Shopper Culture

Oh, And Buy The Way…

Yesterday after work I accidentally wandered into a boutique fashion store, Lavish & Squalor, in Toronto. Without any prior knowledge or anticipation (I did not pay attention to any signs outside), I was surprised when I walked upstairs to discover a cafe. Yes, a cafe in the middle of a fashion store, with bar seating and a few tables with black tablecloths. On the way out, I checked their signage. Subtle, but clear: espresso bar upstairs. 

Pretty cool. And then I started thinking about the kind of shopper are they trying to lure in. Do they want shoppers who will later tell their friends “I stopped by for a coffee, oh and by the way I got this $300 blazer, too”? Is it for the companions of actual shoppers? Either way, it was a pleasant surprise, a very comfy environment, and I might go back soon. Maybe just to chat with the bar staff, but I might happen to buy something along the way. Just “buy the way!”

If the Shopper Will Not Go to the Store, the Store Must Come to the Shopper

We all about know food trucks. Most of us have heard of grocery delivery trucks. But that is only the beginning. Imagine if a truck delivered…pretty much anything to your block! 

Feiyue is a French shoe company that is expanding globally. As a part of its expansion efforts in South Africa, Feiyue is taking its shoes to the streets of Johannesburg. Not only does the attractive appearance of the truck take you away and lure you into the store where you make an impulse purchase of a nice pair of shoes, but you can also schedule the truck to show up at your address, at home, at the park, or on campus! (Photos courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/feiyue.southafrica)

This trend goes beyond food, shoes, and goods in general. For example, there are beer canning trucks that will bring the canning equipment for your home-brewed beer. Others offer professional grade car-repair tools and equipment. The list goes on. Do you think the mobility, on-demand capacity, and flexibility paired together with the authentic and personal touch of the trucks will soon outpace online and big-box retailing?

Mini Cooper Stores Come To You

When it comes to cars, test drives are a key moment on the shopper’s path to purchase. They often compel shoppers to visit dealerships. Knowing that opening a new store in Paris would have been too expensive, Mini France recently launched a campaign promoting the opening of 10 new “Mini stores” in Paris. The whole idea sprung from a brilliant idea: “If you don’t go to the store, the store will come to you.” The company had 10 cars acting as scaled-down, mobile stores (each one with a salesman, brochures, and hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) driving around the city and enabling passers-by to enjoy a test drive and even purchase that car itself, if they wanted to. To top it all off, the places the cars were parked were immediately branded as Mini store locations.

Although the campaign was shortlisted for the 2012 Cannes Lions under the Branded Content and Entertainment category, it could have been considered as a shopper marketing campaign as well. There are many good ideas within this operation:

Target's New Shops

On Sunday, Target will launch the long-awaited The Shops at Target, the retailer’s latest installment of its design and limited-edition boutiques. But this time around, the retailer took a different approach. Rather than signing a big designer name like in past years (Zac Posen, Missoni, and Calypso St. Barths, to name a few), Target sought out unique specialty stores and boutiques from around the country.  Products from five different boutiques will be featured: The Candy Store (candy, out of San Fransicso), Cos Bar (makeup and skincare, out of Aspen), Polka Dog Bakery (pet items, out of Boston), Privet House (home goods, out of Connecticut), and The Webster (apparel, out of Miami). Each boutique has designed and curated a special selection of items that will be available online and in select stores.

Past design collections have sold out within hours of launching and have shut down the Target website. People are naturally reactive to scarcity. Retailers are tapping in to this human quality by providing limited-edition offerings to drive sales and seek out a point of differentiation in the market. It’s especially relevant among Millennials. Data from our latest issue of The Checkout® shows that Millennials are more likely to make impulse purchases to treat themselves. 

We’ve seen a few teaser ads for The Shops at Target, such as the video below, and some print ads to get shoppers excited for Sunday’s launch, but not much is being advertised in stores. A lot of the buzz about The Shops is online, from shoppers and fashion publications and blogs. Do you think Target’s new design project will be just as popular and successful as previous collections? Do you think they’ve done a good job of building anticipation among shoppers? 

 

 

Retailtainment in London’s Oxford Circus

While on holiday in London I had several to dos on my list, including a walk along the South Thames; a night at the theater; and most important, a trip to the Oxford Circus Topshop. I was excited to search for unique, European fashion but was surprised and excited to find more to consume my time.  It was a unique, full-service shopping experience that made me rethink what I want from my U.S. retailers - I want more retailtainment. 

At first glance, the Oxford Circus Topshop looks like any normal clothing store, offering accessories, shoes, and a range of clothing. But, as I ventured into the store, each level and department offered a service that made me wish I had two days rather than two hours in the store.

While looking for accessories I was distracted by the cupcake, candy, and frozen-yogurt stands. Downstairs, I was tempted to skip the shoe section to get my nails, brows, and hair done at the in-store salon stations. I then wished my smartphone worked abroad so I could download the SCVNGR app, which prompts shoppers to perform in-store challenges to earn points and rewards for Topshop goods. And just when I thought I might run out of steam midway through the store, I came across the café, which offered a spacious lounging area.  

