Are Your CPG Brands Maximizing the Return on Your Digital Investment? Research Shows Direct Correlation between CPG Brand Website Usage and In-Store Purchase Behavior

1. Are Your CPG Brands
Maximizing the Return on
Your Digital Investment?
Research Shows Direct Correlation
between CPG Brand Website Usage
and In-Store Purchase Behavior

2. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau,
the Internet now attracts more advertising
dollars than cable TV, newspapers or magazines.1
This, coupled with the astounding growth
in consumers’ use of social networks and
the creation of user-generated content, has
consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies
scrambling to learn how best to engage and
interact with consumers in this digital age.
1. IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report:
Page 1 2010 Full Year Results, April 2011

3. CPG manufacturers have invested millions The Accenture/comScore/dunnhumbyUSA “Finally some tangible
of dollars in their brand websites and social research highlights the significant potential
media presence, yet they struggle to show for brand websites to become key drivers
observations pointing to a
how their brand websites are influencing in building customer loyalty and preference return on our members’ brand
brand purchases in stores. for CPG brands by creating unique online digital spend…looking forward
To address this challenge, Accenture, brand experiences (see Figure 1). The study
found that: to the next phase that adds
comScore and dunnhumbyUSA collaborated
on a groundbreaking study to help CPG • Visitors to CPG brand websites spend 37 social media as well!”
executives better understand the link percent more than non-visitors on the
between consumers’ usage of brand brand in retail stores. Patrick Walsh
websites and their brand purchases in • Brand website visitors are heavier buyers Senior Vice President,
retail stores. (For more information on
the research methodology see “About the
within a brand’s product category, Industry Relations,
spending 53 percent more than non- Education and Research
Research.”) Specifically, the research was visitors on the category in retail stores.
designed to accomplish three objectives:
• Quantify the retail sales value of the
The study also concluded that to maximize Food Marketing Institute
impact, the most important website
visitors to various brand websites. features include compelling brand value
• Identify the most valuable features and messaging, frequent content updates,
content that can be provided on CPG and content that engages visitors such as
brand websites. promotions, philanthropic appeals, product
• Provide insights and opportunities to demonstrations, surveys, and downloadable
further explore online destinations where applications and games.
Internet marketers can best reach their These findings are explored in greater detail
brand buyers and prospects. below and include the implications for
CPG companies and retailers attempting
to maximize the return on their digital
investments.
Figure 1: Comparison of In-Store Performance Metrics for Website Visitors and
Non-Visitors (Indexed Such That Non-Visitors = 1.0*)
Average Minimum Maximum * Interpretation of Indexed Findings for
Monthly Brand Spend:
Monthly Brand spending 1.37 0.83 2.05
• Average: Web visitors spent 37 percent
Category Spend 1.53 0.79 3.19 more than non-visitors on the brands in
retail stores.
Brand Units 1.48 1.05 2.00
• Minimum: For the bottom brand in the
Category Price Per Unit 0.97 0.70 1.59 study, web visitors spent 83 percent of
what non-visitors spent on the brands
in retail stores.
Source: Accenture/comScore/dunnhumbyUSA research, 2011 • Maximum: For the top brand in the
study, web visitors spent 105 percent
more than non-visitors on the brands
in retail stores.
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4. About the Research brand, deliver services and generate In contrast, “Brand J,” another food
sales. The AWE includes a library of 350 brand, had only 100,000 monthly
The Accenture/comScore/ leading global sites and evaluates 52 unique visitors to its website and
dunnhumbyUSA research study was metrics across nine attribute categories visitors spend on average only two
based on an integrated panel of one (navigation, branding, engagement, minutes per visit. However, this website
million U.S. Internet users who have information, globalization, relationship possessed 64 percent of the attributes,
given comScore explicit permission to building, service, commerce and social). including coupons and fresh content. Its
have their online activities continuously brand buyer reach index was average
measured and matched to their in- Utilizing the comScore-dunnhumbyUSA among participants.
store brand buying behavior provided database, the study examined ten
by dunnhumbyUSA. This integrated individual food and beverage as well as In comparing Food and Non-food
panel provided a single-source, privacy- household product brands with annual participants, Food Brands tended
protected data mart containing each sales between $40 million and $3 to have a higher number of website
panelist’s online activities and their billion and website unique visitors of attributes. They also averaged a 1.5
in-store buying behavior. between 100,000 and 2.3 million per more time spent by consumers visiting
month. These brands also had at least a their websites.
