When it comes to the baby aisle, in addition to well-stocked shelves, satisfaction for Mom is derived from having the brands she's looking for, having a well-organized department so she can quickly grab what she needs and providing a good value on baby products.

An article published in the November 2011 issue of Progressive Grocer discussed how retailers were addressing the valuable "mom shopper," based on learnings from "The Baby Aisle Study," a research initiative among hundreds of retailers across the United States, conducted jointly by PG and Mead Johnson Nutrition.

"The Baby Aisle Study" revealed three key findings from the retailer's perspective:

• The mom shopper is important today, and will be even more important in the future.
• The shopping experience is the single most important factor in attracting and retaining the mom shopper.
• The baby aisle opportunity is to transform it into a destination for the mom shopper.

This article will address shopping the baby aisle from the mom's perspective.

Tapping Into Moms' Loyalty
Infant and children's nutrition is the largest category within the baby department. Given its size, and the growing importance of moms as shoppers of your stores, it's critical to better understand the mom shopper from her own perspective. What is it about the shopping experience that can attract her to, or keep her in, your store and turn her into a lifetime loyal shopper? How can we transform the baby aisle into a destination for moms? To answer those and other key questions, Mead Johnson Nutrition conducted an extensive shopper study among moms called "Molly Johnson – From Stork to Store."

The proprietary shopper study, conducted earlier this year, includes more than 1,600 respondents, age 21 to 45, who are the primary shoppers of infant formula for the household. The study includes the shoppers of various types of retail channels, including grocery, drug stores, mass merchandisers, and club and specialty stores. In addition, since a similar study was conducted in 2008, we were able to uncover some trends across the two time periods.

This article shares key learnings and insight from the perspective of Mom as shopper: how her shopping behavior has changed, and what drives her satisfaction with the shopping experience. As a result, we gain a better understanding from the mom's perspective on how to truly "capture" her in our endeavor to capture the lifetime value of the mom shopper.

There have been key strategic shifts in Mom's shopping behavior in the new economy. Mom's shopping dynamics for infant formula have changed rather dramatically in just a few short years, from 2008 to today. The continuing recession has taken hold and is influencing Mom's shopping behaviors in many ways. When we hear that the recession has had an influence on shopping behaviors, the first place we all tend to turn to is pricing. While this isn't to say that price should be ignored, several other longer-term and more strategic shifts have occurred in her actual buying behavior.

First, the infant formula purchase has become more highly planned than in the past. Almost all moms (95 percent) planned to buy infant formula prior to entering the store; this level of planning has increased more than 20 points in comparison with 2008, when planned purchasing accounted for only 72 percent of moms. In addition, when Mom makes this highly planned purchase, her likelihood of stocking up has increased. In 2011, 72 percent of moms purchased enough formula to last for two or more weeks, up 10 points versus 2008; interestingly, as many as one in five bought enough infant formula to last for four weeks or more.

Further, when Mom purchases infant formula, she remains extremely loyal to her chosen brand. In fact, the in-store environment is important in driving overall shopper satisfaction: Half of shoppers said that "nothing in the store would prompt me to use another brand" – a strong indicator of brand loyalty. Additionally, despite tough economic conditions, only 22 percent said that a sale or special promotion on another brand would make them consider switching, and this remains unchanged versus 2008.

This high level of brand loyalty triggers certain behaviors in Mom if her brand of choice is out of stock. Almost two-thirds of moms said that they wouldn't make a purchase if their brand was not available in the store; most would go to another store to find their brand (see chart on page 66). The combined high level of planning, stock-up purchasing, strong brand loyalty and high walk rate all play a significant role in where Mom chooses to shop.

Source: Mead Johnson Nutrition /Progressive Grocer Retail Study, 2011

Infant formula is a primary trip driver for moms and can drive shopper satisfaction to help them choose to continue to shop in your store. Infant formula, the largest category in the baby aisle, is a primary trip driver for moms. As such, the baby aisle and infant formula shopping experiences are critical to overall shopper satisfaction, which we know is a key driver of store choice. While only 8 percent to 14 percent of all shoppers claim food or HBC categories as the primary reason for shopping, 28 percent of moms said that their shopping trip was "to specifically purchase infant formula" (see chart below). Therefore, getting it right in infant formula is a primary ingredient in the formula for success.

