Shopper Culture

Can a Nudge Radically Change Shopping Behavior?

In this case, definitely. A professor at New Mexico State University ran a little 'behavioral economics' experiment at a local supermarket.

He placed a strip of tape across the middle of the grocery carts, and added a sign reading, "place fruits and vegetables in front of this sign, and other groceries behind it."

This simple nudge doubled the amount of produce people bought -- ten times more than any nutrition education did. Why? Because it established new social norms. People felt that it was now expected behavior that they'd buy that much produce. 

This kind of nudge is brilliant and confounding: it's remarkably effective, but it would never be discovered through surveys, interviews, or shop-alongs. How much do we know about how the brain works, how people work, how culture works?

The news story includes an interview with the NMSU professor who conducted the experiment.

What Motivates Shoppers during Back-to-School Shopping?

 
Enticing shoppers requires learning what motivates them when they’re Back-to-School shopping. This year, by no surprise, “lowest price” is the overwhelming driver, with 76 percent of shoppers placing importance on value. However, secondary drivers paint an interesting picture of the differentiating shopping experiences retailers and brands can offer. 55 percent of shoppers also placed importance on “finding quality products” and “spending least time shopping.” While price is clearly important, more than half of shoppers won’t sacrifice a certain amount of convenience in order to provide their children with high-quality products. How can brands and retailers use this knowledge to adjust the value proposition they offer during these high-stress shopping seasons?

For more Back-to-School data and behavior, click here to download the The Checkout - Issue 6.10.

Please. Touch.

Recent studies have shown that the sense of touch is closely linked to higher order perceptions of experience. In its simplest form, as we all know, a product or package that is pleasing to touch will likely have a positive correlation to purchase intent. New research, however, suggests the existence of a far deeper connection and, perhaps, a far greater opportunity for brands.

Consider:

• Test subjects who used heavier clipboards to rate hypothetical job candidates scored them as more serious about the jobs than those using lighter clipboards. 
• Test subjects seated on hard chairs for negotiations were less flexible than those who were seated on a cushion.
• Water sampled from a sturdier cup scored better on taste than the same water sampled from a flimsy cup.

So what does this mean in the context of in-store experience?

• In-store Demos - If you plan to demo that fancy new hand processor, you might consider investing in better plates for serving the samples.
• Merchandise - May be something as simple as branded grocery bags (that become heavy when filled) could help boost a brand's perceived weight/value. 
• Sales Environments - If you're selling cars, you might consider investing in cushier chairs. 

The simple reality appears to be that how we experience the things we touch goes far deeper than merely tactile aesthetic. 

Contributed by Ian Whitney, Paris

Foursquare ROI?

 Up to this point, FourSquare has been considered fertile territory with which only big name retailers (Starbucks, Ben and Jerry’s, etc) have started to partner, mostly stemming from the need to need to ‘be first’ in leveraging with this new technology.  

Many smaller-tiered brands are just now getting comfortable playing in the Facebook and Twitter platforms and haven’t established the same comfort level in tying into FourSquare – though the return might be greater. Whether it’s budget or merely the reluctance to take a risk with this new social media platform, all retailers are looking for security in investing marketing dollars into FourSquare.

Awareness, Inc. recently introduced a tool that could provide evidence of ROI opportunities. The site is Foursquare Perspectives and it allows venue owners (a brand’s bricks and mortar) to see how FourSquare users are interacting with their physical locations. Key stats include: 

·      Total venues, total check-ins, total unique visitors, and total Mayors

·      Breakdown of venues based on number of check-ins

·      Top Mayors across venues

·      Top Visitors by unique visitors and total check-ins

I see great potential for retailers here. This tool encourages the interaction between brands and their Foursquare-using customers by giving metrics beyond simple check-ins. What was once foreign territory is now a space where retailers can identify connections to brand zealots and usage and traffic insights– all valuable tools in developing communication. Both local and national brands can uncover unseen opportunities and recognize underutilized areas in which they can play. For niche brands like Anthropologie, learning that there are 7,800+ check-ins and 108 mayorships across 168 of your brands’ venues makes it hard to ignore the opportunity to communicate and reward these loyal shoppers.

 

What's Your Experience?

This is pervasive across the pages of Jim Joseph's new book The Experience Effect.  No matter where we are in the scheme of our marketing plan, this question is imperative to keep us grounded in where we're going.  In this straightforward read, he details each building block (yes, there is an order to the madness of marketing), one at a time, to bring your marketing plan to a triumphant crescendo.

Rookies and seasoned marketing professionals alike will find Joseph's book to be a simple and engaging read.  He explains concepts with agility and flair, often incorporating brand examples we know well, but adding a new twist.

