RESEARCH
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Three Reasons to Study Shopper Behavior
Studying shopper behavior in stores has evolved into a sophisticated process. In recent years, several methods have been deployed to follow everyday shoppers as they roam the aisles. As well as recording general traffic patterns, these processes observe consumers selecting products off the shelf, interacting with displays, and otherwise engaging in the shopping process.
One method, for example, involves in-store measurement technology that automatically converts video into precise, statistical data on the shopping process for later analysis. Retailers and manufacturers would generally agree that such a process is cutting edge and interesting. But are there solid benefits that justify the effort and investment?
Here are three reasons why trading partners should study shopper behavior:
Gain Insights about Marketing and Merchandising
Retailers and manufacturers can gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace by mining actionable insights from the study of shopper behavior in the store. For example, helping retailers improve the store layout or helping manufacturers understand the impact of a secondary display or a change in packaging. Understanding these responses can help match the needs of target shoppers. Often even minor tweaks, such as moving a display by a few feet or adding new signage, can have a huge impact.
Analysis of shopper behavior can help validate strategies for product assortment, product placement and cross merchandising. Once the in-store behaviors and shopping patterns that trading partners want to encourage are defined, then next step is to identify those concepts that work and those that don’t. This allows them to pinpoint problem areas rather than making judgments based solely on sales performance. With this approach, trading partners can refine – rather than discard – initiatives that might only need slight modification to be successful.
Gain Insights about Store Environment
There is an obvious relationship between store layout and customer traffic and shopping patterns. Observing and then analyzing them can identify problems such as obstacles in the aisle that impede flow. It would be instructive to evaluate such changes the store environment in such areas as layout, lighting, signage, music, temperature and other elements that impact the in-store experience. Retailers can see the actual impact of these changes on in-store behaviors.
“Stores may be quite successful in engaging shoppers at different points of the trip, but not necessarily in converting them,” said Rajeev Sharma, Founder and CEO of VideoMining in State College, Pa. “There needs to be a focus on understanding purchase barriers and ways to overcome those barriers effectively, so stores can become more productive.”
Gain Insights about Brands and Categories
Crucial insight into how consumers actually shop with respect to specific brands or categories is valuable. This information enables brand researchers, marketers and managers to answer questions such as: How do consumers shop my brand? How do shoppers react to new products or packaging? What is the best placement for my brand? How do different segments shop my brand?
Manufacturers need to look beyond the brand to maximize growth. In addition to deep brand insights, observing and analyzing in-store behavior provides a firsthand look into how consumers shop the category as a whole. This focus on the broader category picture provides the answers to questions like: What is the ideal assortment and allocation? How effective are my shelf sets and promotions? Does shopping behavior vary by trip type and demographics? Is my category easy to shop?
Bottom line: One picture is worth a thousand words.
For more information, visit www.videomining.com, or contact Rajeev Sharma at rsharma@videomining.com and 1-800-898-9950.
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