Not only were these service offerings unique and new compared to my typical clothes-shopping experience, it was also hard to miss them.  They were sprinkled prominently throughout the store among the clothing and jewelry racks rather than tucked away in a corner, like the cafés at U.S. department stores. Their prominence made me consider the service and their aesthetic made them inviting and appealing.  

Topshop’s fun and inviting retailtainment made me not only spend more time in the store but spend more money.  I am not alone. Experian Simmons data indicates that over 65% of consumers indicate that a store’s environment affects whether they shop or not. Therefore, it is important that all types of retailers from grocers to hardware stores to boutiques consider how to woo their customers. Perhaps, offering a suite of in-store services is a means for today’s retailers to personally connect with shoppers and position themselves as a service provider and destination rather than a product-fulfillment center.

Millennials Go Mobile

There are more than 75 million Millennials in the U.S.¹, and, whether they’re graduating from high school or college, many are facing the challenges of adjusting to adulthood. For instance, learning to cook. In college, life is chaotic, and students look for quick and cheap meals. When they begin to find time for normal meals and a budget for groceries in postgrad life, they look for new food options. 

An important go-to tool for surviving these changes: mobile apps. Forty-one percent of Millennials own smartphones (according to Warc.com), making this fertile ground for brands and retailers to speak to this generation and reach them in transition. Back to the cooking conundrum—apps with recipes and cooking tips not only resonate but encourage the overlap of online and offline behavior. Before heading to the grocery store, many Millennials (myself included) look up recipes on mobile apps and use them to create shopping lists. My personal favorite is Epicurious^®. Though I don’t always stick to my list, I continue to reference my phone as I walk through the aisles of my local grocery store. Knowing that Millennials are mobile-dependent, I ask this question: Why aren’t more brands taking advantage of this space and catering to my subconscious need to make impulse purchases?

As the number of smartphone users continues to rise, and not just among Millennials, marketers must take notice that shoppers’ offline and online worlds coexist. For more about bridging the online and offline shopping gap, you can click here to download the Digitail^® edition of The Checkout.

-Contributed by Molly Paskal

¹ Iconoculture 2010, General Market Fast Facts

 

Falling for My Own Tricks

I was in Target the other day running errands when I found myself falling for one of my own tricks as a marketer. I must admit that a little piece of red POS influenced me to change my behavior. In the lotion aisle, I noticed that all the Aveeno products were tagged with an offer, “Buy 3, Get a $5 Target Gift Card.” Sold!

There are two reasons why I appreciated and ultimately was won over by this deal. First and foremost, it was simple. I didn’t have to read the fine print or hunt for products within a certain price range—absolutely anything with an Aveeno label would work. The second strength involves instant gratification. I knew that I would receive my gift card at the register—no need to fill out any forms or wait for the card to come in the mail. And apparently I’m not the only shopper who feels this way. According to a recent survey conducted by Integer of 300 21 to 34 year-olds, 55% would prefer to receive a small free gift inside the package as their top promotional pick, followed closely by coupons/discounts on another product at the store (54% agree). The numbers fall when prizing becomes less instant and more demanding of the shopper. Only 34% were most interested in “the chance to win a large prize.”

Maybe this has you asking, "what can we be doing to engage and reward our shoppers before they even leave the store?”  Kudos to Target for figuring this out and for giving me a reason so come back soon. It’s also a good reminder to me to first vet any new ideas with myself as a shopper, and wait to put on my marketing hat.

Products Most Likely Written on Shopping Lists Rather Than Brands

When creating a shopping list, more shoppers (81%) include the type of product, and not the brand, leaving the door open for brands and retailers to drive brand switching in-store via compelling marketing materials at-shelf. Respondents also report that their shopping lists also typically include the quantity needed (67%), but not details like the size of an item or its price. This may indicate that most price-based decisions (price and/or price-per-unit valuations) are being made at shelf. Because the majority of brand (66%) and unit size (73%) decisions are being made at shelf, there is a substantial opportunity for shopper marketing programs to persuade value-concerned shoppers to reconsider brand-name products and entice unit size trade-up in that location. This can be especially potent when considering that most name brands will be compared to their private-label counterpart a few inches away.

For more shopping list data and behavior, click here to download the The Checkout - Issue 4.10.

More Than Half Of All Grocery Shoppers Are List Free

Continued recessionary conditions have prompted savvy shoppers to develop various coping mechanisms to stretch the family budget. These new behaviors affect the way they become aware, research, plan, and ultimately shop for groceries and CPG products. Not surprisingly, these changes in behavior are largely focused in the Pre-TailTM phase of the shopping process. This month’s issue of The Checkout continues our examination of shoppers’ pre-planning behaviors and how they translate to in-store buying habits. This month we explore the shopping list.

 Penetration of the shopping list is fairly substantial, with 43% of general market shoppers reporting that they “always” rely on a shopping list. Still, more than half of consumers (57%) are shopping-list-free at least some of the time making impulse buying and in-store promotion a larger part of the buying decision. Though it’s good for shoppers, list usage can potentially have negative effects on retailers and brands by limiting time in store, reducing exposure to in-store marketing materials, the number of items in the basket per trip, and the number of shopping trips–especially the one-bag or impulse-trip types. However, some retailers, such as Whole Foods, have responded in clever ways by supporting shoppers’ use of lists via digital applications that provide recipe-driven ingredient lists, in-store specials, and coupon support, which serve to guide shoppers through the store and extend the amount of time they spend there.