Leveraging comScore’s knowledge of 5 percent household buyer penetration
the digital user, dunnhumby’s shopper as measured by dunnhumbyUSA shopper The research was conducted with
understanding, and Accenture’s data. The study covered the time period the endorsement of the Grocery
experience in operating and maintaining from September 2010 through February Manufacturers Association (GMA) and
consumer packaged goods websites, the 2011. For confidentiality, individual the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), and
study quantified the linkage between brands’ results will not be disclosed but the results presented at their joint board
CPG brand buying at retail stores these brands represent a wide range of meeting on January 29, 2012. A second
and digital behavior by comparing website and buyer behaviors. study is planned for 2012 and a research
the in-store purchase behavior of solicitation inviting brands to participate
website visitors and non-visitors and For example, “Brand A,” a food brand, in the study will be released soon.
identifying the common components had a brand website that receives over
of successful CPG brand websites. For two million unique visitors a month, plus
website performance scoring criteria, these visitors are spending over eight
the Accenture Web Evaluator (AWE) minutes on average engaging with the
was used. It provides a comprehensive website during each visit. Not surprising,
assessment of how well companies use this brand’s website possessed more
their websites to attract and retain than 90 percent of the website attributes
customers, support and reinforce their studied. Brand A also enjoyed the
strongest brand buyer reach index.
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5. The In-Store Behaviors of Brand Website Visitors
To determine if consumers who • CPG brand website visitors spend more on • Surprisingly, the study found that despite
visited the brand website purchased the brand in retail stores: Website visitors greater engagement with the brand
more in-store than non-visitors, spend an average of $2.86 per household, and the category, website visitors pay 8
$0.72 more than non-visitors (see Figure percent less per unit than non-visitors.
the study compared the in-store
2) and on an indexed basis they purchase Conventional wisdom would say that
purchase behavior of brand website 48 percent more units of the brand. since they are more engaged with the
visitors with that of non-visitors brand, visitors would be more likely to
• Engagement with the brand does not
along four dimensions: How much pay a higher unit price than non-visitors.
translate to exclusivity, as brand website
they spend on the brand and in the visitors are also highly engaged in the It is likely that these visitors were visiting
overall category, how many units category and are more likely to be heavy websites to download coupons, thus
they purchase of the brand and the category buyers than non-visitors, reducing their net price paid. In contrast,
category, how often they purchase thus indicating upside potential for the for two of the ten CPG brand web sites,
the brand and the category, and at brand to further engage with their best website visitors paid 2% more per unit
customers. Compared with non-visitors, than non-visitors. These two web sites
what price they purchase.
brand website visitors spend 53 percent had a web content strategy focused on
In comparing the purchasing habits of more category dollars and purchase 58 “brand value messaging” rather than
visitors and non-visitors, the study found percent more units in the category. “coupon downloads”.
that CPG brand website visitors were
• Brand website visitors have more
highly engaged, valuable customers and
purchase occasions than non-visitors for
frequent purchasers of the brand. They
both the brand and the category, making
spend more on the brand in retail stores,
purchase more units and have more brand
35 percent more purchase trips for the “Creating a better understanding
brand and 39 percent more in the overall
purchase occasions than non-visitors. More
category. of the relationship between
specifically:
a brand’s online presence
and real-world shopping is
Figure 2: Absolute Differences in In-Store Performance Metrics important, relevant and timely
to our membership and their
Website
Visitors Non-Visitors future growth potential.”
In-Store Performance Metric (Average) (Average) Difference
Denny Belcastro
Monthly Brand Dollars $2.86 $2.14 $0.72 Executive Vice President, Industry
Monthly Category Dollars $6.86 $4.83 $2.03
Affairs and Collaboration
Grocery Manufacturers
Numbers of Brand Buying 3.2 2.3 0.90
Association
Occasions in Six Month Period
Source: Accenture/comScore/dunnhumbyUSA research, 2011
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6. The Relationship between • Younger brand buyers may be
engaging with the brand elsewhere
Age and Brand Website online, such as on social networks.
Visitation • There is the opportunity to drive
This research study compared brand additional brand website traffic by
website visitors against the general offering features that cater to the
Internet population and brand buyers younger audience segment.
against the average shopper across
Analysis of other key demographic
several demographic dimensions.
metrics, such as household size and
Visitors to the brand websites tended to
income, did not reveal any consistent
be older than the average buyer of the
relationships.
brand. This suggests:
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7. The Online Behaviors of CPG Brand Buyers
A second goal of this study was to A fourth metric was also created that • Brand Buyers were also very active
glean insight into the online behavior incorporated both Reach and Pages as a in content-rich categories such as
of consumers who buy CPG brands measure of engagement. This metric (which News, Portals, and Weather; they were
was dubbed the “Intensity Index”) was particularly attracted to AOL, MSN,
in retail stores (whom we call “Brand
calculated for each Brand Buyer segment Weather Channel, WebMD, Gannett, and
Buyers”): What types of websites do by multiplying the reach of each website Demand Media sites.
