We all know that decent briefs are essential to avoid the embarrassment of… misrepresentation (we’ll leave the image to your imagination). Well, so it is with shopper research. With the increasing focus on Shopper in the FMCG industry, here’s a what-you-need-to-know about briefing a shopper research project that will generate useful, commercially applicable results.
Before we have this discussion in depth, it’s worth a quick clarification about the difference between consumers and shoppers.
Shoppers generally need to be human (don’t laugh – pets are consumers but not shoppers!!), above 13 and may be buying for others or for themselves, for now or for later.
Consumers are the end users of the product that is shopped for. They may influence the shopper’s purchase decision, but so do many other factors. In some channels and situations, shopper and consumer are the same – like a person in a restaurant buying dinner for themselves. If they are shouting a partner, though, that partner is the consumer but not the shopper.
When it comes to research, there are also differences between consumer research and shopper research. It all starts with the objectives. Here’s an indicative list:
Typical research objectives: Consumer vs. Shopper
Consumer:
What they THINK in general:
- usage and attitudes
- who uses product
- what they think about it
- triggers and barriers to usage – product intrinsics
- sensory testing
- preference and substitution between brands and products
- in home, focus groups etc – usage situations
- claimed behaviour
Shopper:
What they DO in-store:
- buyer behaviour – in-store buying situations
- 5 Ws and 4 Hs of shopping: who, what, when, where, why, how, how much, how many, how long
- triggers and barriers to purchase – the role of the store and product presentation in-store
- accompanied shops, observations, exit/intercept interviews
- may include selective trade research for context (trade being retailers or relevant supply chain personnel)
- actual behaviour in-store
So, when briefing a shopper research project you need to understand what your research objectives are, and what outputs you expect from your research agency. Actually, let’s talk about what good briefs – even sexy briefs – look like, for shopper research projects.
Briefs need to be decent
Yes yes, but what makes a decent brief? Two things: clarity and specificity.
Before you even get to the research objectives, you need to be crystal clear on what the business issue is that you want the research to help solve.
Is your category in decline and you want to understand how shoppers are experiencing the category in store? Has your flagship product been outgunned by competitors and you want to understand what is contributing to shopper brand switch? Is your consumer brand recognition high but it’s not converting to sales in stores, and you want to know what the in-store factors are that are discouraging conversion? Be as specific as you can. ‘We need to know more about our shoppers’ is not a decent brief (!), and is unlikely to generate useful information because the net has been cast too wide. Nobody wants their briefs to be too wide, do they?
Clear research objectives are essential to a good brief. Things like ‘identify the shopper triggers and barriers at point of purchase in the nursing / feeding category in the specialty baby stores channel’. Know what shopper behaviour you want to look at, and where you want to look at it.
To really drill down to priorities, include in your brief what the top three questions are that you really must know, if the research cannot answer anything else. For example
- Are shoppers shopping your category differently in a supermarket versus a pharmacy, and if so, how (different shopping missions, movement in store etc.)?
- What is the shopper purchase decision hierarchy for your category (e.g. brand, flavour variant, pack size / format, price etc in what order of priority), and does it change from the supermarket to the pharmacy?
- Are shoppers noticing your point of purchase promotions, and if so, what impact are they having? Being clear on the top three things you need to know will help your agency design their methodology, questions and outputs so that you get the most useful information possible out of your research project.
The 5 Ws and 4 Hs are a useful checklist for your brief. You might outline your need to find out who the shoppers of your product are (and of the category more broadly), when they shop, where they shop, why (their missions and occasions), what they buy, how they move around the store and behave when making purchase decisions, how many they buy or how many shoppers there are in a trip, how long they spend in store (or in aisle, or in category) and how much price means to them versus other factors.
It’s also helpful to outline any burning needs or ‘deep dive’ type questions, such as to what extent certain product ingredients are influencing shopper decisions. That one could be addressed via shopper interviews and also observation of to what extent they are interacting with the pack and checking ingredients, for example. Or you might need to know more about the impact of green packaging and food miles, because it’s a growing issue – how does it translate to shoppers in stores?
Your brief should also outline the applications of the research – how the results will be used and what for, stakeholders, end audiences and users. Common uses are:
Marketing:
- pack strategy
- promotions development changes
- new product development opportunities
Activations:
- activations/sales driver mix focus: i.e. change from price to persuasion etc
- point of sale suite optimisation
Field Sales:
- picture of success development
- facts supporting specific sales drives
Key Customers:
- joint business planning
- joint customer initiatives
- support points for key programs
When it comes to your research sample, be as clear as possible with what you know about age, gender, geo-demographics and usage skews. Having said that, talk this through thoroughly with your agency because part of the project may actually be to determine how your shopper profile differs from your consumer profile, so superimposing your consumer research on to your shopper research project may just be counterproductive. Your agency will be in the best position to help you determine the most appropriate sample for your needs.
You also need to focus on which outlet types the research is to be conducted in, given your timeframes and budget. Your products may be distributed in supermarkets, service stations / convenience stores and pharmacies. Which do you want to focus on? And within that, which segments (if you have previously done a segmentation e.g. large footprint service stations that also contain a mini-mart – these are called ‘Dual’ by the industry).
Outline what information you already have, so the agency can go through it. Offer clear timeframes for the project, knowing the minimums (like eight weeks to get in-store research approvals from some major retailers). DO give a topline budget, at least to indicate scale. Shopper research can be $50K or $250K – don’t waste your own time and that of the agency having them scope out something for which you don’t have a budget.
So, to recap on what makes a good shopper research brief:
The sexy brief check list
- Specific business issue that needs help solving
- Clear research objectives
- Top three questions to be answered
- 5Ws and 4Hs
- Burning needs / deep dive questions
- Applications / uses of the research
- Sample
- Outlet types
- Information already available
- Timeframes
Budget
And if you’d prefer to have someone else develop the brief, thoroughly vet and project manage the research process for you, and draw commercial and strategic implications from it – call ShopAbility– that’s one of our services! Here endeth the brief self-promotion at the end of long and hopefully useful how-to article.
