"Market share isn’t won in physical stores": ASDA wins at converting offline shoppers

Consumer data behaviour company ViewersLogic has released a new report on the impact of ASDA’s TV advertising.

Using its single-source data approach which measures consumer behaviour from media consumption to purchase, ViewersLogic was able to understand how TV campaigns affected shopper behaviour online and offline and draw a direct line between media spend and consumers’ actions.

The report is based on the analysis of online and offline customer acquisition as a result of TV advertising for ASDA vs Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

ViewersLogic used a ‘test and control’ methodology to compare individuals who were not exposed to TV activity to those that were, between 4th October and 28th November 2021.

‘Supermarkets must take advantage of the data to gain market share’

“Market share in the supermarket industry is not going to be won through physical stores in this digital age,” saidSimen Moen, Head of Data Analytics at ViewersLogic.

“Our single-source data shows it is easier to convert an offline supermarket shopper into an online shopper than convert a consumer who already buys online at competitor brands through TV advertising. By the time a customer has taken the time to navigate the website, create their shopping list and input their payment details, all with the option for this data to be saved on file for the next shop, it is unlikely they will easily switch to a different brand.”

As a result of the TV advertising, 55% of new visitors to ASDA’s website were previous shoppers at physical Tesco stores, which is more than double their share in the general population – evidenced by an index of 2.1.

Driving online shopping acquisitions is difficult with consumers who already have a habit of shopping online with a competitor brand – shown through the under-indexing of website visitors to Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

Consumers who did switch from shopping online with either Tesco or Sainsbury’s were exposed to far more ads in the week before compared to the three physical shopping groups.

Additional key findings include:

• The uplift in footfall from TV advertising for ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco is consistently lower than the uplift in website visitors and active app users per week. This indicates footfall is the slowest metric to move as a result of TV advertising.

• Sainsbury’s triumphed over all brands with the greatest uplift in website visits from its TV advertising at 3.7.% with ASDA close second at 2.4%, Tesco with 1.3% and Morrisons at 1.1%. This highlights that while TV advertising drives some in-store conversion, it has a stronger impact on converting customers into online shoppers.

“It is imperative that supermarkets take advantage of this data now and not later to smartly gain market share before the majority of consumers move online,” continues Moen.

“The industry is already on this trajectory with the pandemic playing a key role in accelerating the adoption of online shopping. However marketers should be wary of relying on historical data sets that give little insight into consumer behaviour today. Not only do they need current and real time insights, but they also need to be able to accurately track how consumer shopping habits are evolving now that life is returning to normal.”