Read more about shopping list behaviors in this month’s issue of The Checkout, click here to download.

Findings from NACS/Coca-Cola Convenience Store Pilot Test

 

The NACS/Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council's has released their findings from the latest convenience store pilot initiative. Testing supports the Shopper Hierarchy of Needs Model that was revealed last year which identified a shoppers' basic, fundamental, and emotional needs. The test aimed to further previous findings by testing solution-oriented merchandising fixtures designed to increase simplicity and ease of shopping to see if it, in turn, engaged shoppers and increased sales. The report reveals that:

• 78% of shoppers say they choose a c-store based on whether or not the store "always has what they need"
• Cravings drive impulse purchases
• Brand specific purchases can be influenced

To read more of the findings you may download the full report here. 

Chewing Gum: From Impulse Item To Oral Care

We all know chewing gum as an impulse item—inexpensive and positioned right at the cash register in supermarkets, convenience stores, gas stations, and drugstores. And since Wrigley's has launched its Extra Professional line, we all learned that consumers are willing to spend even more on a chewing gum that offers more benefits than just being sugar-free and promoting fresh breath. 

The medically oriented benefit of cleaning teeth, boosting re-mineralization of dental enamel, and reducing the risk of cavities has moved the brand closer to oral care, which is where a German drugstore chain (Budnikowsky) placed the main Wrigley's Extra Professional SKUs on shelf—right next to higher-priced toothpastes.

So the brand speaks to shoppers who take their oral care seriously and shows them that there is a product for when they are not able to brush their teeth after a meal. It represents a smart way of getting nonusers to try a product they might not have noticed it it got lost between flavored gums, sugar-free gums, chocolate bars, and candy at the regular impulse-item spot.

The oral-care segment and shelf space has been growing in Germany recently because consumers become more health-conscious and are more interested in oral care due to high self-coverage costs of medical care—Wrigley's and Budnikowsky are taking advantage of it.

- Contributed By Clarissa Dolff, Hamburg

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.

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.

Sampling By Surprise

As America pushes through tough economic times, companies are searching for interesting ways to promote their products and drive people to retail. One promotion method is sampling. Sampling has become very expensive but is key to marketers who are looking to maximize results. It’s one of the best  ways to generate trial and encourage purchase. Sampling provides the consumer with an immediate experience with the product. More and more, companies are aiming to get samples to consumers in unexpected places, a sampling-by-surprise approach. They aim to be unique and create brand recognition. Could this be a new way to disrupt and intrigue the audience?

A great example of sampling by surprise occurred recently with the premiere of the film “He’s Just Not That Into You.” Ginnifer Goodwin’s character is at the home of a guy she likes; she ends up getting 
nervous and walks into his bathroom. There, she finds and applies Crest® Whitestrips®. At the conclusion of the film, in five major markets, there were Crest brand reps standing at the exits handing out samples of Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal™. In all, they handed out 200,000 promotional cards, which consisted of upper and lower strips, a $10 coupon, and a funny message linked to the film, such as “Ensure he is into your smile.” The cards enabled people to try the new product for free and the coupons were a great way to drive customers to retail.

Lidl Britain

As we have recently opened an office in London, we hope to bring our readers some more frequent insight into the UK shopper. Currently though in the UK it is difficult to find good news stories in these recessionary times. Yet food and drink seem to be holding up well – particularly at the value end of the spectrum. The leading players Tesco and Sainsbury's have recently reported modest increases in sales and we have seen a big shift towards the discounters Aldi and Lidl who predominantly stock their own brands.  Sainsbury's alone reported a 40% rise in its Basics range over the holiday period and Tesco is trying to reinvent itself as Britain’s biggest discounter with the introduction of over 350 own brands in the last quarter alone.

 

However, at the other end of the spectrum luxury food retailer Marks and Spencer, which stocks exclusively own label products, recently announced the closure of 25 of its convenience Simply Food stores.

Of course this means that UK manufacturers will need to work harder than ever to maintain or grow share. The retail landscape has changed. Growth is coming from online channels where consumers are increasingly combining online tools such as www.mysupermarket.com, which allows you to compare the price of your shop in the UK’s leading retailers, with portfolio shopping (such as buying packaged goods from a discounter, but fresh produce from a traditional supermarket). P&G have obviously recognised the need to better understand this new landscape and recently announced a 1% stake in online retailer Ocado which will give them a unique insight into online shopping behaviour.

So what does this all mean for the UK shopper as budgets start to tighten? Price obviously takes on greater importance, but what of quality? What of brands? Are we just going to become complete bargain hunters? How will the notion of luxury in grocery shift? How do manufacturer brands change in the new landscape? And have your personal spending habits in the supermarket changed of late? Take our quick survey and let us know.

- Contributed by Ian Thomas