Business Tip 22
Turning Passive Consumers into Active Shoppers Through Shopper Insights

What is a Consumer? What is a Shopper?

In the vocabularies of retailers and manufacturers, the words “consumer” and “shopper” are nearly interchangeable.  Besides semantics, gaping differences exist between the behaviors and attitudes of consumers and shoppers.  Consumers are seen as simple, passive recipients of advertising where shoppers are active agents of purchasing decisions. Advertising, promotions and marketing campaigns have focused on engaging consumers outside of the store prompting them to shop, but what happens once they are in-store?  With nearly 70% of all purchase decisions made in store, manufacturers and retailers are shifting an eye towards the shopper who is actively engaged and ready to purchase. 

Shopping decisions are often made in a matter of seconds, making the shopper journey complex to understand.  Shopper insights move beyond basic demographic attributes such as gender, age, socioeconomic status and ethnicity to understand the needs, motivations and goals behind a shopper purchase.  Manufacturers and retailers also need to embrace the intricacies of dealing with both framework and business changes to accommodate new insights on shopper behavior. Once these insights are generated, what do you do with them exactly?

Analyze and Synthesize

Shopper insights data is robust and can tell multiple stories, however, manufacturers must understand which story lines apply best to their individual retailers.  For example, assume a retailer is looking for a new convincing planogram layout that will drive sales for the category.  With shopper insights data, a manufacturer could persuade the retailer to implement a new planogram layout organized by different need states of shoppers. Relying on attitudinal segmentations allows manufacturers to understand shoppers while at the same time providing them a customized shopping experience that is profitable for both the manufacturer and the retailer.

"Wow" the Retailer

Having shopper insight data is valuable, but what good is the data if it is not presented to the retailer correctly? Instead of relying on standard charts and graphs, work with technologies that engage viewers, like XP3 from Interactive Edge.  With XP3 Presentation Viewer, manufacturers keep retailers engaged by drilling down directly into slides to showcase different views of the data quickly and efficiently.  Tools such as XP3 allow the data to speak for itself while at the same time enhancing your position as a value added partner to the retailer.

Actively Apply Insights

After shopper data is collected, analyzed and presented to the retailer, the bottom line becomes the application of these insights in the real world.  Interactive elements such as in-store promotions, end-caps, product testing and coupons become in-store staples based on the knowledge that most shopper decisions are made at the shelf.  Not only do these strategies capture the interest of a shopper with a short attention span, they simplify decisions while bringing aisles to life to create a stronger retail experience.

The End Result: Shoppers Engaged in a Meaningful Retail Experience

Active engagement in-store means manufacturers are able to tell the story of a brand while pushing shoppers to place more items in their cart, creating a win-win for both manufacturers and retailers.  Shoppers may be complex to understand at first, but developments in shopper insights and the collaboration between manufacturers and retailers are establishing easily identifiable and actionable characteristics of shoppers. In the end, connecting with the shopper and understanding their needs and motivations builds brands and shopping environments that are distinctively different and engaging. As many successful brands and retailers have shown, once you make the shopper the priority, everyone wins.