Rising costs, unemployment, and tariffs have all inevitably contributed to a “doom and gloom” sentiment for consumers and marketers alike.
But instead of harping on the negative, now’s the time to meet the moment and focus on the light in the dark.
Prioritizing six strategies, marketers can create a tariff-relief playbook fueled by data, technology, and creativity—one that ensures no opportunity or potential threat is overlooked.
Grow share with new segments and competitive conquesting
Fragmented shopping, driven by the hunt for value, has made it increasingly challenging for marketers to keep up with evolving shopping habits. However, with the right approach and insights, fragmented shopping doesn’t have to be a hindrance to marketing success; it can fuel new growth opportunities.
Categories with limited differentiation, such as bottled water, beef, poultry, eggs, and cheese, for example, may be at higher risk to consumers trading down to private-label items. Other categories with multiple choices and strong differentiation like coffee may seek value by purchasing larger volumes at warehouse clubs. Studies show that the share of coffee purchases increased 21% at warehouse clubs when comparing January 2024 to December 2024, stealing share from grocers and mass merchants. Others, like snacks and other nonessentials, may be more impacted by pricing but willing to purchase items at a discount.
How can you get there? Understand these differences mean doubling down on insights to find new segments and messaging to connect with these consumers accordingly. Connecting throughout the purchase journey to build awareness, consideration, and purchase is not only critical to assuring you have the right message for the right consumers, but it also drives results, often yielding a double-digit increase in engagement rates on the bottom-of-the-funnel activities. Investments like activation messages while a consumer is shopping are your last chance to influence what product and brand that consumer ultimately puts in their basket.
Inform these activities with commerce intelligence—the best predictor of a consumer’s next purchase is their last purchase, but that’s no longer a guarantee. Leverage deeper insights—like targeting lapse, lost, or low usage or the movable middle consumers who you might be missing—takes on a new importance given the uncertainty of the day and have proven to be highly effective.
