Making Natural Products Mainstream
As the trend for living a “well life” has grown and the demand for safe, effective and environmentally friendly products has increased, Seventh Generation has continued to innovate and expand their product portfolio. With a growing need to better understand this new consumer, they turned to WD to deconstruct the shopper path-to-purchase in order to understand the emerging target audiences, position the brand at retail and develop an in-store activation strategy.
- Shopper Research & Insights •
- Marketing Communications •
- Environments Design •
- Visual Merchandising •
- VR/AR/MR Experiences •
- Stylistic Renderings •
- Color Elevations •
- 3D Animations •
- Motion Graphics •
- Interactive Applications •
The category is positioned for exponential growth, which is obvious by the increase in competitors and the fight for shelf space, but when it comes to consumers buying patterns is it more effective to merchandise Naturals as a holistic offering or to integrate it into the more traditional categories in retail? We wanted to gain insights into what makes their ideal consumers tick as well as make it easier for those consumers to find products while in store.
Getting to the Heart of the Wellness Lifestyle
The process started with qualitative research based on various consumer segments to learn how shoppers are making decisions. In order to do that, we went in store and shopped with them to really uncover the beliefs these consumers have about healthy products and how they go about selecting them. Through these in-store shop-alongs as well as in-home interviews, we garnered insights into their lifestyle and shopping process, which we then turned into key opportunities for reaching the brand’s target segment.
Identifying and Prioritizing Brand Opportunities
Using our proprietary Live/Shop lifecyle, we identified shopper need states beyond their buying journey to get to the heart of their wellness-driven lifestyle. We identified opportunities and touchpoints for Seventh Generation to make an impact at shelf and through messaging. We were also able to prioritize segments by level of opportunity for each unique retailer’s demographics in order to determine where the brand could make the most impact. We identified low hanging fruit and game-changing recommendations for the shopper, brand and retail. Combining these insights with our retail expertise and heritage, we defined an in-store activation strategy unique to Seventh Generation.
We developed a retailer-specific messaging hierarchy to capitalize on the key moments for the brand’s target consumer and then applied that messaging strategy to in-store signage and design, creating an elevated shopper experience. This resulted in a broadened audience for Seventh Generation while providing education moments in-aisle and spreading the mission and beliefs of the brand to the masses.
A Merchandising Strategy That Leads to Sales Lift
In partnership with Seventh Generation and Target, we pursued a “segregated” merchandising approach that creates a unique destination for natural products in store. By presenting a natural brand holistically, we created a deeper emotional connection to the brand and showcased the breadth of products across multiple categories. Header graphics define the destination and differentiate naturals from mainstream products. Secondary graphics connect to the shoppers’ needs while helping them find specific products and giving them the confidence to purchase.
Our consumer research, insights, path to purchase assessment and strategy has led to a 25% sales increase in all of Seventh Generation’s cleaning categories in the first few weeks since roll-out at Target stores nationwide.