Ecommerce has seen tremendous growth over the past decade. Within the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, food and beverage brands have seen particularly accelerated online sales growth as consumers shift towards online grocery and food and beverage purchasing.
CPG encompasses the companies that manufacture and distribute food, beverages, personal care, household goods and other fast-moving products purchased by consumers on a routine basis. As buyer behaviors evolve, CPG brands face both opportunities and operational complexities in expanding their ecommerce channels.
In the following sections, we’ll overview key considerations, strategies and best practices for CPG food and beverage brands looking to optimize their ecommerce presence. With expertise in data-driven consumer insights and full-scope ecommerce capabilities, Creatives On Call is well-positioned to help CPG companies navigate the digital marketplace successfully.
Understanding Changing Consumer Buying Habits
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online grocery shopping, but even before the events of 2020, a shift toward online food and beverage purchasing was underway. In the United States, food and beverage retail ecommerce revenue is expected to pass the $47 billion threshold by 2025.
Several factors drive this shift towards online purchasing within food and beverage:
- Convenience: Online ordering and scheduled delivery/pickup saves time compared to in-store shopping. Subscription models for routine purchases are also popular customer experiences.
- Safety: Housebound and high-risk consumers turned to online grocery ordering to minimize COVID-19 exposure, a habit that has stuck for many who may be immunocompromised.
- Improved offerings: Grocery chains have expanded online inventory/ordering and have fulfilled demand for delivery/pickup. Meal kits, prepared foods and unique products have also gained share.
Creatives On Call helps food and beverage brands adapt their digital strategy based on expertise in understanding changing consumer preferences through analytics and market research. Our team includes industry specialists with CPG expertise to help brands evolve effectively amidst consumer buying habit shifts.
Building an Ecommerce Presence
Given the rising consumer demand for online grocery and food/beverage options, establishing a branded ecommerce presence is now necessary for growth within the CPG industry. Direct-to-consumer and third-party marketplace sales channels provide new avenues to reach customers but also introduce operational considerations around fulfillment, branding and consumer experience.
CPG brands have several options to sell online directly to consumers:
- Owned ecommerce site: Developing a custom branded website with an integrated online store allows maximum control and ability to convey brand identity.
- Third-party marketplaces: Selling on retail marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart.com or Target.com may provide quick access to your built-in consumer base, but they feature less customization and fewer opportunities for marketing.
The path to launching one’s own site requires:
- Website design that’s aligned with brand style and provides a great user experience (UX).
- A back-end ecommerce platform that handles orders, payment processing, inventory management and fulfillment integration.
- Ongoing marketing to drive traffic and generate sales.
With deep experience guiding clients through ecommerce builds, Creatives On Call assembles cross-functional teams to support the technical, creative and marketing capabilities needed for ecommerce success. Our team includes experts in ecommerce platforms, user interface (UI)/UX design, digital marketing and technical development to deliver custom-branded ecommerce experiences tailored for CPG brands. Our collaborative approach enables CPG brands to establish and optimize their direct-to-consumer sales channels.
Digital Marketing Strategies
While building a transactional website is an important first step to ecommerce, ongoing digital marketing is crucial for driving traffic, building brand awareness and generating conversions over time. CPG brands need an integrated digital marketing strategy combining various tactics to maximize their online presence and digital sales across owned ecommerce channels as well as third-party retail marketplaces.
Effective digital marketing components for ecommerce brands include:
- Search engine optimization (SEO): Optimizing websites and content to rank highly in search engines for relevant consumer queries. SEO expands reach and positions brands as an authority.
- Example: Posting content focused on the health benefits of oat milk, which helps an oat milk brand rank in searches for “oat milk health.”
- Paid search: Purchasing pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google and Bing to appear at the top of search results. Retargeting display ads to site visitors boosts conversions.
- Example: Displaying ads for a new coconut yogurt line to people who have recently visited the brand’s online shop.
- Social media marketing: Engaging consumers on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest with content that informs and entertains while conveying brand identity.
- Example: An energy bar brand sponsoring Instagram influencer posts that highlight snacks for hikers.
- Email marketing: Building a subscriber list to deploy promotions, content and special offers via email. Personalization and segmentation boost open and click-through rates. Learn about how Creatives On Call can help with food and beverage marketing automation.
- Example: Sending an abandoned cart email reminder to those who left items in online checkout.