Brand Buyers visit and how much (or site category) by the number of pages • Somewhat unexpectedly, the Politics site
time do they spend there? And, consumed on that site (or site category) category was of great interest to Brand
based on this behavior, what can be and then dividing by the same metric for Buyers, with these consumers spending
said about their lifestyles, interests the average Internet user. This Intensity over two times more time (minutes
and passions? (For more on visitor Index was then the primary metric used for per visitor) with this category than the
demographics see “The Relationship describing the Brand Buyers’ web behavior average Internet user.
between Age and Brand Website relative to the general web population, with
the average Internet user defined as 100. If • Brand Buyers were relatively experienced
Visitation.”) users of the web, with strong indices
Brand Buyers scored over 100, they over-
indexed, reflecting a greater orientation exhibited across all metrics in Technology,
In order to address these questions, several
than average to a particular site or site Online Trading/Banking, and eCommerce
analyses were executed to identify how
category. Conversely, if their index score website categories.
Brand Buyers differed from the average
U.S. Internet user. Initially the research was under 100, they were less oriented to • The Coupon category over-indexed on
team examined differences between Brand that site (or site category) than the average Reach, but under-indexed on Time and
Buyers and the average U.S. Internet user Internet user. Using this approach, several Pages. On one hand, these results are
across three variables: key findings surfaced: in line with comScore data showing
• The Beauty/Fashion/Style website that consumers who search for coupon-
• Website reach or unique visitors per
category exhibited by far the strongest related terms on search engines are
month (“Reach”).
Intensity Index among website categories. more likely than the average Internet
• Minutes per visitor (“Time”).
user to visit CPG Brand websites. It also
• Number of pages viewed per visitor • Brand Buyers tended to tap the dovetails with the finding that, “coupons”
(“Pages”). communication and networking capabilities or coupon-related searches were
of the Internet more than the general web consistently in the top 10 referring search
population, over-indexing in Intensity, terms for the 10 brand websites analyzed
Pages and Time within the eCards, and in this study (even though only 5 offered
Community website categories. coupons). This leads us to believe that
• Family/Parenting Community sites were the deal-seeking segment is “fleet of
particularly strong. And, not surprisingly, click” and they tend to quickly depart a
Brand Buyers in particular over-indexed property when no coupons or relevant
in number of Pages consumed in the coupons can be found.
Food Community category (such as recipe
sharing sites).
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8. Compelling Features of Successful Brand Websites
The ability to quantify the The length of time that visitors spend on a The analysis of brand buying offers several
relationship between digital brand’s website was the key determinant lessons relative to the most important
marketing expenditures and in-store of their likelihood to purchase that brand website attributes that drive in-store sales.
in the store. In other words, as time on the Overall, four website attributes correlated
sales is of paramount importance
brand website increases, brand purchasing most closely with a higher brand purchase
within the CPG industry. To maximize in the store increases. The presence of a index (greater brand spending in-store for
the return from their digital social cause on the brand site also increases website visitors than non-visitors):
investment, CPG companies must the likelihood of in-store brand purchase. • A compelling brand value message that
understand the features, functions Furthermore, content scroll—whether a user provides a persuasive reason, other than
and content that are most valuable has to scroll down the page (a proxy for a coupon, for a website visitor to buy the
in driving brand website visitors to amount of content)—contributes to in-store brand.
have a deeper engagement with the purchase.
• Fresh content updated at least weekly
brand and to increase their in-store Given the strong correlation between time to encourage visitors to engage and
purchasing. Therefore, this study spent on the site and in-store purchases, participate and return frequently.
analyzed the attributes of brand the research team examined the factors
that influence whether visitors spent • Content that creates an engaging online
websites that are associated with experience such as a pulse survey on
more time on the site. The most important
a higher likelihood that visitors will the home page, or an opportunity to
attribute is fresh content that is updated
visit the site, will spend more time frequently—for example, content relevant rate a new product or product attribute,
on the site, and will buy the brand in for the season or new daily recipes. The or user generated content like recipes
retail stores. presence of brand value messaging (reasons or weight-loss planning. Content
to buy the brand) also increases the time with a philanthropic appeal such as
spent on the site. Value-added tools such sustainability or participation in a food
as product ratings, user generated content, bank also was shown to create greater
recipes and other tools increases time engagement.
spent on the site. Finally, the presence of • Well designed site navigation that is
a click-to-buy feature (such as helping intuitive, uses simple menus and has clear
facilitate the purchase of hard to find SKUs) site maps.
increases length of stay as well.