The Importance Of Target's New Barcode Scanning Feature On The iPhone

Target recently added a barcode scanning feature to its existing iPhone app. The new feature allows shoppers to scan an item's barcode instore and instantly receive product reviews, ratings, and see the availability of that item on Target.com or at other Target locations. 

This is an interesting glimpse into the future of retail as the lines between online and offline shopping become blurred. Today's consumers have become accustomed to things like product comparisons, reviews, and ratings via online shopping. As consumers we are becoming less and less reliant on retail sales-people as a credible source for product information. We are looking more and more to our peers, who have had experiences with the products we seek to buy, to help us form our opinions and make purchase decisions.

Smart retailers understand that the future success of brick-and-mortar stores is going to rely on their ability  to adapt to these shifts in shopping behavior. With what may seem like a small addition to an existing app, Target has taken a big step forward in catering to this behavioral shift. 

What other retailers have you seen beginning to incorporate online shopping experiences at retail? 

 

Instant Feedback

On a recent trip to Key West, my husband and I ate at a lovely restaurant called Bagatelle. When we got the bill, my husband pointed out the scale at the bottom of the receipt where customers are asked to “rate your service today.”  

Being in shopper marketing, I immediately found this intriguing and thought it was a simple, clever way for the restaurant to get instant feedback.  After we left, my mind went to thinking about what they do with the information.  Do they compare the amount of the tip to the rate they receive? Do they have other questions like “rate your meal today” or “rate our décor today”?  And could there be other Post-Tail™ tactics that could be executed in the same fashion to build a rapport with the shopper? Interesting thoughts.  If you have observed a similar tactic or message, let us know about it. And if you are a merchant, I’d love to hear about how you use this information.

 

 

How do Mindsets Change During a Shopping Trip?

Where along a shopper's path should a kiosk like this one go?

Observational research shows that shoppers change their behaviors during a single shopping trip in some interesting ways:

1. As people spend more time in the store, they become more purposeful, less likely to explore, and more likely to grab their familiar products.

2. After getting "virtue" categories (essentials), shoppers are more likely to head over to locations that carry "vice" categories (indulgences).

So even in a single trip type or purchase occasion, shoppers can go through several mindsets. (These results are from analysis of PathTracker data of 1,200 completed shopping trips in supermarkets in the Eastern US.)

How might these behaviors impact your in-store strategies? Maybe a new product launch should be placed near the front of the shopper's path. Maybe candy and small cosmetics would do better near checkout than razors and dental floss. Maybe retailers should reconfigure stores to funnel shoppers towards virtues first and vices later.

And a kiosk like the one above?  Well, would you want to start surfing natural products when the frozen foods are melting in your cart?

If you're into hierarchical Bayesian models, read the full paper: Hui, Bradlow & Fader (2009) Journal of Consumer Research 36:479-493.

Introducing The Checkout 2010 Launch: Issue 1.10

 

The first Checkout of 2010 picks up where 2009 left off, and shows that private-label brands are continuing to gain strength over name brands. Is this a temporary reaction to recent economic pressures -- or the new reality? What factors are shoppers considering when choosing between name brands or store brands that ultimately lead to their decision? 

This issue's In Focus: Name Brands, tightening budgets, lowered consumer sentiment, and an unsure economic future -- to remain competitive in this challenging shopping environment, we discuss a number of tactics name brands can use to remain relevant. 

Click here to download the new issue of The Checkout and read more.  

 

When Does Your Consumer Become a Shopper?

When does your consumer become a shopper, and is that time frame changing and beginning to blur? When is the best time to strike with your marketing message? Has that timing changed? Is your organization adjusting and adapting to the new Web dynamic world we are all living in?

These questions came to mind as I watched a video a colleague passed along from Ad Age about Vail Resort's marketing strategy and how it has changed in response to their target's change in behavior. Click here to view the video.

In a nutshell, Vail learned that the window for planning a ski vacation had shifted from six months in advance to a time-crunched two-three weeks. Vacationers were no longer planning at a leisurely pace. Instead, they were condensing their time frames. The time it took from the moment they thought of taking a ski vacation, planned and booked it, to the moment they actually showed up with their skis in hand ready to tackle the mountain has gotten much shorter. That shift from six months to three weeks is now a much quicker journey through the Shopper Continuum™ from Pre-tail™ to Retail to Post-tail™.

As a result, Vail pulled a vast majority of their branding budget (mainly big, glossy magazine ads) and reallocated it to a dynamic-messaging strategy where they could use social-media outlets to craft more timely and relevant messaging to would-be vacationers. Did they shift their strategy from targeting consumers to targeting shoppers? I would argue that they did. They identified the most opportune time to hit their target with the right message at the right time - when they are in a shopper mindset. A would-be vacationer's shopping environment is the Web; that is Vail's storefront. Vail has appropriately shifted their marketing gears to take advantage of this change in behavior.

