At the start of the Coronavirus outbreak, numbers of online shoppers initially increased. Shoppers sought new ways to obtain food essentials and other products which they no longer had access to in the high street. As these people get used to the convenience and ease of online shopping, they are likely to continue in the ‘new normal’.
Do you know what your online shopper looks like? We’ve built a detailed picture, thanks to the ShopperVista research and many bespoke projects we have done over the past year. Here are five things you need to know.
1. More shoppers tend to use an app to log on to do their online shop
Source: IGD ShopperVista, Online grocery shoppers November 2018 to January 2019
2. Many shoppers buy from the checkout walk
Source: IGD ShopperVista
3. They pay most attention to advertising during the checkout walk or in search media
Source: IGD ShopperVista
Banner ads face challenges in trying to drive cut-through with shoppers. We found 73% said they’re very focused during their shop; they don’t tend to click on adverts. Search media or checkout-walk media is currently driving better engagement.
4. Shoppers stick to what they know and trust
Source: IGD ShopperVista: Online grocery shoppers October 2019 to December 2019
5. Reviews and recommendations are important to over half of shoppers
Source: IGD ShopperVista
Did you know that social media heavily influences online shoppers?
Our ShopperVista analysis tells us that 54% of influencer shoppers say they look at social media for inspiration, compared to 37% of non-influencer shoppers (ShopperVista 2019). This group of shoppers has a different outlook and attitude, affected by their digital lifestyles. We believe they will replace the baby boomers as the generation with the most purchasing power, strongest voice and biggest influence on the food chain.
We can help you profile your target shopper
Our Shopper Solutions team takes a unique, multi-stage approach to meeting your need for detailed insight on your category and online shopper.
The key is getting them to do an online shop as close as possible to the moment of truth. To do this, we use digital tools and screencast technology. Shoppers record their entire online shop on their preferred device, at the time and place they’d usually do it.
This removes the research effect of having a moderator watch them. It means we see a true, natural online shop so you get fantastically rich insights into how shoppers behave online. We also use many qualitative and quantitative approaches, from online focus groups to shopping diary using online shopper communities.
How we can help you during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak
In the current environment, we can’t run face-to-face research, at least until social distancing rules are relaxed. But by using technology, we can continue to answer your questions, via online focus groups and virtual accompanied shops via smartphones.
We use social listening to understand the sentiment and share-of-voice about your brand and competitors. And shopping website UX (usability) and CX (customer experience) research helps us understand how online shoppers are browsing, what influences them from social media, and what they noticed/missed and how they made their choices.
We use synchronous online video discussion to run focus groups. Plus, we run polling and whiteboard exercises online, and online surveys. We can also use the shelf test – a simulated in-store product display – to ask shoppers to describe their latest shopping trip.
Get an in-depth picture of how your products are shopped online
We know this is essential to feed into your online category strategy and help you harness the channel’s huge growth.
Our experienced, senior shopper research team have worked in a range of industries, including major food and grocery suppliers. We can support you with any shopper-related business challenge you can throw at us. We invest significant time in helping you land these insights internally and with key external customers.
Discover how we helped two major suppliers understand their online shoppers
IGD Solutions
To help address your challenges, you can rely on our experts to provide extensive market, channel, shopper and customer insight specifically relevant to your business concerns.
Discover more about how we can support your business and category plans.
NEW Stay Alert Predictive Survey
Be on the forefront of change and meet your shoppers’ changing needs. Find out how shoppers are reacting to your brands and how this might shift as the industry evolves. This bespoke shopper survey identifies what is happening now, and if used as a tracker can measure shopper trends towards your products.
Due to Covid-19, many customers are now shopping online. Join our experts to learn how you should optimise your brand’s online shopping experience in this new world.