Shopper Culture

Myth or Truth? Don’t Grocery Shop on an Empty Stomach

With the proliferate amount of weight loss advice circulating in the media today it can be confusing for shoppers to know what to believe. “Don’t skip meals!”, “Hunger may actually be thirst!”, “Don’t grocery shop on an empty stomach!” — we often hear these age-old pieces of advice, but are any of them actually true?

Two researchers at Cornell University decided to put the old adage “don’t grocery shop on an empty stomach” to the test. They wanted to know, is it actually detrimental to those looking to cut calories and loose weight?

They conducted a study with two different shopper groups, one group had not eaten for five hours and the other group ate a snack right before grocery shopping. They found that both groups bought a comparable quantity of groceries, however those who shopped while hungry did indeed pick more high-calorie foods. This helps explain the compulsion we often have around the checkout section of the store. At the end of our shopping trip we are at our weakest (tired and hungry) and have one more chance to reach for a calorie dense, pick-me-up snack such as candy or soda. Even if you have a shopping list to help keep your trip on task, chances are you will deviate from it to satisfy your rumbling stomach. 

Article Source: New York Times 

Photo Source: ABC News 

 

Bourjois Opens Its First Flagship Store In Paris

After a first attempt to install a pop-up store at the Galeries Lafayette last year, Bourjois will open its first flagship store in Paris. The store will introduce a critical turning point for the brand’s brick and mortar strategy, for it will be the very first shop owned by the makeup and beauty brand since 1923. Bourjois is thus moving from a strictly B2B2C model to a direct-to-consumer model, which will enable the retailer to showcase its whole range of products and services and freely highlight its brand equities.

Built in an all pink and bright boudoir-chic atmosphere, the shop’s layout will leverage the Parisian brand personality and offer new services such as the Bourjois Jolie Room, dedicated to eye makeup and manicures, and the nail bar, which offers cheap and colorful samples of nail polish. The store is a smart way to celebrate 150 years of expertise in the world of beauty. 

Contributed by Integer Paris

New Shopper Insights for Download: Integer's Latest Conference Presentations

Hungry for some fresh insights about the current state of shopping? Download the latest presentations Integer has shared with the industry including:

• P2P Institute: Are We Still Shopping Smart Post-Recession?
• POPAI: Shopper Pulse
• P2P Institute: Shopping Perspectives on Health and Wellness
• IIR Shopper Insights In Action: The Emotional Shopper Journey: How Research on Shoppers' Feelings Enables You to Understand and Influence Their Behavior

Or click here to check out other presentations.

Tesco Recaptures the Shopper's Imagination

Tesco’s rise to preeminence in the UK occurred on a wave of innovation, both in products offered to customers and in customer service. Recent years have brought global expansion for the retailer, the development of its own label, and laterally venture brands, alongside the continued quest for outstanding value dominating the Tesco agenda. The shoppers’ in store experience began to take more of a supporting role.

Tesco recently announced its likely departure from the U.S. with the sale or closing of the Fresh and Easy banner. This announcement coincides with a greater focus on what the retailer does best, with 2012 bringing in-store revamps to UK Tesco stores that shoppers deserve. The best example we’ve seen of this is in Bracknell, Berkshire, where we get a glimpse of what the UK supermarket experience of tomorrow could look and feel like. Here are five things that caught the eye of Integer London.

Natural Brands Take Off in Asia, But Not Without Retail Challenges

At most U.S. and European grocery and drugstores, it’s easy to find at least an aisle or two devoted to organic and natural products like soy candles and organic body lotions. Asia was perhaps a bit slower to jump on the bandwagon, but. these days, the Asian market for natural and organic personal care products is growing—by more than 15% a year, in fact.

Few Asian companies appear to be capitalizing on shopper demand and are facing hurdles such as lack of standardization and high certification costs (to be able to claim a product is organic, for example). Conversely, American, Australian, and European brands have established credibility and are moving into the Asia market. But they are learning firsthand the challenges of playing in emerging retail markets. 

To start, a diverse retail environment and the prevalence of traditional channels such as markets and bodega-like storefronts complicate the distribution process. As a result, many natural brands are finding the best solution to be “going it alone,” and are opening their own concept stores where Asian shoppers can truly experience and learn about the brands and products. 

