Key insights about the in-store & out-of-
store shopping behavior.
From Shopper Marketing 3.0 Study by GMA, Shespeaks & Booz & Co.
February 3, 2010
In a price sensitive environment, most shoppers prefer
a better brand to a better price
Price is a clear winner here. But in an environment where price is the important battleground,
Shoppers use coupons or price promotions to justify buying the brands they want rather than as
the key factor driving their decision making.
Price is the most important factor in selecting a
particular retail location
Shoppers are using their pre-shop research to decide which stores they visit that week, in addition
to what they will buy within categories. Although price is the most critical factor in store selection,
brand assortment also plays a key role for many shoppers.
More than 40% of shoppers make their brand buying
decisions before they get to the store
Shoppers are spending more time preparing for their shopping trips, making more than 40% of their brand buying decisions before they get to the store. Also, research in grocery category is more focused on finding the best price as opposed to learning more about product. Respondents in the shopper study described this research as “hunting for deals”, which is focused primarily on circulars and coupons in print media.
41%
59%
On average
Majority of
shoppers
enter stores
without
detailed
shopping lists
Almost all shoppers plan their purchases before they enter the store. Most shoppers have only rough or mental lists that are just indicative of a broader consideration set in mind and they finalize brand selection in the store.
Majority of shoppers spend 1 to 2 hours each week
searching for coupons & other price-related deals
3 hrs A smaller set of shoppers spend 3 hours or more each week to search for price-related deals.
Female Female shoppers conduct substantially more research than male shoppers.
86% Female shoppers conduct research versus 47% of male shoppers
Long-standing
brand
preferences
are the most
important
influencing
factor in
determining
the shopping
list Shoppers typically have pre-established brand consideration sets in
mind that become a key element in their choices at the shelf. These
preferences are built up over time through a broad set of touch points,
including media content, advertising, recommendations from friends
and family, the retail experience, and the product experience itself.
Shoppers
becoming
increasingly
digital
Shoppers use both online and offline to search for deals. Increasingly
shoppers have started using coupons. The out-of-store factors that
influence shoppers’ list-making selection also clearly indicate their
growing use of digital media. Online coupons, websites, blogs, e-
newsletters, online ads & social media were all citied as influential
factors in the study.
“For most in-store stimuli, shopper marketers have less than 10 seconds to break through the clutter and deliver the right equity measures close to the point of sale.”
Shopping list versus actual purchase, by category
As we can see, nearly two-third of the shoppers purchase exactly the same or fairly similar items
from their shopping list. However, approximately one-third of the respondents actually purchased
less than one half of the items on their lists. This proves that although the overwhelming majority of
shoppers are entering the stores with some sort of list, their lists are surprisingly malleable and
open to influence.
Beyond price,
other
influential in-
store drivers
of purchaseThe relative importance of in-store marketing is getting beyond price
and closing the deal for brands which shoppers have not yet made up
their minds varies by product category.
The study also revealed that even though shoppers’ shopping lists
often include only the category, they already have a brand in mind
when they enter the store. If that brand can meet their expectations or
no other brand captures their attention… they will buy it.
Path to purchase
Factors influencing purchase across product categories