Read why shopping missions and occasions are a hot topic with ShopperVista clients right now.
Shopping missions and occasions are a hot topic with ShopperVista clients right now. In the last few months alone, IGD's Director of Shopper Insight, Rhian Thomas, has chatted to manufacturers and retailers about:
How will GLP-1 usage impact snacking occasions?
What will the growth in quick commerce mean for top-up shops in the future?
Why drives shoppers to pick retailer x for their food-to-go mission?
Since Covid, IGD’s focus on a total consumption view has expanded. The choices for the consumer are more varied today; with the away from home market representing over a third of the value of the UK food and drink market in 2026; it cannot be ignored, or be an afterthought, for category and commercial functions when looking at possible routes to market.
Understanding shopping missions and consumptions occasions can help to translate big industry trends and external pressures into what it actually means for shoppers at shelf, digitally or when they are away from home. Earlier this year I was lucky enough to present at the IGD Category Leadership conference where the new category leadership blueprint was launched and I was thrilled, and not surprised, to see the real focus on mission-based thinking.
One of the standout implications, for Rhian, from the blueprint was:
Category leaders need one view of how demand if created and converted across stores, online, retail media, foodservice and shopper communication.
The question is: how can you ensure you are doing just that?
While we know every shopping mission will have individual nuances based on the shopper and their needs at that time, we do need a way of organising this understanding. To support just that IGD have a mission framework, that was developed through extensive shopper research, that provides more granularity than the traditional top-up shop level we had previously.
This approach can help understand why you see shoppers selecting the products that they do and helps us get into their mindset and subsequently understand their needs better.
This is a living framework; we see how shopping missions and consumption moments are constantly evolving. You can expect the shopper team at IGD to continue to review this framework in 2027 and beyond.