Open Sell, A New Trend in Retailing

Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Clinique, a top cosmetics brand, has revised its in-store selling strategy. The brand changed from a high-service, pressure-selling approach to a softer, hands-on approach that lets the shopper play. This new type of shopping environment is known as an “open-sell” environment. This approach was made popular by Sephora, the specialty beauty chain whose hands-on product displays attract a lot of shoppers seeking experiential play with products. Clinique now displays its products in open shelves and drawers for people to interact with rather than being stocked behind the counter. This allows shoppers to easily pick products up, sample, and help themselves. 

Having a Go at Winning London 2012 Olympic Games Tickets

With the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies just around the corner, a few of us at the newly opened Integer London office thought we would have a go trying to win some tickets from two of the official sponsors.

The Checkout: Mobile Shopping Behaviors

Shoppers in the US have evolved significantly in the past few years in the realm of digital shopping tools. So much so, that the term "The Digital Shopper" has effectively lost meaning as about half of all shoppers in the country have adopted some type of digital behavior to aid in their shopping.  As many of the tools in this space are related to the boom in smart phones, mobile shopping tools are of special interest.

In this issue we take a look at many aspects of mobile and other digital shopping behaviors across different shopper segments to understand which shoppers are adopting what tools and how they are using them. What are the differences and similarities across gender or cultures and what is the impact of children in the household?

For example:

• Almost as many shoppers are using coupons from email and enewsletters (49%) as they are clipping them from the Sunday paper (57%).
• Men might be the traditional lovers of tech toys, but in using technology to enhance shopping, women are ahead of the curve.
• Having children in the household drives accelerated adoption of digital technologies to deliver shopping solutions.
• African-American and Hispanic shoppers adopt new shopping technologies at a faster rate than Caucasians do.

Click here to download the Mobile Shopping Behaviors Issue of The Checkout.

In Booming Skin-Care Market, Korea Takes a Unique Approach

Skin-care is a booming market all across Asia, but nowhere more so than in Korea, where female beauty regimens on average include as many as 18 different products. This focus—or perhaps obsession—with flawless skin dates back to royal aspirations of yore, according to Dr. Seung Yoon Celine Lee, a dermatologist based in Seoul. “Bright skin meant that you came from a noble family. The concept carries on,” she explains.

Korean manufacturers respond to this demand, and as a result, the rest of the world has begun to look to Korea for skin-care trends and technologies. “They're [South Korea] about 12 years ahead of the States in terms of technology,” said Mary Schook, New York-based owner of M.S. Apothecary.

On a recent visit to Korea, we noticed an interesting category trend: brands using male celebrities and models in female skin-care retail communication, even packaging. Additionally, we observed that the salespeople employed by these brands were often male. Certainly it’s feasible that male celebrities are being used in skin-care communication simply because they have great skin, but we suspect brands and retailers might be employing some different strategies to motivate their female shoppers. And, seeing as Korea is the top market for men’s skin-care, there is a good chance that these brands might be looking to appeal to male shoppers as well.

Contributed by Integer Singapore

 

Why Not Top Ten Cheeses?

Most aisles in the supermarket are sorted by brand (pasta in columns), size (jugs of vinegar on the bottom), or price (“top shelf”wine). Usually there’s only one shelf in the entire store that’s sorted by product popularity: books (like this shelf at King Soopers in Denver).

Research by Duncan Watts, Robert Cialdini, and many others shows that humans instinctively look to what others do to help guide their choices. If it’s the top-selling shampoo, that’s “social proof” that it must be the best shampoo.

In fact, nowadays, everyone is used to being able to “sort by popularity” or rating or price—online. But there’s only one retailer that’s taken this social proof concept to heart: ranKing ranQueen in Tokyo.

They carry only the top five or ten most popular items in a given category: CDs, books, noodles, cell phones, green tea, pasta sauce, bath soap, mascara.

Why don't more brick-and-mortar stores adopt this habit? If stores must carry a wide selection (have you seen the hot-sauce shelf lately?), at least they could feature the top three or five products. It would guide shopper decisions, relieve choice anxiety, and drive sales.

ranKing ranQeen Picture Source: New Gabriel Times

The Checkout: New Year's Resolution 2011

Year after year, as shoppers begin to prepare for the new year, brands and retailers flood the scene with resolution-themed marketing and promotions. But how do resolutions affect shopping behavior? This issue of The Checkout explores who will make resolutions, what type of resolutions they will make, and how they shop in pursuit of their goals. 

