The evolution of shopper research

In the past, manufacturers have relied on historical data to understand shopper behavior and use it to predict future behavior. But today, shopper trends are changing too rapidly to rely on this outdated, slow-moving approach. 

This method not only misguides your development recommendation to retailers, but it will also hurt your revenue growth, and your relationships with shoppers and retailers in the long run.

Understanding the unpredictable shopper in the ‘new normal’

Flawed thinking: Shoppers generally behave the same way with my products and my product categories over time.

This type of flawed thinking neglects the reality of today’s shoppers: They’re unpredictable. Instead, you need to know, day to day:

• What’s driving shoppers to make their purchase decisions?
• Why are they making the decision? What’s influencing them?
• When do their purchase decisions occur?

It’s particularly flawed thinking in a pandemic era that has upended “normal” several times over. For example, the NielsenIQ 2020 New Shopper Normal report found that 37% of global insulated shoppers (those who held on to their jobs and felt generally secure) added new stores to their shopping repertoire. Meanwhile, 63% of constrained shoppers (those who’d faced job losses) did the same. For comparison, in 2019 only 19% of global shoppers added new stores to their routine. 

Flawed thinking: I need more historical data to be competitive.

All the historical data and modeling in the world can’t explicitly tell you why a shopper made a decision. So when your decisions are based solely on past purchasing behavior, can you really be confident that your shopper marketing plans will result in high ROI for your brand?

Instead, you must understand what’s driving shopper behavior in the moment to be able to effectively predict and influence purchase decisions.

Historical data is good for measuring performance to start formulating a plan, but you’ll ultimately be left guessing without insight into actual in-the-moment purchase behavior to optimize your in-store plans.

NielsenIQ’s Smart Store insights can inform your in-store plans

Manufacturers need current, in-the-moment information to be able to make quicker decisions and respond to rapid changes in shopper behavior, to stay ahead of the competition.

NielsenIQ’s Smart Store enables in-the-moment shopper research that empowers CPG manufacturers to react faster to changing behavior, deliver more-resonant product merchandising, and be an influencer when shoppers make purchasing decisions in-store.

Your access to rapidly deployable insights empowers your brand to be more agile, with alignment on the research environment and technology. You can also be confident in your ability to conduct future testing, with a seasoned research team on standby.

Learn how to use shopper data to guide in-store merchandising

To unlock the full potential of your growth opportunities, gain a first-mover advantage, and stay relevant in shoppers’ minds, you need to always be in tune with the constant shifts in shopper behavior. You need the right data, right now, to stay on the right track.

To learn more about this concept and our Smart Store product, we invite you to view our webinar on-demand. You’ll learn how to:

• Develop plans to grow revenue where your shoppers are
• Deliver unbiased, mutually beneficial recommendations to retailers
• Optimize your product marketing to set your brand on a growth trajectory