Will it pay off? Time will tell, but I would bet my new pair of K2s that it will.

Putting Enjoyment Back Into the Shopping Experience

“Shopping is getting much less fun” was one of the key points in Integer’s latest issue of The Checkout. While there are many things that contribute to and impact this overall feeling of shoppers, I am encouraged by seeing helpful, interactive, and fun tools that aid the shopping experience.

Here are a few recent examples.

Target’s Shoe-Sizing Floor Map.

Clorox’s Wipes placed next to shopping carts.

 
Minneapolis Intl. Airport’s Piano Player located in the middle of the airport’s major shopping area. 

The power of these helpful shopping tools lies in the fact that the tools represent an understanding of the mindset and struggles/pains/annoyances shoppers experience. Second, the tools positively improve the shopping experience and provide shoppers brief moments of enjoyment. These tools can be placed anywhere during the shopping experience (parking lot, aisles, checkouts, departments, etc.). Tools can be developed at a retail level (Target’s Shoe-Sizing Floor Map), a brand level (Clorox’s Wipes), or at a shopping facilitation level (airport, mall).

With such helpful tools now in the market, it makes we wonder: what else can improve the shopping experience? Which takes me right to the parking lot. Parking is one of my pet peeves. How could parking lots be improved to make parking and entering stores less stressful? Which brands or retailers would be the best to do and sponsor this?

Presentation from Spark 7, 'Turning Shoppers into Buyers'

A few weeks ago in Dublin, at Spark 7, 'Turning Shoppers into Buyers', Craig Elston from the Integer Group presented leading thinking on US Shopper Marketing. 

The presentation centered around four of Integer's Shopper Marketing Tenets.

1. Understand the audience
2. Create consistent, ongoing shopper dialogue
3. Deliver innovation at retail
4. Sell today, brand always

Click here to download the presentation.

Issue 5: The Checkout

The latest issue of the Checkout was released today, November 10, 2009. It features shoppers' attitudes for the holiday season, tools that retailers and manufacturers can use to win shoppers over, and a list of the top 5 "value brands" in the eyes of consumers. Finally we deconstruct what "value" actually means to shoppers. Click here do download Issue 5 of the Checkout.  

Revealing Nutritional Benefits

Trends toward improved health and wellness have prompted many to include nutritional benefits at the point of purchase. These efforts have been organized by CPG organizations and, in at least one case, mandated by local governments. While, on the surface, providing shoppers clarity regarding the nutritional benefits of foods would always seem beneficial, these efforts have been received with mixed reactions.

Just this month, several U.S. food manufacturers announced they were discontinuing their efforts on an industry-devised labeling campaign meant to spotlight the nutritional benefits of their products. Smart Choice labeling (the green checkmark on the front of many CPG packages) is being phased out. The move away from Smart Choice came after criticism from state and federal authorities that the labeling could mislead shoppers into thinking processed foods high in sugar were an adequate substitute for healthier foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables. 

At the same time ConAgra Foods, the company behind the Manwich brand, will tout the nutritional value of the meal's finishing sauce in a new advertising campaign. Company representative Becky Niiya revealed, "Our key learning's from consumer focus groups was that all moms were unaware of Manwich's nutritional value... the fact that Manwich has a full serving of vegetables in each serving was something we were keeping to ourselves and had never communicated to consumers before." It will be interesting to see if shoppers accept this idea and begin substituting sloppy joe's for carrots.

One success story in the area of nutritional clarity and resulting shifts in shopper purchasing toward healthier foods can be observed at New York City fast-food restaurants. Two years ago, the city mandated these restaurants post nutritional information on menus and a recent study has found evidence that it is changing consumers' habits. The study reported that customers purchased lower-calorie foods at 9 of the 13 restaurants surveyed. What learnings from these changes could be applied to packaging that would shift a shopper's purchase to a healthier choice?

- Contributed by Paul Ballew

Monitoring Social Media To Find Helpful Consumer Insights

The importance of listening to what consumers are saying about your company cannot be understated. A new field called Social Media Monitoring makes this process much easier to perform. And faster. Plus, you get to hear what consumers are saying to each other about your company - a lot more candidly than what you often get from the traditional survey or focus group. Many leading companies are using free and paid online services to help get ideas for future products and promotions, adjusting messaging, improve positioning against competitors, and measure the effectiveness of recent marketing campaigns. 

Read a recent article from the Denver Business Journal on the topic, written by Ken Barber, Integer's Director of Digital Marketing here.