With a data-driven approach to digital marketing, Creatives On Call develops integrated strategies spanning SEO, paid media, social, email and more to maximize online presence and sales. Our specialists in each channel have CPG expertise and closely follow food ecommerce trends to provide strategic guidance tailored to each brand’s business objectives, target audience and budget. Additionally, our experts execute omnichannel digital tactics designed to drive awareness, traffic and conversions across owned and operated digital properties.
Read our guide to learn more about CPG website design.
Analytics & Optimization
With an ecommerce presence established, data and testing are imperative for improving digital operations and financial return on investment (ROI). CPG brands must monitor key metrics, run experiments, track attribution and optimize the end-to-end ecommerce experience.
Areas to focus analytics on include:
- Site analytics: Identify the highest traffic sources, popular landing pages and conversion funnels. Find underperforming pages.
- Example data: Lower bounce rates from PPC ads than organic traffic; product detail pages have a high exit rate.
- A/B testing: Run experiments that reveal how changes impact metrics.
- Example test: New product page layout increases the add-to-cart rate by 18%.
- Key performance indicator (KPI) tracking: Monitor KPIs like revenue per visitor, average order value (AOV) and acquisition cost per customer. Set targets.
- Marketing attribution: Determine which campaigns and channels contribute the most sales. Adjust the marketing mix accordingly.
Creatives On Call helps food and beverage brands gain data visibility that informs decisions. Our analytics team provides insights tailored to ecommerce KPIs, integrates tracking for unified views, establishes testing protocols and translates data into strategic recommendations designed to improve digital commerce return directly.
Amplifying Digital Reach and Conversions
Let’s explore key pillars of an integrated digital strategy using the fictional brand Tasty World Foods (TWF), a gourmet food purveyor selling globally inspired meal kits and pantry staples directly to consumers.
To drive awareness as a relative newcomer among digitally native food brands catering to adventurous home cooks, TWF should focus on the following:
- Social media and influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram and TikTok
- Partnerships with travel bloggers and celebrity chefs
- Compelling visuals of recipes and finished TWF meals, especially digital video
For lower-funnel conversion focus, TWF needs to master on-site optimization and retention by:
- Personalizing site content with insights on keywords and purchase history.
- Implementing exit intent pop-up technology to reduce cart abandonment.
- Building a subscriber list for loyalty rewards and direct mail catalogs.
Testing various offers and segmenting consumers ultimately allows TWF to determine optimal digital strategies per unique audience. The seasoned digital marketing strategists at Creatives On Call leverage decades of data-driven expertise to help brands like TWF achieve awareness, acquisition and loyalty goals.
Creatives On Call: Your Ecommerce Growth Catalyst
With over 15 years of experience in CPG marketing and helping leading brands solve their most pressing marketing and creative challenges, Creatives On Call has the proven strategic perspective and execution expertise to guide food and beverage companies through ecommerce expansion.
Our data-driven approach enables smart decision-making about understanding your consumers, identifying growth opportunities and enhancing your online omnichannel presence. Our analytics team provides rapid insights while our creative leads design the optimal UXs.
Our seasoned ecommerce strategists help optimize conversion funnels through testing and continuous improvement balanced with long-term brand building. We assemble project-based teams of specialists with deep CPG expertise across critical functions so you have the right talent collaborating to achieve your goals.
Let’s chat about your situation and ecommerce vision. Contact us today to learn more about how Creatives On Call can help you capitalize on the digital marketplace.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main benefits of selling food and beverage products through ecommerce channels?
The main benefits are increased customer reach, additional revenue streams, deeper consumer insights via online data, and higher margins by selling directly to customers versus wholesale.
What digital marketing strategies help drive traffic and conversions for ecommerce food and beverage brands?
Key digital marketing strategies include SEO, paid search ads, social media marketing, influencer collaborations, email marketing and affiliate partnerships. Omnichannel tactics provide awareness.
What are the key digital marketing metrics for CPG food and beverage brands?
CPG brands should track conversion rates across web and ecommerce experiences, cost per click (CPC) and return on ad spend (ROAS) for paid media, follower growth and engagement rates on social platforms, email click-throughs, total online sales, and repeat purchase frequency or loyalty membership activity.
How can data and analytics be leveraged to improve an ecommerce operation?
Web analytics provides insights on customer acquisition costs, sales by marketing channel, popular products, conversion rates, buying behavior patterns and other KPIs that can inform better decision-making when optimized.
