Get Ahead with a Digital Shelf Strategy

It’s pretty clear … digital shelf management can’t be ignored:

• US online shopping revenue will exceed $1.3 trillion by 2025.
• 218+ million online shoppers in the US.
• Grocery ecommerce is advancing more than 10% of category retail sales.
• 66% of US consumers start their product search on Amazon.
• There are more than 600 retail media networks.

How can you entice online shoppers to buy your products? How do you even get in front of them?

It starts by being present on the digital shelf.

The digital shelf is how and where products appear online. Think of it like a shelf in the physical store.

Maximize your products’ visibility.

Think about your own online shopping experience…

Let’s say I want to buy dog food. I might start my search on Google, Amazon, Chewy, Petco, etc. Regardless of the retailer, if I type “dog food”, I’ll see a range of results – different sizes, different prices, different brands. It’s easy enough to browse reviews, read about the ingredients, and compare prices. I can use all of this information when deciding which product to buy.

As the manufacturer, you have to make sure you’re visible in the search results. You have to be available for shoppers whenever and wherever they’re looking for your product. BONUS: A strong digital shelf strategy will boost sales for in-store shoppers. 60% check their phones while browsing in-store, and 69% say they’d rather read a review on their phone than ask a sales assistant for help.

CPGs: Use data to build a winning digital shelf strategy. Create, evaluate, and optimize your product pages to win the shopper’s attention. Make your brand and products more discoverable.

Digital Shelf Essentials

Competitive intelligence is critical to your digital shelf and ecommerce success. Consumer manufacturers need accurate data to monitor pricing, promotions, assortment, availability, share of search, and search ranks across products, retailers, and key competitors. Understanding the marketplace is a competitive advantage.

Most brands have some digital shelf auditing tool in place, but only 31% regularly track and communicate those KPIs to the organization.

Coupling competitive intelligence insights with digital shelf data means seamlessly monitoring and analyzing your online pricing, content, and presence.

With the help of digital shelf analytics, you can guarantee your products are positioned in the right place, with the right content.

A digital shelf strategy helps you improve customer experience and increase sales, but keep in mind…

» Digital shelves aren’t standard across retailers and marketplaces

» Digital shelf requirements continue to evolve

» Not every customer navigates the digital shelf the same way

» Inconsistent branding will hurt your reputation

Your Amazon Digital Shelf

45% of Amazon shoppers don’t scroll past the second page of search results (guilty). 12% of Amazon shoppers don’t go past the first page of search results.

Create your Amazon digital shelf with intention around SERP (search engine results pages), promotional pages, brand stores, and product listings. 

To optimize your product’s visibility, be clear and descriptive when writing product descriptions. Include flavor, size, weight, and more. Use keywords. Respond to reviews. Answer consumer’s questions.

Every retailer has its own search criteria, but since so many shoppers start their online shopping on Amazon, it’s important to dedicate time to optimize your digital shelf strategy here.

6 Reasons You Need Digital Shelf Data

Digital shelf analytics are important because it helps manufacturers determine how their digital presence compares to their peers. By monitoring the digital shelf across retailers, you can make your product more discoverable, identify areas where you’re underperforming, compare the competitive landscape, and increase profits.

1. Discover competitive opportunities
2. Increase your share of search (& sales)
3. Improve product page listings
4. Track & monitor search rankings, pricing, and availability
5. Influence your product category
6. Evaluate your performance

& The Benefits…

When you’re analyzing digital shelf data you get to understand performance in terms of share of search, ratings, consumer sentiment, and conversions. Digital shelf analytics means various benefits like…

• Building loyalty with your customers by having a great online shopping experience. Customers love the convenience of getting information about your product quickly. With digital shelf data, you can fix inconsistencies and identify opportunities. 
• Make it easy for shoppers to find you in search! How and where are users searching for your product? Think about keywords, keyword trends and search behavior to make the user experience seamless.
• Analyze competitor assortment and pricing to help you can make better decisions to improve product positioning. Focusing on competitive data, CPG companies have more understanding on customer behavior and market gaps.

Talk to our team of digital shelf experts today »

Win the Digital Shelf

The digital shelf is a massive, fast-growing opportunity for CPG manufacturers to win customers — and influence physical retail. 

To get started, find a data provider that has proven data collection and product matching capabilities so you can easily access and view digital shelf analytics. When you have real-time understanding to your online showing, you can develop a strong digital shelf strategy that outshines your competitors.