How to Optimize Digital Shelf Performance

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲. For some FMCG brands, no price cuts, no problem. The brands growing 3-5X faster than competitors have stopped competing on price entirely. This is the framework of how top CPGs win online. The data is clear; 1️⃣ Digital-first brands like L'Oréal, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble are achieving 3–5X higher unit growth 2️⃣ Their edge: Value communication, optimized digital shelf, and content that converts 3️⃣ They’re using pack strategy and personalization, not blanket discounts, to drive volume ++ 𝟰 𝗧𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗖𝗠𝗢𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝟮 ++ 1. I strongly recommend, stop leading with "20% off" and start with "Here's why this matters to your life." This way you can master value communication over price communication. - Create content that educates, inspires, and justifies your price point - Use storytelling that connects product benefits to real consumer moments - Build trust through transparent ingredient stories and sustainability narratives 2. Your Amazon listing is your new Times Square storefront. Is your digital shelf better then your flagship store by the way? - Invest in premium product imagery and A+ content - Use data-driven SEO to dominate category searches - Leverage customer reviews as social proof, not just feedback 3. Create value through innovation, not desperation. And it happens faster when you deploy strategic assortment & smart pack architecture. - Develop premium formats and limited editions that command higher prices - Use pack sizes strategically to hit different price points without discounting - Test subscription models and bundles that increase customer lifetime value 4. Use technology to deliver the right message to the right consumer. Is there anybody left not leveraging AI for personalization at scale? I didn't think so. :) - Implement dynamic pricing based on demand signals, not competitor panic - Create personalized product recommendations across all digital touchpoints - Use predictive analytics to anticipate consumer needs before they discount-shop 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Brands that compete on value creation, not price destruction, are the ones dominating market share growth. If you’re still defaulting to promotions, this is your wake-up call. 𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 ecommert® 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟰,𝟲𝟬𝟬+ 𝗖𝗣𝗚, 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘁 : 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿👇 About ecommert We partner with CPG businesses and leading technology companies of all sizes to accelerate growth through AI-driven digital commerce solutions. #CPG #FMCG #ecommerce #AI #retailmedia PepsiCo Mondelēz International Mars The HEINEKEN Company Colgate-Palmolive Reckitt Henkel Kenvue Unilever adidas Nike The Coca-Cola Company

The digital shelf is NOT infinite. Listing a product on Amazon / Walmart is NOT enough. You MUST invest in SEO, PPC, and CVR optimization. --------------- Pretend you want a bag of Doritos. You walk in the store, walk pass the produce department, check out all of the items on end-cap, and then take a stroll down the snack aisle. You are exposed to many different products during that journey. Not only do you see products from different aisles and categories, but you also see all of the competitor variations of chips! You may leave with just your Doritos…but you may also leave with quac, Pringles, and a box of pop tarts! Now let’s take that same journey on Amazon or Walmart.com. You want Doritos? You open up a cluttered home page and you type “Doritos” into the search bar. If you are on Amazon, you see 5 ads at the top of the page, not all of them are Doritos, and you scroll down and see a page full of different Doritos flavor variations. If you are on Walmart.com, you type in Doritos and see a bunch of Doritos. No competitor ads. (You may scroll to the bottom of the page and see a carousel for “Product you may like”.) Knowing how these customer journeys differ is incredibly important. When you get your product on the retail shelf, a lot of the heavy lifting is done. (Ish) But when you get a product on the digital shelf, the work is just beginning. You HAVE to understand the intricacies of each platform in order to rank. Just listing is not enough. We have all seen the data on how many customers actually journey to page 2 of Amazon. And more recently we have seen the data that the top 4 placements on the page make up over SEVENTY percent of click share. (This why PPC plays such a large role in organic rank) Organic Rank = Traffic + Relevancy Traffic = PPC + SEO + External Traffic Relevancy = CTR + CVR