Source: Mead Johnson Nutrition /Progressive Grocer Retail Study, 2011

Store Choice Drivers
The "Stork to Store" shopper study examined store choice drivers from three perspectives: total store attributes, baby aisle attributes and infant formula category attributes. Interestingly, regardless of which perspective, having well-stocked shelves so that Mom can get the product she is looking for ranked highest in importance and had the strongest correlation to overall satisfaction.

Additional areas highly associated with satisfaction for the total store include offering a good value, having a wide selection of brands and products, and providing a family-friendly atmosphere where it's easy to shop with her baby. When it comes to the baby aisle, in addition to well-stocked shelves, satisfaction for Mom is derived from having the brands she's looking for, having a well-organized department so she can quickly grab what she needs and providing a good value on baby products.

Similar patterns are reflected at the infant formula category level, with Mom's shopping satisfaction driven by three core factors: providing well-stocked shelves so she knows she can get the brand she came for, carrying enough supply of her baby's formula so she can stock up if desired, and offering the brand, type and form of infant formula that she wants.

As we all know and can relate to, time is a most valuable resource; add caring for a new baby, and you can just imagine how managing time can become even more challenging. So, if she came to your store and her highly planned purchase of the infant formula brand that she's extremely loyal to isn't possible, is she going to come back to your store the next time, or is she more likely to go to another store where she can get the items she came for? While being in stock isn't the only important attribute, it is the most critical.

The 'New' New Mom
Communicating with the "new" new mom requires multiple touchpoints in the ever-changing digital world. While every category has its own dynamics, one truly unique to infant formula (and other baby categories) is the constantly changing audience. While our target is always defined as "the new mom," she's in and out of the infant formula category in 12 to 18 months.

With new moms continuously entering the category, we must communicate with them across multiple touchpoints. While traditional vehicles such as circular advertising, in-store displays and shelf signage remain critical to success, it is becoming increasingly important for those involved with the infant formula category to be early adopters of new technologies for communicating in the digital world.

Source: Mead Johnson Nutrition /Progressive Grocer Retail Study, 2011

Already, two-thirds of today's moms use smartphones as part of their shopping experience (see chart above). The two most often cited ways of using their smartphones are "taking a picture of a product or sale to send to someone or for future use" and using the "mobile browser to search for product information or company websites." In addition, more than 70 percent of mom shoppers agree that using QR (quick response) codes at shelf shows that the retailer truly cares about giving her "the best possible experience."

No doubt, digital and mobile communication is on the rise. Three out of every four moms who have purchased infant formula in a brick-and-mortar store have visited at least one website in the past six months, ranging across a vast variety of types of sites. The reasons for visiting the sites vary based on type of site, as well as by type of retail channel shopped. For example, while moms clearly go to coupon sites for the obvious (coupons), other sites such as baby blogs, magazine sites and baby-focused websites are visited in search of advice/new ideas and product information. Regardless of what business you're in, if it involves communicating with the "new" new mom, participation in the digital world is a must.

Whether you're a manufacturer or a retailer involved in the infant formula category, it's important to remember that there is a "new" new mom that we're talking to. In summary, here are the three key ingredients to the ultimate infant formula "formula for success":

• Understanding and leveraging the key strategic shifts in moms' shopping behavior in the new economy.
• As a primary trip driver for moms, driving shopper satisfaction in infant formula to help them choose to continue to shop in your store.
• Communicate with the "new" new mom across multiple touchpoints in the ever-changing digital world.

Editor's Note: Planned for an upcoming issue, the final article of this series will explain how Mead Johnson Nutrition plans to put these retail and shopper learnings into action. For more information on "Capturing the Lifetime Value of the Mom Shopper," contact Director of Customer Development Chad Marquardt at Glenview, Ill.-based Mead Johnson Nutrition at chad.marquardt@mjn.com.