Availability in the New Year – getting straight in the aftermath of Christmas
The start of the year brought the release of official figures exploring the UK’s biggest supermarket retailers performed during the Christmas period. There have been huge successes, like Lidl, who saw sales rise 11% in the four weeks leading up to December 29th, and there have been some retailers who have missed the mark in terms of sales and revenue like Sainsbury’s, whose like-for-like retail sales dropped 0.7% in the 15 weeks to 4th January.
No matter the hits and misses of the Christmas period, one thing is for sure: field marketing is more essential this January and February than ever before. There are many reasons behind this, but the 2 most important: availability & visibility!
Every well-informed brand will have employed extensive field marketing campaigns over the Christmas period to make sure their shelves were sufficiently stocked, their displays were compliant and they were staying ahead of the competition. Smart companies will have chosen a tactical, technology driven field marketing agency (like Logobrand) so that they could not only make sure they were selling more of their products, but also gathering data which could analyse trends, and tell them what was working and what needs improvement for the next campaign.
This means that January is, for us in the FMGC field marketing community, a month full of report writing, of data analysis and of meetings to discuss next steps in terms of field marketing campaigns. Yes, there will be plenty of prep for the busy times ahead – Valentine’s Day, Easter and Father’s Day to name just a few – but it’s also hugely important to look back, evaluate and review. As we mentioned in our blog discussing ROI, “if you can’t measure it then you can’t count it”, and this is the part where we count it! – and learn from it.
Another reason field marketing is at its busiest during the start of the year is availability. As every retail worker – and shopper who has braved the supermarket aisles on the Saturday before Christmas or the Boxing Day sales – knows, the Christmas shopping period is a bit of a frenzy, and it can leave supermarket shelves looking a little bit like a mini apocalypse has occurred. Field marketing representatives are hugely valuable during this time, lending much needed aid and resource to retailers, as well as being brands’ force on the ground to ensure that displays are fully stocked, and any exceptions are taken full advantage of.
As we mentioned, while November and December might be the busiest period in the retail calendar by a country mile, January is the time to get the proverbial foot firmly on the gas to ensure the start of the year is just as fruitful for brands.
If this sounds like something you need to add to your marketing efforts, get in touch with us. We’ve 30 years of field marketing experience and have executed thousands of campaigns for brands of all different shapes and sizes.
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