Supermarkets must work harder to develop marketing strategies that speak directly to consumers, says Andy Wheatley


Supermarkets have always understood the importance of being local. They're always telling us how they support local economies and a look at any of their websites will tell you how proud they are to source from local farmers and the charitable deeds they do for local people. But are they just doing the bare minimum?

Recent research by respected institutions like The Future Foundation as well as advertising agencies clearly points to consumers demanding greater empathy from the brands they interact with. They want brands to genuinely recognise their local communities rather than just their purchasing behaviour.

Unfortunately almost every supermarket operates highly centralised, top-down marketing strategies that can't cater to the different needs of multiple communities on a national scale. Can you imagine the marketing director of Tesco letting all 2,282 stores have their own, locally driven marketing strategy? Well actually I can, and I think it's high time at least one of our leading supermarkets did exactly that.

Recent developments in marketing technology have made local marketing a cost-effective and accountable way of communicating with consumers. There's also plenty of evidence to demonstrate how much more effective local marketing is over national campaigns.

For example, it is now possible for even the largest chains to allow local managers to use their superior knowledge of local market conditions to produce relevant and engaging campaigns that appeal specifically to local people yet are compliant with national brand guidelines.

By using so-called marketing toolkits, supermarkets can communicate across multiple channels direct mail, point of sale, websites, mobile and email quickly and efficiently. These same systems can also use customer data to make sure that the right messages are sent to the right people at the right time.

Given the technology now available, it's about time supermarkets especially retailers such as The Co-operative Group, which prides itself on a community ethic took local marketing more seriously.


Andy Wheatley is director of strategy at Tangent Direct.

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