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Get better results with a holistic approach to retail advertising

The economic turbulence of the past few years has buffeted South African consumers and their shopping habits. How can retail advertising best meet these challenges and serve their customers better?

By Samantha Africa

The past few years have been tough for South African consumers. The Nielsen IQ 2022 Consumer Outlook Study reports “a substantially altered picture of South African consumers… eight out of ten are re-evaluating their future buying behaviours significantly”.

The Nielsen survey also notes that 70% of consumers say their weekly shopping costs have increased compared to six months ago. Consumers have less to spend, and so are highly price-sensitive. Consequently, brand loyalty has weakened, as people choose to select the lowest-priced product rather than sticking with a previously preferred brand.

This leaves retailers under pressure, and they look to advertising to deliver maximum return on investment. In my experience, the most effective way to achieve this is by considering a consolidated advertising approach, to maximise reach and engagement supported by solid research.

Act with insight

Understanding your market, your customers, and how best to reach them remains key to ensuring the best return on advertising spend.

Having invested in our in-house Insights division, our research tools aid in informing and guiding our clients’ advertising decisions. Research is a crucial part of our commercial offering, driving better returns on investment for our retailers. Our recent research includes understanding readers of local titles, online consumer shopping insights, and an Efficacy Survey that uses our retailers’ advertising to measure the effectiveness of both print and digital executions of the same campaign.

Given our deep experience of retail advertising acquired over many years combined with the technology and tools available today, there is no reason for advertising decisions to be made in the dark.

Benefit from a consolidated approach

Our research shows retail advertising performs optimally when consolidated into a digital and print strategy. Such executions maximise reach and penetration, combining the strength and scale of all publishing platforms.

Recent findings by Forum24 confirms print and digital publisher platforms remain highly effective mediums for ad recall, impact, and effectiveness. Local newspapers play vital roles in their hyperlocal communities and remain trusted sources of information – at a time when trust is a rare, hard-won commodity. Moreover, they serve people within close proximity to retail outlets, which is especially relevant when shoppers are hesitant to travel further from home.

Ongoing innovation in digital advertising means that there are exciting new formats with which to attract and engage with consumers – and in some cases, enable them to order directly online, meeting their need for convenience. Our recently launched, innovative rich media solution, Swipe Cards and Catalogue ad units were specifically developed for retail advertising and with the aim to display price and product as well as drive user engagement.

Maximising reach

In good times and bad, reach remains the gold standard – and greater reach is achieved through accessing audiences across multi-platforms. Understanding our clients’ needs and matching audience segmentation and targeting to drive their business goals is what we do best and enables us to create solutions that give clients the best return on investment – at scale.