The new shopper journey: how to optimise the path to purchase
08 February 2022Explore how evolving shopper behaviour and omnichannel journeys reshape purchase decisions, with tactics to influence choices pre‑store and in‑store.
How can you influence shoppers so that your product is on their lists before they get to the store? When in-store what tactics can you use to influence and encourage shoppers to put your product in their basket?
The traditional path to purchase has been transformed thanks to the accelerated blending of the digital and physical world, driven by COVID-19. This omnichannel universe has created more fluid journeys, generating additional touchpoints to engage with shoppers. With a quarter (24%) of all grocery shoppers saying they frequently research groceries online before going in-store shopping, the path to purchase starts well before the store visit.
67% of shoppers say they plan their shop in advance. While that means they often know which categories they plan to buy from, they will still make the final product decision at the fixture.
Understanding how your category is shopped is key to planning how you can influence the shopper on their shopping mission. As you might expect, categories that shoppers buy routinely, such as fresh produce, pet food and dairy, are most likely to be pre-planned as they are already on a shopper’s mind before entering store.
The purchases least likely to be pre-planned are in categories where shoppers look for inspiration – for example in prepared meals and food-to-go. These are more likely to be purchased on the spur of the moment, when shoppers are looking for a specific meal or shopping for an occasion, rather than to replenish an empty cupboard.
While it’s harder to influence a shopper’s choice when the purchase is pre-planned, there is still scope to sway your shopper’s decisions. Even in fresh produce, where 63% told us they had planned to buy that product, the majority still said they choose what to specifically buy when they are at the shelf.
Is your in-store marketing driving sales?
When only 41% of supermarket shoppers visit most aisles, how do you get shoppers to visit the aisle your product sits within?
In-store, shoppers are influenced by a variety of factors such as signage, POS and on-shelf marketing. A recent study using our eye-tracking metrics - which tracks shoppers eye movement and dwell time found that shoppers tend to disregard some types of in-store media, such as front-of-store media, but engage more with media and navigational signage on-shelf.
Most categories benefit from providing information at fixture. Secondary fixtures can help signpost a category and drive shoppers to visit your category aisle or prompt a reminder for a product they are already likely to buy.
No shopper journey is the same
It's not one size fits all though. The shopper path-to-purchase varies by category. High price point categories such as BWS differ greatly to categories that are purchased habitually, such as breakfast cereal for example.
Understand your shopper journey
Understanding the total shopper journey and the store areas that shoppers are most engaged with is key to developing a shopper marketing strategy that delivers commercial results.
Start by asking yourself:
Do you know what touchpoints and messages impact decision making across your category and brand’s journey?
Do you understand the level of planning associated with your category?
Do you know how shoppers locate and navigate your categories in-store?
Next steps
For further reading visit these reports on ShopperVista:
To discuss how we can help you develop and optimise your category and brand’s path to purchase, contact IGD at [email protected].