E-commerce a Growing Trend for CPG Brands
By Jason Hornik | Senior Director, Product Marketing
Recent initiatives from P&G and General Mills signify a continued investment in e-commerce by CPG brands looking to build direct selling relationships, engage consumers, and garner insights. P&G is planning a full-scale launch of their eStore in the spring of this year despite the fact that e-commerce sales represent less than 1% of their total annual revenue. The site will primarily serve as a research lab to test search, coupons, store promotions, and social media integration. P&G intends to share consumer findings from their new site with their retail partners.
P&G currently sells direct through theEssentials.com, a site they inherited as a result of the Gillette acquisition in 2005, and through partner sites which include Target.com, Walmart.com, CVS.com, Drugstore.com, and Amazon. Overall, P&G is looking to aggressively move their annual e-commerce sales from $500 million to $4 billion.
General Mills is also making deeper inroads into e-commerce, as well as developing digital content for their brands. For example, their recipe site Tablespoon.com boasts 25,000 recipes with detailed nutritional information and at BettyCrocker.com you can download their Digital Kitchen Assistant app for interactive recipe building and sharing with friends.
Leadership at both P&G and General Mills are voicing their increased level of attention to e-commerce:
“The eventuality is a one-on-one relationship with every consumer, and obviously e-commerce needs to be a big part of that.”
P&G CEO Bob McDonald (AdAge.com)“The beauty of digital is it’s very effective–great ROI and very efficient–to talk directly to consumers and to give them customized and more relevant information about what the brand can do for them.”
General Mills CMO Mark Addicks (Forbes.com)
There is no doubt that CPGs and other consumer brands will create innovative strategies and programs to connect with their most loyal consumers as the iron curtain for selling direct continues to come down.