🐶 Milk Bone is AHEAD OF THE PACK when it comes to optimizing #Walmart DSP campaigns with #digitalshelf intelligence. Let's break it down: ⚫ The traditional DSP bidding approach meant that ads for their products would have been served to Walmart shoppers EVEN IF their products weren't available in their local Walmart store. = HUGE WASTE ⚫ Instead, Milk Bone and their agency Zenith used Profitero's store-level availability and pricing data collected across ALL Walmart zip-code locations in the U.S. so ads were only shown when product was available. ⚫ This solved the waste problem, but Milk Bone went one step further to also target ads in zip codes where COMPETITOR ADS were out of stock, which drove a 2x new to brand increase. ⚫ The data investment to enable this optimization paid for itself in 1 WEEK! Seems simple, doesn't it? That's exactly the point. If your agency isn't leveraging shelf-intelligent DSP, I'd ask them how they're ensuring ad spend is not being wasted without it.

The increasingly important question for brands to consider this holiday shopping season: is your digital shelf maximized to capture sales? Or to put it another way…are you ready to handle the madness?! Last year on Black Friday, consumers spent $9.8B online, with up to 53% of all holiday shoppers making purchases on that day. Online shopping in 2023 was up 3.9% YoY, with 90.6 million people buying from their computers or smartphones. How do you prepare for the rush? To start, make sure your inventory is well-stocked, and your data is in order. Use historical sales insights to predict demand and display real-time stock levels to create urgency (e.g., “Only 5 left!”). You should also ensure your website and product pages are mobile-friendly because we all know what happens when it takes longer than half a second to load… And most importantly, do everything in your power to maximize visibility. One standout example from Black Friday last year: Korean skincare product, COSRX Snail Mucin Serum. This relatively inexpensive toner by a lesser known brand became one of the Top 17 most sold products on Amazon. What drove its success? 1- The available discount was nearly twice that of the Black Friday average at 45%. 2 - Leading up to the holiday season, COSRX optimized product listings with detailed descriptions and high-quality images, improving search visibility and consumer engagement. 3 - The company leveraged the power of positive reviews, highlighting them to build trust with consumers and draw in first-time buyers. 4 - COSRX invested in targeted ad campaigns on major e-commerce platforms to boost visibility during this crucial period. And the brand used TikTok to generate a lot of hype! Winning on the digital shelf this holiday season is about presenting your product strategically. Significant discounts, optimized listings, and trust-building reviews aren’t extras. They’re essential to standing out in a crowded online marketplace. Any other campaigns you’ve seen work?

Is your digital shelf strategy stuck in 2015? The CARS framework (Content, Availability, Ratings, Search) gave us a starting line. But the race has completely changed, and that model now has two massive blind spots. It misses the two things that define modern e-commerce: 1. Price & Promotions. How can we measure retail and ignore price? It’s the engine of the sale, yet it's completely absent from the old model. 2. Total Visibility. "Search" is no longer a simple list. It’s a battleground of paid ads and organic results. Measuring only one is flying half-blind. It's time for a framework built for today. I call it ACT. It’s a simple, logical way to measure the modern customer journey: Attract: Are you seen? This means winning in both organic search AND paid retail media. Convince: Is your page compelling? This combines your Content, Ratings, and—crucially—Price & Promotions to win the "add to cart." Transact: Can they buy they product they want? The final, critical test of Availability and Assortment. If the shopper can't complete the purchase, nothing else matters. Does this resonate? Are we clinging to old models while the game is being played somewhere else? What’s the biggest gap you see in how we measure the digital shelf today? Shoutout to Jordi Olle for co-developing this with me! #DigitalShelf #Ecommerce #RetailMedia #CPG #Leadership

The real story in Walmart’s Great Value refresh is execution discipline. Nearly 10,000 items, phased over two years, with clearer nutrition and benefit cues designed to improve shoppability across stores and digital platforms. That matters because online grocery is still a smaller channel than store sales, but it is growing faster, which raises the value of clear product data and digital shelf performance. Executive teams should ask: Is our packaging built for fast recognition across both physical and digital shelves? Is our product content strong enough to win when discovery shifts online? Next moves: audit top SKUs for digital shelf readiness, improve product content quality, and align packaging, search, and assortment teams around the same growth priorities. https://lnkd.in/edkf8AMh #DigitalShelf #Omnichannel #DemandGeneration #RetailExecution #CPG