THOUGHT PIECE Written by Danielle Pinnington
Why Shopping One of the first things I learnt when moving from consumer to shopping insight was the need to really interrogate data. The days of a nice easy preference measure between the red pack and the blue pack, or 99p vs £1.09 were long gone. Instead I entered a minefield of trying to get under the skin of behaviour vs attitude, and when to spot habit as learnt behaviour vs a conscious decision on the part of the shopper. That is what has made this area of research so stimulating for us as researchers, but also so challenging for clients more familiar with consumer insight. And it’s a crucial issue today, because what happens in the store, or online is making the difference between successful and failed businesses. Consumers cannot consume or use what hasn’t been bought. So much time is spent exploring what consumers want or like, or don’t yet know they need, and so little time is spent really understanding the purchase journey.
What role does the category play in the household, so what mindset is the shopper in when buying in-store? Who is the category being purchased for, so what factors is the shopper keeping in mind, or how much control do they even have over the choice made at fixture? How long does shopper take to make their decision, or how much do they care about the category to invest Are they time in considering stocking up the options? or buying for a specific occasion?
Here are just some of the questions worth asking yourself to test how much you know about shopping habits in your categories:
14
WO Issue 31 | September 2018
Is it a destination category or a convenience?