As noted in a recent press release from ACNeilsen, New York, consumers tend to go into standard behavioral modes when shopping at the supermarket. And understanding those modes could help product developers, as well as brand managers and marketers, better fine-tune their efforts.
“Shoppers don’t waste energy on everyday decisions,” notes Manjima Khandelwal, senior vice president, Nielsen Customized Research, in the release. “To simplify their lives, shoppers are often in grab-and-go mode, reaching for the brands they usually buy without reading the label or checking the price. The key to reaching shoppers lies in understanding that shoppers’ habitual mode can be disrupted by external stimuli such as advertising, buzz, new offers, price and promotions. Marketers can leverage this brief window of opportunity to trigger change by understanding which hot buttons to push.”
The study analyzed the shoppers’ behavior in 30 food categories and showed that they adopt one of four different “shopping modes” during the course of their shopping: auto-pilot, variety-seeking, buzz, or bargain hunting. The “auto-pilot” mode takes hold for everyday, habitual product decisions—often when purchasing coffee, cereal, cheese, margarine and mayonnaise. But when “variety-seeking”—a mode adopted when shopping in the frozen-food or breakfast cereal aisles, or when looking for items like biscuits, salad dressings chewing gum—consumers browse for surprises. “Buzz” mode was often reserved for items like energy and sports drinks, chocolate, ready-to-drink teas and yogurt drinks. “Bargain-hunting” choices are based purely on price comparison and promotions, often reserved for canned tuna, tomatoes and fruit; cheese; and pasta sauce.
This research suggests that some manufacturers might be better served by reserving in-store deals and promotions for product categories that fit such criteria.
“Consumers choosing sports drinks aren’t looking for a bargain,” says Khandelwal. “In-store deals for these products go largely unnoticed. Marketers would be better off redirecting their wasted promo dollars to investing in advertising and new product introductions.”
