August 1, 2021
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What is Shopping List Marketing? Everything You Need to Know…

With the increase in reliance on mobile and ever-changing mobile consumer behavior, advertisers are always looking for new ways to reach consumers. Now more than ever, shoppers plan their grocery trips ahead of time, working towards greater shopping efficiency and less time spent in-store.

With the increase in reliance on mobile and ever-changing mobile consumer behavior, advertisers are always looking for new ways to reach consumers. Now more than ever, shoppers plan their grocery trips ahead of time, working towards greater shopping efficiency and less time spent in-store.

Shopping List Marketing is the leading strategy to reach consumers during critical grocery shopping moments. Shopping List Marketing targets mobile consumers while they are making decisions about what to buy on their next grocery trip. With 49% of shoppers now using a digital grocery list (and growing), Shopping List Marketing has become an essential part of any digital strategy.

What is Shopping List Marketing?

Shopping List Marketing uses digital technology to find a consumer engaged in a product category and serve them ads, enabling them to add promoted products directly to their preferred mobile shopping list or cart, often when they are planning their next shopping trip.


For example, a user is building their grocery list in their grocery list-building app. They have added yogurt in the past therefore they are served an ad for Oui by Yoplait yogurt. The ad looks native to their app and feels like a relevant suggestion. The consumer clicks the ad and the promoted product is added directly to their digital list. Voila! Simple as that.

Execution Shopper Marketing

Now, when the user goes to the grocery store, they will reference their digital list and recall the brand they added previously; Oui by Yoplait yogurt. The consumer then crosses off the item from their list indicating they have picked up and purchased said item.

Most marketers recognize that top-of-funnel tactics, like general awareness tactics, can be ambiguous and difficult to measure ROI. While with bottom-funnel in-store solutions, it is difficult to stand out and oftentimes too late to influence brand selection. For these reasons, hundreds of brand marketers have turned to Shopping List Marketing to reach in-market consumers at key decision-making moments.

Brands and agencies are now relying on Shopping List Marketing to reach their ROAS goals and drive sales. Some have even seen as high as 10% sales lift and 55% increase in foot traffic.

Shopping List Marketing Statistics

Shopping List Marketing is one of the most impactful strategies in digital advertising and with consumers now putting more effort into planning their grocery trips it is the perfect way to reach consumers and influence their purchase decision. Data across multiple sources support the need for Shopping List Marketing.

  1. 9 in 10 grocery shoppers use a smartphone at the store.  
  2. 80% of shoppers prefer in-store shopping opposed to pick-up or delivery.
  3. 86% of consumers want to buy groceries in-store themselves.
  4. Grocery app users will account for 15.5% of smartphone users and 24.9% of digital grocery buyers.
  5. Grocery apps saw the biggest growth [in 2020], with a 40.9% rise in smartphone users.

What are the benefits of Shopping List Marketing?

Real-Time Measurement

Most marketers are frustrated with the current methods of reaching consumers. They will rely on general awareness tactics without an effective way to measure results. Shopping List Marketing is a measurable middle to lower-funnel strategy. With Shopping List Marketing, advertisers can see when an item is added to a digital grocery list and when the item is crossed off the list in-store. Cross-off analysis is an accurate, quick way to measure in-store sales. Around 81% of shoppers cross-off and buy all the items on their shopping list. Who puts something on their grocery list that they do not intend to buy?

Competitive Advantage/Build Brand Loyalty

Shopping List Marketing gets brands on consumer grocery lists. Getting on the list has become an incredible competitive advantage for brands because it places your brand top of mind during critical shopping moments. Getting your branded product on a shopper’s list ahead of another brand also limits the reach of your competition.

Influence Consumer Behavior

During the pre-shop or list-building phase consumers are interacting with product categories and making their decision of what product or brand to purchase. Advertising in that moment of decision has an incredible impact on what the consumer purchases.

“Changing the behavior starts in the pre-shop phase. The pre-shop behavior is getting more and more critical. Brands need to carefully target consumers as they are planning their path to purchase.”
– Debbie Zefting, Director of Shopper Strategy & Engagement, Barilla

Consumers will then reference their grocery list in-store. 89% of shoppers use their phone to remember what they will buy at the grocery store.

Enhanced Targeting

Shopping List Marketing has the ability to target consumers engaged with a specific product category and influence their decision on brand selection within that category. By utilizing past list-building behavior, advertisers know they are reaching the right consumer that is looking to purchase within their product category.

Results Don’t Lie

Below are some of the results brands have already seen from using Shopping List Marketing:

  • 2-3X Above Industry Average Engagement Rates
  • 7% Average Sales Lift
  • 55% increase in foot traffic



What Advertisers are Saying About Shopping List Marketing?

More than 100 of the top CPG brands are already using Shopping List Marketing to achieve their digital advertising goals. Here are a few data points pulled from a recent survey conducted by Callan Consulting on how brand marketers view Shopping List Marketing today:

  • 96% of CPG marketers believe that getting on the digital grocery list is critical to brand success.
  • “It’s very important to make the list! A marketer’s dream is to have that emotional connection and loyalty with their consumers.” -Head of Marketing, Food & Beverage Brand
  • “Millions of people make lists using a third-party shopping list provider. Shopping List Marketing is a way for CPG companies to advertise and catch the attention of consumers to influence their product getting added to the list. This increases the likelihood of purchase, improving sales lift.” – Ethan Goodman, SVP Commerce Media & Innovation, The Mars Agency
  • “Shopping List Marketing enables us to recommend products to consumers in a more targeted way.” Head of Marketing, Food & Household Brand



Interested in learning more?

AdAdapted is the leading solution for Shopping List Marketing. Our technology connects brands with shoppers ready to buy what they’re selling. AdAdapted’s exclusive audience of grocery list-builders allows brands to target their shopper’s during critical grocery shopping decision-making moments.

Now more than ever, it’s extremely important for CPGs to get shoppers to add items to their grocery lists. Consumers are increasingly planning their grocery trips ahead of time and using mobile devices to do their shopping. If advertisers cede ground now, grocery shoppers will turn to alternative brands and private label items.

Ready to work with a partner that gets your brand 9.1 ROAS?

Let’s chat about how AdAdapted can drive sales for your brand with the leading one-click add-to technology built for CPG brands.
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