Shopper Decisions Made In-Store by OgilvyAction
A new global shopper study, "Shopper Decisions Made In-Store" (SDMIS,) reveals what's truly happening in the world's retail shopping aisles.
Over 14,000 shopper interviews were conducted in 700 retail outlets across 24 markets globally. The OgilvyAction study spanned five retail channels across six product categories to examine how shopper decisions differ across shopping channels, product categories as well as brands, and how those decisions vary by country and shopper profile.
The widely quoted statistic "70 percent of shopper purchase decisions are made in store*" never went far enough to be very useful to marketers. What marketers really need is to understand the different kinds of decisions that shoppers are making, and then be able to generate insights that will help them develop smarter and more targeted programs to activate their brands in store.
The SDMIS study enables OgilvyAction to develop specific shopper insights for marketers whether they are targeting shoppers buying soft drinks from convenience stores in the United States, skin care products from pharmacies in London, coffee from supermarkets in Asia, or shampoo in Latin America.
Shoppers want to be engaged by Brands inside the store
Even when Shoppers have planned which category they will buy from, the decision on which Brand to buy is left until inside the store for 28% of shoppers. On top of this, a further 1 in 10 shoppers will switch Brands inside the store. Given how many different Brands exist on shelves in each category, Marketers must activate their Brands in-store or Shoppers will switch.
Building Brand equity through traditional out of store media is no doubt beneficial, but unless the Brand building & activation initiatives continue inside the store, many shoppers will stray and potentially never return.
The shopping basket will fill up, but only if it's easy for Shoppers to find the category
Despite most Shoppers claiming they know what they want to buy, surprisingly almost 20% impulsively buy in categories they had no intention to buy from before entering the store.
A quarter of these Shoppers noticed the category they impulsively bought from featured on a display, when deciding to buy. Of concern though is that 10% of Shoppers who have every intention of buying will leave the category empty handed.
This means that the in-store environment is highly lucrative to attract Shoppers when they are in-store & ready to spend, but if it's too hard to find what they're looking for, many Shoppers will simply walk away.
Engaging Shoppers with the human touch inside the store weighs heavily with Shoppers looking for help on what brand to choose
1 in 3 shoppers recall being recommended to a product by in-store staff or sampling from a demonstration when they were deciding which brand to buy.
People sell brands. In-store staff can act as powerful brand ambassadors to help the brand make it into the shopper's basket, but only if they know what to say & how to engage a shopper in need.
What works in China won't work in Germany- Shoppers behave differently inside the store in every country
Shoppers in China decide what category to buy from, which brand to choose and how much they will buy inside the store 88% of the time, but in Germany that number plummets to 38%.
No two countries are exactly alike. So when it comes to marketing to a Shopper, Marketers can think globally, but always need to act locally, armed with local expertise on how best to engage the Shopper in each country.
Just as every category has a different role for Shoppers; Shoppers make different decisions by category when deciding what to buy
Shoppers know they're thirsty, but when it comes to buying soft drinks or beer they make more decisions inside the store than any other category we studied. Almost 60% of Shoppers decide in-store what brand & how much to buy from these categories.
Skin Care & Shampoo Shoppers buy into the category impulsively more than any other globally. 1 in 4 Shoppers decide to buy once they are inside the store.
Beauty is no longer just about women inside the store either. In the U.S., just as many men impulsively buy from the category inside the store as do women.
When it comes to the myriad of categories Shoppers can choose from inside the store, Marketers must understand how Shoppers are deciding what to buy so they can invest in the smartest activation programs. This could mean making the category easier to find with displays & promotions or making it simpler to navigate the fixture with imagery & colors to segment products and brands.
One size does not fit all, so when it comes to the decisions Shoppers are making between channels, Brands must differentiate or they will demise
Shoppers are more impulsive in Hypermarkets (Mass Merchants) than in any other channel driven by the breadth and depth of products carried. As much as 50% of Shoppers buy more than they had planned before entering the store.
When it comes to Drug Stores and Pharmacies where the depth of products carried is more limited, Shoppers still happily buy from categories they had no intention of buying from before entering the store, almost 33% of Shoppers in fact.
Shoppers decide what to buy differently depending on the channel where they are shopping. Brands need to differentiate how they market in each channel to influence the Shopper's behavior. This might mean different pack formats for different channels to suit how products are being consumed or different touch points like promotions or demonstrations to stimulate impulse buying.