NEW YORK: Kellogg, the food group, is planning to boost its expenditure on mobile in reflection of changing shopper habits.

Christian Thompson, the company's senior director/shopper insights, discussed this subject at the 2015 Market Research in the Mobile World conference in New York.

"First off, we're thinking about our investment in mobile," he reported. (For more, including further shopper insights, read Warc's exclusive report: Research leads Kellogg into a mobile future.)

With its research showing that wireless devices have an increasingly important role on the path to purchase, the owner of Fruit Loops, MorningStar Farms and Pringles is now adapting to the evolving consumer landscape.

"Today, we invest in some areas of mobile usage. But it [has been] pretty minimal," Thompson told the MRMW delegates.

"Now we're shifting our dollars, and our marketing dollars, over from the traditional-side of things – on the TV commercials, and the feel-good things about Fruit Loops, and all that good stuff – into mobile, but in a strategic way."

The company's spending priorities will incorporate, in the first instance, products that frequently prompt its clientele to "interact on mobile".

Similarly, the Battle Creek, Michigan-based firm will look to categories where significant numbers of customers are "willing to participate" in this way – examples of which include meat-replacement products.

Discovering the retailers that "play really well in the mobile shopping arena" has been another central element of the organisation's mobile-focused research.

Chains that provide free WiFi, for example, tend to see higher levels of in-store engagement than their counterparts failing to offer such a service.

Added Thompson, "We're going to shift those retail dollars over to that. Now, it's not going to be all of them. But it is a sizeable shift in our aspect when it comes to our dollars." 

Data sourced from Warc