• A majority of shoppers will make a New Year’s resolution as they see the new year as a time to concentrate on their health and wellness goals.
• Top trends for resolutions are similar among men and women, but do they result in similar behaviors?
• With resolutions primarily focused on leading a healthier lifestyle, do shoppers develop new habits during resolution season?

Please click here to download The Checkout - 2011 New Year's Resolution issue.

Turning Subways into Stores

In August, Tesco pioneered the use of subway platforms as virtual stores in Seoul (partly because they ran out of real estate for new stores). Chinese online supermarket Yihodian.com then installed walls in 15 subway stations in Shanghai. P&G launched a similar system in Prague with Mall.cz, the Czech Republic's largest e-tailer.

Now Sears is launching holiday toy walls in airports, movie theaters, and bus stations in the US.

One implication is that any 2D surface (outdoor, wild posting, ambient, print) can become a storefront. There's a new choice in these spaces: advertise or merchandise?

But these programs also reveal something about how humans work. Why doesn't Tesco just use that wall to say, "Shop thousands of products, right this minute, right on your phone"? Why the need to choose 200 or so SKUs and post life-size 2D depictions of them on the walls? 

Our brains need familiar schema, comfortable metaphors, and visual stimuli to spur action. It's why the email symbol is still an envelope, and why 'the red carpet' means star treatment, even if it's two meters long and not very different from the regular passenger boarding lane at Gate A18.

Tales From Russia - First Moment of Truth

In the emerging market of Russia, we learned that in shopper marketing, the first moment of truth is one of the most important steps in a consumer’s path to purchase. After interviewing several consumers in their homes and doing shop-a-longs, we observed an underdeveloped stage of above-the-line media when it comes to household needs and health/beauty products. TV, current print, and other media outlets we are accustomed to are not a highly consumed media in the everyday life of people living in Moscow. So how do they find new products outside of friend and family recommendations? They rely on in-store marketing. The moment when a consumer turns into a shopper.

Want to learn how merchandising plays a role in product selection and choice in Russia? Want to know what in-store tools and promotions work best in emerging markets? Want to learn the Integer approach to shopper marketing in the global market?

Click here to download the Tales From Russia study.

-Contributed by Stephen Moon

 

 

Tales from Russia - Pride and Consumption

There it was, the new fragrence by Dior^® seen everywhere on the streets, in magazines, and plastered on the side of buildings. It was displayed proudly on the living-room armoire. Still in its box, it sat there like a beaming gold status symbol for anyone entering the room to see. While in Moscow, we visited a woman who took great pride in everything she purchased. From a store full of cosmetics stored in the refrigerator and drawers, to a lineup of body care displayed in the entry way, to that bottle of fragrance proudly sitting in the living room, she took great pride in the items she purchased and wanted the world to see them. This woman, like many others we visited, related products and name brands to social status. Much like her desire to have a larger home, move to a more affluent part of the city, and entertain more friends, she related health and beauty products to being successful and took great pride in her accomplishments.

How can everyday brands use marketing and branding along with packaging that elevates the product to being displayed on the living-room shelf? Beyond the transaction and usage, what other factors are playing a major role in emerging-markets consumption behaviors?

Click here to download the Tales From Russia study.

-Contributed by Stephen Moon

 

Tales From Russia - Product Benefit vs. Product Performance

“3X more cleaning power than the next leading detergent”. “3 blades”. “5 blades”. “Most technologically advanced”. These are all claims anyone in shopper marketing is accustomed to seeing. Product performance. As marketers we are grounded in understanding the technology that goes into new products and telling consumers why our shiny, new toy is better than their old one. For years we have believed that technology and product enhancements will win the hearts and wallets of consumers around the world. However, while recently spending time in the emerging market of Russia, we were alarmingly told otherwise. After spending several days with consumers in their homes and on their shopping trips, we quickly learned that product performance is not enough. What will 3X more cleaning ingredients do for me? What will extra blades on my razor do that my two blade disposable won’t? In a market that does not have a history of product innovation, people have no performance benefits to compare new technology with. So how do Western innovative brands overcome this lack of performance benefit? How do we communicate the benefit of our product through performance claims? 

Click here to download the Tales From Russia study.

-Contributed by Stephen Moon