ECR Shopper Insights Webinar
On 26 August, ECR Ireland hosted its latest Shopper Insights Webinar, bringing together perspectives on the changing shopper and retail landscape.
ECR Ireland Update
Declan brought an update on what’s happening across the ECR’s, including the upcoming ECR Shopper Conference & Awards on 8 October at Croke Park, the ECR Supply Chain Summit on 19 November, the ECR CatMan Network webinar on AI in Category Management, the ECR Sustainability Webinar Series and the new ECR InStore Insights 2026 publication.
Beyond Inflation: How Shoppers, Retailers and Markets Are Evolving
Marcus Heath, Consumer Insight Director at Worldpanel by Numerator, looked at how shoppers are responding to continued cost pressures and what this means for retailers and brands.
The presentation showed that shoppers are not simply moving to cheaper products. Instead, they are weighing up price and quality, with Premium Private Label continuing to grow.
Although inflationary pressure has started to ease, shoppers remain careful about how and where they spend. Retailers therefore need to make value clear and relevant, while loyalty programmes, retention and larger baskets are becoming increasingly important.
Marcus also looked at how spending is moving between retailers, with Lidl continuing to attract the greatest share of net switching, while retailer loyalty is also changing across the market.
The presentation finished with a simple message: value matters, but quality still matters too. Brands remain important, while Premium Private Label is gaining ground as shoppers look for quality at a price they consider worthwhile.
How Haleon Derived Shopper Insights from an Omnichannel Media Campaign
Helen Beecher and Megan McElhinney, Tesco Media Ireland, presented a case study on Haleon’s Sensodyne Advanced White campaign and how retail media data can be used to understand shopper behaviour beyond campaign performance.
The campaign ran across 148 Tesco stores and combined online and in-store activity, including Store Within A Store, MOD takeovers, totem screens, brand banners, search banners and sponsored search. The aim was to support the launch of Advanced White while also growing the wider Sensodyne brand.
The campaign delivered 16% growth in Sensodyne brand sales, compared with 3% for the category. Brand units increased by 11% and brand customers by 9%.
The analysis also provided insight into who was buying. 69% of customers acquired during the campaign were new to the brand, while 60% of lapsed customers were won back. The campaign also encouraged shoppers to buy across the Sensodyne portfolio, with 17% switching from competitors.
The comparison between online and in-store performance was also interesting. While in-store remained important for scale, online category sales grew by 9%, compared with 2% in-store. Sensodyne performed well across both channels, growing 16% in-store and 13% online.
For Helen and Megan, the analysis showed that retail media measurement can do more than report campaign results. It can help brands understand where growth is coming from, who is being acquired, who is returning and what opportunities exist to retain those shoppers.
From Shopper Behaviour to Commercial Decisions
Across the presentations, the discussion highlighted the importance of understanding shoppers beyond the headline sales figures.
For retailers, this means paying attention to how consumers are balancing value and quality, where they are choosing to spend and what encourages them to return.
For brands, the Sensodyne case showed how campaign data can provide a better understanding of acquisition, switching, cross-buying and retention.
