Online Shopping & CPG: Time to Embrace the Inevitable
As consumer packaged goods shopping increasingly moves online, it raises a host of questions about how shopping behavior changes when it’s on screen vs. walking around a store. There’s no replacement for seeing a shopper “in action” rather than trying to intuit what their behavior is based on, what they can recall, and what they are willing to tell you... Recently we’ve been helping our clients better understand consumer shopping behavior in online channels, and as you might expect, it’s been fascinating!
Some of our insights have uncovered that certain consumers may try to relate their online shopping environment to the traditional brick and mortar retail environment - a space where they are already comfortable and habitual. Other consumers enjoy using the shopping tools available on Amazon, expressing that they think of them as the virtual aisle and the virtual shelf similar to their grocery stores. Other surprised us by communicating a high level of trust in the “People Also Bought/Shopped For” set of product recommendations - possibly assigning even more trust in that grouping of products than in the product reviews themselves. And if you thought that there were a lot of SKUs in a large format grocery store or mass retailer – they’ve got nothing on Amazon. Your brand's choice of product imagery will critical to stand out among many thousands of search results. And don’t even get us started on merchandising! That's a book of insights waiting to be written.
Marketers and insight professionals alike know that going deep with consumers is critical - but how often do you take the time to explore how your brands or innovations will be perceived, found, and appreciated online or in an Omni-channel approach? This is where Mission Field can help. From our Lightning Strike upfront insights & innovation process where we work with consumers to uncover the truths of their habits and behaviors, to our Microburst Retail Labs where we can execute tests with Amazon as a retailer, we have you covered in any kind of online format - whether it is soup, nuts, or any category in between.