3. Customers
Increase your acquisition of new customers.
Last but not least, your ability to acquire new customers will depend on your ability to connect with your target market, convert them into customers, and create brand advocates that continue to purchase from you.
Having a traffic source will point the right people to your products online.
Action items to increase new Customers:
● Create first-time purchase offers to capture the interest of new customers
● Create special offers once someone completes that first initial purchase
● Leverage a traffic source (such as Facebook ads) to consistently drive traffic to your store
As ecommerce continues to grow, the importance of the ABC Formula to focus your marketing and sales efforts will also play a major role for increasing the lifetime value (LTV) of your customers.
The more they’re worth to your snack brand, the more you’re able to spend to acquire them and profit.
With increasing LTV by using the ABC Formula, your marketing strategy will need to cover the “full funnel” to fully dominate the ecommerce sales channel.
Cover the complete customer journey from creating awareness for your snack brand, generating engagement from your prospects, establishing a relationship, and asking for the purchase.
Steve Marin is an ecommerce marketing consultant and owner of SparkPPC.
SparkPPC helps direct to consumer specialty food & beverage brands dominate ecommerce with Facebook and Google advertising.
Contact Steve Marin for a free 28-Point Checklist to implement the ABC Formula and increase your customer LTV. No name, email, or commitment required.