According to a recent report from Grant Thornton identifying the latest trends to emerge from the growing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements (VMS) Market, there is significant opportunity for businesses to focus on the purchase journey and personalisation to take full advantage of this shift in mainstream consumer behavior.
The report, which identifies five trends including the growing convergence between food and wellbeing, investment appetite for VMS related businesses and the desire for increased accessibility to VMS including ‘store in store’ concepts, also places particular emphasis on the influence of purchase decision and demographic segmentation.
HEALTH TECHNOLOGY
As the trend for consumers to take a proactive approach to their health and the wellbeing continues to sweep the nation (the sector is forecast to see an uplift of 8.6% over the next five years with sales values expected to hit £457 million in 2021.) VMS is a market that has some of the highest potential to reap the rewards that come from a highly efficient CX strategy.
Simple search and filter options simply don’t cut it in a market driven by a mass of fantastic segmentation opportunities. Age, demographic, health concerns, fitness goals, an increase in the desire for wellbeing products and an appetency for the newest delivery formats, including powders, chews, transdermal creams and sprays are all leading top brands and businesses to take on and invest in highly effective Intelligent Guided Selling (IGS) tools – allowing them to highly personalise results to customers with maximum effect.
REAL TIME RELEVANCE – GETTING TO KNOW THE CUSTOMER
The real win for VMS businesses is if they can capture not only the ‘who’ but also the ’why and what’ when recommending to customers for their VMS needs. Combining personalisation with mindset is the ultimate win. Customers have any number of reasons for shopping, just as they have many states of mind they may be shopping in. They might be in a hurry to find a fix for a recurring health problem or sports injury, perhaps they are price, product, ratings, ingredients or brand sensitive, or not. What is almost always true is that customers who are not product experts and who have little knowledge of the specifications needed to narrow their search from overwhelming choice are looking for a whole lot of hassle-free guidance and a summary of their needs that makes them feel like they have been heard.
Like a child in a sweet shop, choice paralysis is real. Put hundreds of ‘relatively’ well matched products in front of a customer, and they’ll likely run for the hills.
Think quality, not quantity. And ALWAYS recommend based on the customer as an individual.
At the very heart of IGS are smart questions, words or images – setting out not only WHAT the customer is searching for, but also the MINDSET they’re in. The aim is to segment the product category by customer’s personalised needs and then, perhaps even more importantly, summarise their preferences and relay them back for absolute clarity.
Revive Active, who provide natural superfood supplements, have created a brilliant supplement selector tool using RIPPL, the Intelligent Guided Selling platform from Conversity that uses sophisticated, self learning algorithms that identify customer needs and make tailored product/service recommendations.
The ‘test’ drives the most personalised supplement recommendation for customers in just a couple of targeted questions that tackle the ‘who’ along with the ‘what’. Asking customers to select their age bracket, followed by their top three goals, results in a personal recommendation with the added cross sell and up sell of other supplements best suited to their desired outcomes.
Daithi O’Connor, Founder and Managing Director of Revive Active said; “Choosing the right supplement can be complex and it’s really important we speak in the right voice, to the right customer at the right time. Our ethos is dedicated to understanding our client’s nutritional needs and providing them with the best possible advice in choosing a supplement perfectly suited to their demographic, goals and lifestyle.
An intelligent guided sales solution allows us to interact naturally with our customers and reassure them on their purchasing journey that we appreciate how individual their requirements are. It has been transformational; we have seen a huge increase in customer engagement online helping develop the customer relationship that is critical to our business.”
This is just one working example of businesses recognising the huge potential for growth in VMS sales online.
To discuss your CX strategy, or to set up a trial with our IGS platform, get in touch.
