The following piece is by Kenneth Hein. It’s called “Study: Brands Sold on Shopper Marketing Programs” and it appeared in the September 22, 2008 online issue of BrandWeek.

In-store marketing tactics have not only become actively embraced by marketers of consumer packaged goods, many rank it as one of their most effective tools, per a study released September 22. Deloitte and the Grocery Manufacturers Association polled more than 100 companies for the “Delivering the Promise of Shopper Marketing: Mastering Execution for Competitive” report.

Companies no longer look at shopper marketing as an also-ran idea. In fact, 60% of the manufacturers and retailers polled said they have “significant” shopper marketing organizations. This was up from only 6% last year.

Respondents expect to continue to enhance their shopper marketing budgets for at least the next three years. Why? “Retailers and manufacturers who are embracing shopper marketing and executing against a core set of principles are growing 50% faster than the categories in which they participate,” said Rob Holston, Deloitte’s shopper marketing practice leader. “This speaks to the promise shopper marketing holds for those who do it well.”

Nineteen percent of consumer packaged goods manufacturers and half of retailers rank shopper marketing as the most effective activity for generating strong return-on-investment. Overall, 75% of manufacturers and 86% of retailers studied ranked in-store marketing among the top four activities in terms of gaining strong ROI.

Still, only 5-10% of companies are considered advanced at the tactic. One of the main impediments for accelerating the practice is the cost of data collection and analysis, according to 70% of respondents.