Walmart and Kroger Amp Up Online Marketing

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January 10, 2012

Getting a meeting with a Walmart buyer is one of the greatest difficulties and biggest opportunities for a company and now the retailer is making it easier to do just that, and more.

Get On The Shelf lets anyone with a product win a slot on Walmart’s shelves and web site, and receive marketing support from the retailer. The contest is open to companies large and small. The winners – there will be three – won’t boast a store brands logo, but will gain a coveted spot on Walmart’s shelves and an exclusive opportunity to use Walmart's marketing expertise (see Walmart video beow).

According to Walmart, hopefuls must: “Make a brief video to make your case and that you'd be happy to have spread around the Internet. (It's alright if it's a video you've already used for other purposes in the past.) Good videos take on lives of their own, but we also provide you easy-to-use tools to help spread the word (buttons, badges, etc.) and get votes through your own sites. You can also leverage your social network presence and any other marketing channels.”

The contest, which runs through Feb. 21, is a combination of crowd sourcing, social media and viral marketing as conceived by WalmartLabs, the company’s division tasked with developing and growing web-based initiatives. Walmart reportedly paid $300 million for Silicon Valley startup Kosmix in April 2011, renamed it WalmartLabs and immediately put the founders to work on the retailer’s online presence. Get On The Shelf is among the first such project.

Wanted: Store Brands Advocates
Meanwhile Kroger is looking to build its social media marketing program and searching for shoppers to serve as store brands advocates.

Heavy users of Kroger store brands are encouraged to author blogs and build followings on Facebook and Twitter, Paul Hunter, chief operating officer for social marketing agency BzzAgent, told Supermarket News. Kroger will provide tools to build the blogs such as embedded coupons. The selected shoppers will be given incentives such as free products.

Initial campaigns will focus on Private Selection frozen pizza, Kroger Little Clinics, Truly Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies and Kroger Comforts baby care products, according to the report.

SBD Views: Since publishing our exclusive research report “Social Media and Store Brands” last year, we’ve believed that social media will be the great equalizer for store brands consumer marketing. The above efforts by Walmart and Kroger are further evidence of retailers' commitment to capitalize on the opportunity. Our upcoming Innovation & Marketing Summit  will feature exclusive presentations by Facebook and Google, addressing how store brands can leverage digital and social media to drive growth. -- John Failla for Store Brands Decisions

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