Retail World Jan 19 Edition – by Norrelle Goldring, Director, ShopAbility
How to ensure your shopper research projects are mined for maximum actions and shopper impact.
In a retail environment where most of the easy wins are long gone, suppliers are increasingly turning to shopper insights to earn credibility with retailers and stay ahead of the competition.
But just crying ‘We need shopper insights!’, without knowing which ones you need, or what you’ll do with them, could mean your several hundred thousand dollar research project just sits on the shelf.
So how do you optimise shopper research for maximum application, rather than just keep up with the Joneses? Here are some tips for getting traction within your organisation, with shoppers and with retailers.
PART A: DOING THE RIGHT RESEARCH
- Know what problem you’re trying to solve
What are the business objectives the research will help answer ?
For example, are you losing share and want to understand why? Do you want to demonstrate category leadership with customers? Do you want to minimise the risks of a pack change? Are you spending too much on POS and want to cut back by focusing on just the key pieces?
List the main reasons why you are conducting the research. - Determine whether the research is generic or specific
Generic shopper research is fine to get a base level of understanding of how a category or channel works and is shopped, to identify major opportunities and executional elements, and to showcase knowledge with customers.
Generic shopper research covers what we call the ‘ 5Ws and 5Hs’ (who, what, when, where, why, how, how much, how many, how often, how long). It also covers things like degree of purchase planning, major occasions shopped for, the purchase decision hierarchy, and key missions (shopping trip types).
Specific research answers specific problems and questions. Eg:- What are the maximum prices we can charge before we lose sales? (price optimization/sensitivity monitor)
- What is the optimum pack mix for this channel (occasion/brand/pack/channel study)
- Where should we be putting displays instore for best shopper offtake, and what should go on them? (shopper movement tracking).
Specific research should also cover the 5Ws and 5Hs at a baseline level, for context.
- Match the methodology to the problem and research type
For shopper research to be robust, it doesn’t have to have a sample size of thousands.
If it’s exploratory – understanding how shoppers think – it’s more likely to be qualitative, eg focus groups (claimed behaviour) and accompanied shops/channel immersions, as well as online diaries and surveys.
If it’s behavioural (shopper movement and tracking etc) it’s more likely to involve instore intercepts, observations, and maybe video or eye tracking.Shopper research can be conducted both instore and out of store for a holistic view. Eg consumption profiles can be captured on-line, where instore communications and location require instore/in situ approaches.
The methodology will change according to the type of insights required. - Know what you will do with the results
Specify in the brief what will be done with the research and how it will be applied. Eg, will it be used to devise new shelf layouts and planograms? Adjust pricing strategy? Change your POS materials? Determine where you should put displays? Change your packaging? - Write a specific brief
The more thorough and specific the brief, the more applicable the results. A format we find works well is the following ‘funnel’:- Business objective (problem to solve/opportunity to leverage)
- Research objectives (main things to find out)
- Research questions (detailed questions)
- How it will be used/applied
- Timing and budget
- Any preferences for methodology and sample size
- Key stakeholders (internal and external).
When writing the brief it’s best to start with the business objective and the applications of the research outputs. The research objectives and research questions should then become apparent.
- Don’t forget about the trade
Not only should you run the brief past the customer upfront for their inputs and best engagement at the results presentation, you’ll be needing their permission for the instore components of the field research.
Good shopper research also often involves trade research: trade observations of shoppers, the category, the channel, and their motivations, barriers and minimum entry/play requirements.The trade provide a sense check on what the go to market realities are, irrespective of what shopper utopia might be. The earlier you engage them, the better traction with results you’ll get. - Stay involved during the research fieldwork
At risk of becoming a thorn in your research agency’s side, at a minimum you should review and feedback on, at each stage of the project:- Recommended samples
- Interview and discussion guides
- Survey questionnaires
- Feedback should be based on the brief
Do the discussion guides and survey questionnaires cover what was asked in the brief? Will they answer the main business and research objectives?It’s also a good idea to attend focus groups (as an unseen, unobtrusive observer) and where possible the instore research. This is for quality control – you can not only gain first hand insight into whether the research is delivering what you need (and adjust accordingly), it’s also a way to keep tabs on the quality of the field personnel the agency are using (and thus the likely quality of the end result).
PART B: YOU’VE GOT THE RESULTS BACK, NOW WHAT?
Has the brief been answered?
Vet the initial results presentation before it goes to a wider audience. Cross check it against the brief. Have the business objectives and research objectives been answered?
What are the main implications of the research – what are the opportunities and ‘do differentlys’ ? What needs to change as a result of the research? What are the applications (see below)?
How will the results be applied?
Not every slide from the results deck will have an implication or application, but most should. Here is a starter list (not exhaustive) of the main research components and their applications.
| Info/Insight type | Common Applications |
| Who
(shopper types) |
Marketing to specific target audiences (consumer and shopper segments and clusters, per category and category segment) |
| Why
(missions, occasions, motivations) |
Occasion based marketing – messaging, bundled offers, gifts with purchase etc
New products and packs to suit specific occasions Role of specific category segments and product types Role of price promotion and consumer promotion in sale conversion |
| When
(they shop, how this varies) |
Daypart marketing – time of day and day of week tailored ranging, offers, and specials |
| Where
(they go, look, select from – ‘spaghetti’ movement tracking maps) |
Where to put displays (and where not to – ‘dead zones’) |
| How
(they shop – speed, ‘mode’, what impacts them and what doesn’t) |
Roles of each part of the store in influencing purchase (path to purchase) – what should go where and how it should be messaged |
| What and How Many (basket items/AWOP, what they also bought) | Category definition and segmentation – what’s in the category, what the obvious product groups are
Product portfolio gaps based on category segmentation Increases required in number of items purchased Bundles – most commonly combined items |
| How much (spend levels, what drives it) | Spend increase opportunities cross-retailer and cross-channel segment
Trade up opportunities based on pack size/format |
| Purchase decision hierarchy | Ranging
Pack strategy Price and promotion strategy (role of price) |
Getting internal understanding of the results and implications
The best way to do this is to run a series of workshops with various functional teams. The implications and applications of the research will differ slightly for each of:
- Sales
- Marketing
- Trade marketing/activation/category
- Customer.
There may also be some broader business implications (eg supply chain) come out of it. For this reason you should do an initial topline presentation to the senior team before cascading it down into the functional workshops.
The purpose of the workshops is not just to present the information but to capture and workshop the implications. You can either do this during the presentation, or run a separate workshop (or both).
The implications (and applications/activities arising) need to be both prioritised and have people/departments (and ideally timeframes) allocated against them.
Once there is an internal view of all of the implications, THEN the research should be shared with the customer.
Wrapping up
Provide the research agency with feedback. The agency will require two types of feedback:
a) Any further data mining and interrogation required as a result of the workshops
b) How the entire project went. What worked, what didn’t, what to do differently next time. This should be a two-way feedback session so they can tell you how the process can be made better from their point of view.
After the workshops and implications prioritizing has been completed, do a cut-down version of the results and implications presentation decks and put them somewhere that everyone can access them (eg intranet). The more people have access to your research, the more engaged they will be and the more it will be used.
ShopAbility has a major shopper field research division available for qual and quant shopper studies. Call Troy on 0416 270 812 or Norrelle on 0411 735 190, or email enquiries@sh-opportunity.com.au if you’d like an analysis or discussion of your shopper research needs.
