Shopper Culture

Value Is in the Retailer

While I was recently on shopalongs spanning different CPG categories with female shoppers, there was one universal finding: value was associated with the retailer more than with the actual product. In marketing, value is defined as what you get for what you pay. However, when shopping certain categories, such as diapers or laundry detergent, many shoppers didn’t want to sacrifice performance to pay less. In those instances, it was all about where they chose to shop. They shopped at Target to feel good about receiving a free $5 Gift Card, or went to Walmart believing they’d find good prices on the brands they love, or bought their diapers from www.diapers.com to receive free shipping and five percent back. Value for these women was a product of the store and, therefore, factored less into their brand decision. It’s important for us to understand how different shoppers define value so we can overcome purchase barriers and effectively close the sale.  

Photo Source: www.allthingstarget.com

A New Way To Pay

RetailingToday.com has a quick report on the success of Walmart's Scan & Go service. 

Photo Source: RetailingToday.com

Acording to the report, Scan & Go was introduced in select stores last fall and "the service allows shoppers to use their iPhone as a scanning device with the ability to 'skip the checkout line' touted as the key shopper benefit. The intent is for shoppers to scan items as they are put in a bag or cart and then render payment at a self checkout station, avoiding the need to scan items at the self checkout or wait in a regular checkout lane."

RetailingToday.com goes on to say that "The concept must be attracting some interest as both displays at this store across from Walmart’s home office were nearly out of tear pads with instructions for using the service and reusable bags that sell for $4."

So that's either an indicator that the service is attracting a lot of attention from Shoppers, or that the display is attracting little attention from store employees to keep it well stocked. Which do you think it is? 

Shoppers Respond to QR Codes that Deliver Value

The first time I saw a QR code was on the corner of a Lion King poster in a New York City subway. Though I had no clue what it was, my friend eagerly whipped out her BlackBerry, ready to give her recently downloaded QR code reader a test drive.

QR Codes (short for Quick Response Codes) like the one I saw on the subway popped up everywhere in 2011, from subways to product packaging, magazines to department stores, and even on cookies. It was so popular that it seemed like brands slapped codes on everything without thinking about how it would be used and its value to the shopper. 

For example, Austin-based restaurant Juan in a Million sports a QR code on their dine-in menu. When scanned, the code takes you to a Google map of the restaurant’s location. How does this bring value to the customer if they’re already there? As awareness of QR Codes grew, I felt as though many brands were misusing them. I saw a QR code on a highway billboard once. How am I supposed to scan that at 65 mph? The many QR code failures frustrated me. However, one year later, I think that some brands are finally getting it right.