As brands and retailers continue to add new in-store media, items, brand extensions, keeping the shopper’s journey in mind will yield incremental sales each trip  and repeat visits.  In some larger formats, even before the proliferation of expanded media, items and square footage, shoppers spend as much as 85% of their time in store searching and navigating, NOT BUYING.  

 The simple formula is supported by measuring thousands of in-store retail trips.  The less TIME and EFFORT the shopper expends on a trip, the more likely their spending will increase.  

To Continue the Discussion with MHC:

 +1 941 807 0772 

Email: Mark@mheckman.com 

 

The MHC Team of Shopper Scientists bring a master class of expertise to each project, whether it be store optimization, developing strategic positioning, or refining center store categories.  

 

The Problem:  Shoppers Seek New, More Efficient Retail Options 

Brands and Retailers are relentless in their expansion of physical store space and filling that space with new items and new choices for shoppers to hopefully buy.  

Simultaneously, the contemporary shopper has increasingly less time to shop and traverse these large retail stores in search of the few items they buy repeatedly trip after trip. The emergence of Amazon and smaller, more efficient alternative physical stores is evidence that many of the larger and more traditional retail formats must change their approach to stay relevant. 

As the Shopper Expends Less Time and Effort, Their Spend Increases

Solution: Aligning the Way Shoppers Like to Shop—Instead of Constantly Disrupting Their Habitual Mind, Yields Bigger Basket Sizes and More Repeat Shoppers! 

The ability for brands and retailers to address “shopper efficiency” begins with understanding the key elements of the shopping behavior that shoppers demonstrate on each trip.  

Much of the decision making process is done by the shopper’s subconscious mind, aka “habit”.  They rely heavily on their habitual mind to do the bulk of the thinking, as the subconscious mind makes purchase decisions much faster the the executive, conscious mind.  

The footprints they leave are critically important context to any solution that is aimed at creating a win for brands, retailers and most importantly—the shopper.  

The unique understanding that the Shopper Scientists at MHC bring to the project, support the notion that blending and balancing disruptive communications, visual clutter, and aggressive merchandising with the shopper’s ability to efficiently find what they seek so they also have the time and inclination to shop for unplanned items is critical to building sales.

The process to build shopper efficiency in the busy, often visually overloaded physical store is depicted in the graphic below.