Today is Only the Start

June 5, 2014

A challenge many businesses face in understanding the power of the social web is determining how important it could be in the future. The answer from part 8 of Untangling the Social Web, the latest study from the Coca‑Cola Retailing Research Council of North America, is clear. (The study is available for a free download at www.ccrrc.org.)

The potential of the social web is huge.

Although the social web as we know it is only 10 years old, it already is a force in shaping shopping trips. More than one-third of shoppers say they use it regularly as a tool to simplify grocery shopping, while 57 percent use it for non-food shopping.

But that’s just the start. Shoppers say they would more heavily use the social web for grocery shopping if the content offered by retailers was more compelling. And either way, about half of those currently not engaged say that will change over the coming five years.

In other words, we could be looking at 55 to 65 percent of shoppers using the social web to plan shopping trips, menus and meals in just a few years, which means content and influence across all categories could grow substantially.

Additional insights from this study, including the impact of the retailers that created it, will be part of the council’s special presentation June 12 at FMI Connect 2014 in Chicago. More information about the presentation can be found at http://fmi14.mapyourshow.com/5_0/sessions/sessiondetails.cfm?ScheduledSessionID=1AA0

Michael Sansolo
Research Director
Coca‑Cola Retailing Research Council of North America
www.MichaelSansolo.com