While companies of every shape and size have embraced Web-based marketing wholeheartedly, packaged goods manufacturers are still struggling to find a niche in the online world.
For many businesses, after all, the lure of the Internet lies in the prospect of e-commerce. But there’s no indication, as yet, that consumers have any interest in buying tinned soup or toothpaste online. So how will packaged goods firms leverage the Web?
Recent initiatives from some major manufacturers suggest that the new focus will be on relationship-building, through interaction with consumers looking for more personalized online experiences.
Recently, for example, Kraft Canada previewed its soon-to-be-launched personal recipe e-mail service. Once the service is operating (in about six months), consumers will be encouraged to sign up to receive their choice of recipes, via e-mail. The Kraft Canada Web site already boasts several related features, including an interactive kitchen, a meal planning service and a recipe finder/cookbook.
"Our focus going forward is really much more about one-to-one marketing to individual consumers," says Irene B. Rosenfeld, president of Kraft Canada.
Procter & Gamble, meanwhile, recently set up its own interactive marketing team in Canada. This group will work collaboratively with I-Ventures, the global Internet arm of Cincinnati, Ohio-based P&G.
Win Sakdinan, public affairs manager with P&G in Toronto, says the packaged goods giant wants to use the Web to provide more relevant and personal experiences for consumers, while at the same time gathering valuable insights about them.
The Canadian interactive team recently completed its first initiative: a Web contest supporting several major P&G brands. Visitors to the site could register for the contest online, and play various brand-specific games for additional chances to win.
While these kinds of activities are all to the good, some analysts suggest that packaged goods companies would be even better off finding ways to collaborate with their retail partners on Web-based activities.
Miles Faulkner, senior vice-president of e-commerce with Toronto-based Ernst & Young, suggests that they might, for example, work together to build applications designed to drive traffic to the retailer’s site, and help that retailer move more of the manufacturer’s product.
By marketing their brands directly to the consumer online, packaged goods firms risk a backlash from retailers, notes Michael Szego, a consultant with Toronto-based J.C. Williams Group. If a manufacturer wants to create an environment where they can interact with consumers, he says, they should consider building it on a retail partner’s site.
Unilever Canada, for one, is looking hard at how it can work co-operatively with retailers in the online realm.
Bob Noble, vice-president, customer business development and special markets with the Lever Pond’s division of Unilever, says the company wants to understand how retailers do business with consumers on the Web, so that it can help facilitate those efforts.
"We’re trying to understand how the consumer shops the sites and makes a decision about what to buy," he says.
