Online and Offline shopping experiences are blurring.

A new research from Google & Ipsos found that 80% of shoppers will research online for holidays shopping before making a purchase this season, and they switch devices to suit their needs. 

“For example, 51% of shoppers will research online and then visit the store to purchase, while 17% will visit a store first and then purchase online. Another 32% will research online, visit store to view a product, then return online to purchase. In short, the shopper’s journey looks less like a funnel and more like a flight map, and the lines between online and offline shopping experiences are blurring.” says Google Retail Industry Director, Todd Pollak.

This integration of the online and offline experiences offers great opportunities but also brings with it risks for all brands / retailers who are focussed on any one of the two formats. It is important to have a "hybrid" commerce strategy.

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Seamless shopper experience is a must.

According to Google, 62% of shoppers used a smartphone in a store  (in the US) to help with shopping research last year, indicating that retailers should aim to inform in-store purchase decisions with mobile apps or sites that are optimized for mobile.

Google says that, as far as online goes, video is becoming increasingly powerful in many categories, as far as discovery.

Mobile, is another big opportunity, not just because you can drive conversions, but so many people come to retailers through mobile. The key is not to have a disconnection between your mobile experience and your desktop web experience as a retailer. Consumers should get a familiar and seamless experience no matter what screen they’re on.

Price has historically been a major driver of purchases online, but having faith in the experience is becoming really important as well.

And for good reason – Google found that 13% of shoppers plan to watch online videos to help with shopping research, and 48% will use tablets to read product reviews before purchasing.

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Since the great majority of CPG purchasing occurs in-store, how important is digital in the path to purchase?

The title of this post is the question that Joel Rubenson asked Catherine Roe, head of CPG for Google. What stumped me was the sheer volume of "interest / passions" related searches, which just goes to indicate the opportunities for the CPG marketers.

Catherine reports that searches on Google.com related to recipes are up 38% in 2011 over 2010. And it’s a huge number. It’s 7.8 billion recipe-related searches on Google.com.

Just to give you a perspective, there are more searches around food and recipes than there is travel, beauty, and luxury. It is absolutely huge. The iPad or her computer or her phone has replaced her cookbook. So, she’s doing that research ahead of time on Google and then going to either a recipe site or a food site or whatever it might be to get the tips, to get the health information, to get the ingredients to get everything she needs. 

Read the interview in parts here

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• Procter to Rely More on Digital Marketing to Boost Brand Sales.
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• Do CPGs need to up the ante and invest more in mobile?
• 1 in 1100 CPG Ads are clicked.
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Google unifies mobile, desktop Web experience with Chrome for Android

The newly introduced Chrome for Android mobile browser will enable Google to differentiate Android from iOS and could open up new marketing opportunities for brands. 

Chrome for Android, which Google introduced earlier this week, enables users to take a personalized Web browsing experience with them as they move from desktop to mobile and back again. The browser aims to simplify mobile Web use, therefore potentially encouraging users to spend more time on the mobile Web. 

Chrome for Android could open up new marketing opportunities for brands by enabling a more seamless cross-screen experience for users. 

While the experience between the desktop and mobile devices is currently disparate, with Chrome for Android, users can have a single experience. 

Read more here:

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And just when we thought we got it.

Love the rigor and depth - The algorithm is changed as often as everyday and at times twice over.

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Yahoo rewamps its search logic.

Yahoo is trying to catch up with Google on lost ground related to “SEARCH”, and is using innovative methods to re-design its search logic and is calling it the biggest "consumer experience improvement" ever. The new methods will have an impact on SEO to a large extent and SEM to some extent.

Lets see if this works for them and if they are able to recover. Will review & research the impact on a regular basis and update it on this blog.

Watch this report here.

BTL is the google way !!

Call it Below-the-line marketing, brand activation or promotional marketing ~ these are taking on the traditional advertising companies and winning. Promotions related spends are over the ATL spends for some time now (ref. http://promomagazine.com/ for the Promo Spends Survey). Also the BTL spends are going to grow faster in the time to come. However, this is old news – interesting to discuss why and what works.

Ability to relevantly filter the TG and “almost” individually target with customized brand communication to initiate desired action is where we are headed. And that’s what the BTL communication is all about - not brand building but brand usage. Focused from concept to implementation on return generated on the marketing dollars.

I believe Google is the largest BTL agency around (for that matter the largest marketing and communication agency around – definitely the fastest growing). Adwords – the big revenue churner – is but a classic example of filtered audience {filtered by way of what you are looking for and where are you looking for the service }, served relevant and customized messages {geographic and content-specific} to initiate action {click thru} and the model is entirely ROI driven. The spillage of message on irrelevant audience or geography is no longer a concern.

Adwords revenues for Google (and hence spends which have moved away from the traditional advertisement pie) and the fast adaptation to the model by advertisers at enterprise level as well as SMBs is an indication of things to come.

While the agency business model is not going to be dependent on the final “sale” the closer the model can come to the sale the more future ready the model is.