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9. The Untapped Potential of Compelling
Brand Websites
A review of the best brand sites While this research highlights the The study also demonstrates that some
among the research base offers significant potential of brand websites CPG companies are missing revenue
dramatic evidence that a compelling as drivers for building engagement and opportunities and may be losing market
preference for CPG brands, most CPG share due to underinvestment in the digital
online brand experience is enabling
companies are missing the opportunity to channel. Online CPG brand experience
a few companies to be extremely influence brand engagement and brand influences between 1 percent to as much as
effective in generating incremental buying behavior on their brand websites 35 percent of a brand’s total USA in-store
and profitable sales in the store. simply because not enough consumers visit sales, highlighting a direct correlation
Analysis shows that consumers their site (see Figure 3.) For example, 64 between CPG brand web sites visitation and
visiting the best of the ten CPG percent of the top 25 CPG brands (defined in-store purchase behavior. We hope these
brand websites evaluated in the by household buyer penetration) average insights will help CPG brand managers
research study, spent over 200 less than 100,000 unique visitors to their benchmark performance of their website,
percent more on the brand than brand website per month (this compares quantify the in-store sales potential of
to more than 300,000 for two of the top investments in brand websites and other
non-visitors. Moreover, the research
brands). To the extent that this study digital marketing activities, and further
shows that the price paid per unit quantifies the potential of websites to capitalize on the full potential of the digital
of the brand at the best of the ten influence brand engagement and in-store channel.
CPG brand websites was two percent purchase, CPG company efforts to increase
more than for non-visitors in brand. traffic to the brand website offer tangible
return on investment.
Figure 3: Average Monthly Visitors to Top 25 CPG Brand Websites
Websites of 25 Largest CPG Brands
(Defined by Buyer Penetration)
100%
64%
% of
Brands
24%
8%
4%
0%
Under 100 100-199 200-299 300 +
Number of Monthly Unique Visitors (000)
Source: © 2011 comSource. All rights reserved.
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10. About Accenture About comScore About dunnhumbyUSA
Accenture is a global management comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global dunnhumby is the leader in personalizing
consulting, technology services and leader in measuring the digital world the world’s experience of retailers and
outsourcing company, with more than and preferred source of digital business brands. Analyzing data from over 350
244,000 people serving clients in more analytics. comScore provides syndicated million people in 28 countries, we help
than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled and custom solutions in online audience companies put customers at the center
experience, comprehensive capabilities measurement, e-commerce, advertising, of every decision. We use our insight
across all industries and business functions, search, video and mobile. The company to improve customers’ experience of
and extensive research on the world’s also offers an extensive portfolio of stores and communications to earn their
most successful companies, Accenture services for multi-media copy testing lifetime loyalty. Our work with some of the
collaborates with clients to help them and tracking, digital media planning and world’s biggest retailers and brands has
become high-performance businesses and analysis, campaign delivery verification, demonstrated that companies which deliver
governments. The company generated net and advertising effectiveness measurement. value to customers through personalization
revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal Advertising agencies, publishers, marketers become and stay their customers’ first
year ended Aug. 31, 2011. Its home page is and financial analysts turn to comScore choice. This strategic approach to putting
www.accenture.com. for the industry-leading solutions needed the customer first in business improves
to craft successful digital, marketing, our clients’ like-for-like sales and profit
sales, product development and trading margins – or, put simply, their brand
strategies. For more information, please value. dunnhumbyUSA is a joint venture of
visit http://www.comscore.com. The Kroger Company and London-based
dunnhumby. Employing more than 1,900
people in 30 offices in Europe, Asia and the
Americas, dunnhumby serves a prestigious
list of companies including The Kroger Co.,
Tesco, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Kimberly-
Clark, Macy’s, Panera Bread Company,
PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. dunnhumby
also includes the word of mouth marketing
experts BzzAgent and price optimization
company KSS Retail. For more information,
visit www.dunnhumby.com.
Page 9

11. Contact Us
For further information, please contact:
Jerry Lohse
Accenture
gerald.l.lohse@accenture.com
561 704 9443
Mike Gorshe
Accenture
michael.a.gorshe@accenture.com
630 461 1745
John LaRocca
dunnhumbyUSA
john.larocca@us.dunnhumby.com
513 632 0613
Mike Zeman
comScore
mzeman@comscore.com
312 775 6630
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12. Copyright © 2012 Accenture,
comScore, dunnhumbyUSA
All rights reserved.