A little while ago I wrote a post on the pros and cons of investing in secondary locations and how organizations might optimize this sort of activities. Making the secondary location placement relevant to the shopper in the context of shopping the destination category is key. So how well do brands and retailers do in terms of driving significant changes in shopper behavior by creating a meaningful interruption into the shopper journey? On a recent market visit to Dublin, Ireland, I gathered a number of examples – let’s see how good they are!
Secondary Location Pop Quiz
First up; skin care anti-acne products on the main fixture matched by a hangover Lifeline hangover ‘defense’. What is the logic of this? One assumes that the connection here is teens and young adults have acne, and are also prone to over-drinking from time to time. Of course the success depends ultimately on whether the young drinker is the shopper, or whether the parent is the shopper. I’m not sure the average mom would be tempted to pick up lifeline for their teenage daughter. Given that this was in the center of Dublin, with a significant university population, I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt on this one as there may be lots of students shopping for themselves.
Next up Sellotape adhesive tape next to organic breads and lentils. A possible crossover between organics and stationery? Or maybe a simple fact that many of these packs aren’t re-sealable, and therefore the adhesive tape might be really useful. I’m not sure, but, again I’m going to give the shopper marketers the benefit of the doubt.
Next up, more contentious (possibly?) M&M’s chocolate twinned with sanitary products. Is it possibly that mood swings are likely to drive a woman to chocolate? If this is true, how would a female shopper feel about having that point made in a store? Or possibly that this was more of a random siting. I’m not sure.
Continuing the candy theme; we’re now surely in the land of random placement. Here we have chewy candies with shampoo. No, I couldn’t see a connection either!
Lastly, my favorite. Roasting bags with cookies. Never put cookies in a roasting bag and then put them in the oven? Nor me.
At least some of these appear to be nicely thought out pairings where serious consideration has been made to the key success factors:
- Who is the target shopper for the placed product?
- Which parts of the store do they visit?
- Which of these areas is most relevant for this interruption?
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Do you have any examples (good or bad) of secondary locations? I’d love it if you could share them here.
