4 Ways to Win Shopper Hide and Seek

Most of us played Hide and Seek as a child.  You hide and try not to be found by the person playing with you.  It can be a fun game if you are a child.  It is not a good game if you are a consumer product sitting on a shelf hoping someone will buy you.

Is your product hiding? Sometimes products hide in plain sight.  Other times, no one is searching for them.  To win the retail game of hide and seek, consider the following:

1.       First, be in the game.  Make sure you are making a product that people value and will seek out in store.  Make what the market wants rather than making what you can market.

2.       Be easy to find.  The easiest place to be found is to be right in front of the seeker.  When possible, work with your retailer to get secondary placement for your product.  Pursue endcaps, special displays, in-store features, shippers or retail merchandising / POP signage that get you noticed. 

3.       Make your package stand out from your competition on shelf so you can be easily found.  If the consumer has to seek your product out on the regular shelf, do not hide by looking the same as the others in the category.  Clearly make sure you are visually differentiated on the shelf.  Is your package a different color, shape, size, material than your key competition next to you?  Can you make your package look high value and make theirs look blah by comparison?  Don’t hide; shout so you can be found.

4.       Let shoppers know which game your product is playing.  Does your packaging clearly communicate what your product is; what is uniquely better about it than any other product and who is this product for?  Once they find your package, let them know why to buy you.

Remember, your competitor is playing the same game.  If you play the game better, you will be the one to make it to “home” first—in the shopping bag.