Immediate Consumption Trips on the Rise
Four tips for unleashing the power of immediate consumption
Immediate consumption is up. Of the more than 30 billion trips people make to convenience retail stores , two out of five include the purchase of an item to be consumed within the hour, according to The Coca-Cola Company Knowledge & Insights iSHOP Tracking Study.
Here are tips for capturing the IC market.
Focus on Solutions
The key to unleashing the power of the IC trip is providing quick and easy solutions that can be put together in minutes.
IC shoppers are less likely to plan ahead and more likely to rely on the store for ideas (and even pay more to save time). They want retailers to build meal and snack ideas for them — merchandised together and messaged to inspire. And the most engaged IC shoppers tend to be male and do only a portion of the household's shopping — so help them out.
Make It Mobile
Because the IC trip typically involves less planning, it can be enriched and enabled with proximity marketing and mobile offers that reach shoppers at retail. And because these shoppers are on the go and often not heading home after a trip, proximity marketing and mobile offers are best paired with solutions as mentioned above.
Have a Conversation
One of the defining traits of the most engaged IC shopper is their use of social networks — they are talking about their experiences and want brands to take notice. These "social shoppers" use brands as part of their personal identities far more often than other shoppers. So talk to them.
Expand Your Horizons
The opportunity to expand IC behavior is tremendous, particularly to fill-in trips where the motivation was not food or beverages.
There is also opportunity within IC trips, particularly with food and still beverages:
- Only one in four IC trips included both a food and a beverage — and more than half were for a beverage only.
- As noted in the infographic, still beverages (particularly juices and waters) are often purchased with IC food items.
Convenience retailers have the opportunity to offer new and exciting product bundles and can expand their horizons to additional categories that lack merchandising focus today.