TNS Stop Interrupting Shoppers

8/10/2019 TNS Stop Interrupting Shoppers

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Opinion Leader

Stop interrupting shoppers

Finding faster growth: new customers

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To broaden product consideration and growsales, category managers and shopper marketersmust abandon disruption and focus on helping

shoppers find what they are looking for.



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Retailers and manufacturers dont draw up planograms

for fun. And at the risk of sounding cynical, they dont

usually draw them up just to make shoppers lives

easier. Their objective is, naturally enough, a more

self-interested one: most planograms aim to influence

shoppers decisions, affecting what they buy and

increasing the amount that they spend. As such they

embody an assumption: that shoppers are actually

making decisions in-store, considering choices and

weighing up options. The problem is that for most

shoppers and most purchases, this assumption is very

wide of the mark.

Choosing or searching?

TNS has spent more than 20 years observing shopper

behaviour. And all of that observation points to one

overriding conclusion: for the majority of shoppers, the

purchase process has little to do with decision-making;

it has everything to do with finding something that

the shopper has already decided to buy. Purchasing

data show that 69 percent of supermarket shoppersbuy the same brand as they did last time they

purchased from a category and 45 percent buy

exactly the same product. In case you think this

only applies to pre-planned purchases, 66 percent

of confectionery shoppers in supermarkets (about

as impulsive as supermarket purchasing gets) have

already decided on the brand they will buy when they

enter the store.

Shoppers spend the vast majority of their time at

the shelf searching for the product they know they

want and when they are busy searching for specific

products they are not open to influence; in fact,

they are effectively blind to anything not relevant

to the task in hand. An experiment by Shopology

proved just how difficult it is to distract shoppers

when they are in search mode. Researchers placed a

pack of beer in the middle of a cereal shelf and then

videoed shoppers reactions to it. Youd think this was

attention-grabbing and disruptive; in fact, hardly any

shoppers even noticed the beer. The fact is that when

shoppers are in search mode, they dont see whatthey are not looking for.

The price of disruption

The approach that most category managers and

shopper marketers take to this challenge is to

interrupt the search and attempt to jump-start

a consideration process, inviting the shopper toconnect with the category. From a superficial look at


69%of supermarket shoppers buy the same

brand as they did last time

45%of supermarket shoppers buy exactlythe same product


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somewhat counter-productive: if shoppers find the

item they were looking for quickly wont they just

walk away from the category without considering

anything else? In fact, TNSs research shows the

opposite: shoppers that find their first item quickly

are more likely to buy additional items from the same

category. When a shopper finds their first item within

10 seconds, the average number of items going into

their basket jumps markedly.

The fact is that within most categories, decidedshoppers have the potential to become open

shoppers, but only once the initial search process

has been completed quickly and without frustration.

Lets take the example of a woman shopping for

shampoo. Her everyday family shampoo is her priority

and something she buys time and time again. Her

choice has been decided long before she entered

the store. The faster she can locate it, the more time

she will spend considering the benefits of other

shampoos in front of her; she may well end up tryinga new product or putting more than one option into

When a shopper finds their first item within 10seconds, the average number of items going intotheir basket jumps markedly.

0-10

4.48

2.78 2.91

3.06

2.572.29

11-20

Time taken to select first product (seconds)

21-30 31-60 60-120 120+

Numberof itemspurchased


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her basket. If, on the other hand, she spends over

a minute looking for her family shampoo, then she

will probably walk away as soon as she has it in her

basket. And if the initial search takes too long, she

might well walk away thinking they can all make do

with body wash this week.

When we know that most purchases are decided in

advance, we have a clear goal for organising categories

to increase sales. The simple fact is that merchandising

has to cater to decided shoppers first and foremost.

The science of de-selection

When searching, the decided shopper interacts

with the shelf at a category rather than a product

level: they scan many products with very rapid eye

movements looking for visual cues to help them

makes sense of the shelf and narrow their search

options. In order to do this efficiently, they need a

clear structure where the shelf hierarchy is based

on product features and reflects the order of the

shoppers search. Research has a vital role to play in

helping to identify the product features that decided

shoppers prioritise in their search, so we can make

them easier to find. By organising the core structure

in this way, decided shoppers are able to rule out

large numbers of products quickly and move rapidly

from search to selection, increasing the likelihood of

them considering alternative, or additional, purchases.

When P&G took the bold step of re-organising the

skincare category shelves to make them easier for

shoppers, the impact on both behaviour and spend

was dramatic. Over the next six months, shoppers

spent noticeably less time standing in front of the

shelf scanning products; instead they identified the

products they were interested in from a distance and

went straight to that point in the shelf. Significantly

though, the amount of time they spent in the

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category didnt reduce at all. Instead, the extra

time saved in not searching for products was spent

considering purchases and considering more of

them than before. During the six month period,

category sales increased by a staggering 31 percent.

Catering to decided and open shoppers

Of course, merchandising cannot afford to put barriers

in front of shoppers who havent made a decision

and this means that it needs to cater for open

shoppers selection needs as well. On the face of itthis seems a dilemma, since weve already established

that increasing sales depends on building the shelf

hierarchy around decided shoppers. We only have

one shelf to work with, so how can we cater for open

shoppers at the same time?

The open shoppers selection isnt completely open; it

is based on selection needs that have been established

at some point before entering the store. His or her

selection process will come down to understandingdifferent product propositions for meeting these

needs, comparing them and eventually choosing the

one that balances their requirements most effectively.

Grouping products that meet similar selection needs,

and enabling shoppers to compare propositions easily,

doesnt undermine a core shelf hierarchy built around

product features; in fact, it supports and strengthens it.

Lets take the example of a mother shopping for

breakfast cereal. Her two school-age sons simply want

cereal that tastes good. She wants something they will

happily eat, but would ideally like a product that offerssome nutrition as well. She hasnt made her mind up

about which childrens cereal she wants, but she has

a good idea of the particular consumption needs she

is looking to satisfy. If she is able to identify a group

of nutritious kids cereals and start comparing flavours

to find something that her sons may like, then she will

be well on the way to making a decision efficiently.

And provided the group of kids cereals fits within a

clear shelf structure, this arrangement wont delay her

finding her own favourite cereal that she buys everytime she visits.


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The role of packaging communication

Similar principles and a similar hierarchy of priorities

apply to manufacturers looking to increase share of

spend within a category. Once again, it is essential

to prioritise rapid visual communication with the

vast majority of shoppers who are decided as to the

product features they want and are engaged in

rapid, sub-conscious searching. Key product features

that are relevant to such a search must be prioritised in

the package design and communicated where possible

through colour and visual cues, since the productonly has a split second to establish its relevance. More

specific product benefits that may persuade an open

shopper to pick that product over another can be

communicated through text, since they have a longer

window of opportunity to engage with these shoppers

during their consideration process. The pink colour of

a packet of prawn cocktail flavoured crisps is a great

example of the first form of communication; clear copy

stressing reduced fat or increased flavour is a great

example of the second.

Principles for category planning

Applying consistent principles based around actual

shopper behaviour isnt the same as suggesting

a one-size-fits-all solution for category planning.

Merchandising will always remain a complex art, in

which many different elements are brought together

to meet a range of conscious and sub-conscious

shopper needs. An understanding of the precise

priorities of decided and open shoppers in each

category is essential for planning shelf hierarchies and

product groupings effectively. However, that planningprocess can be rendered far more effective at driving

growth when it has a clear objective of its own and

the evidence of actual shopper behaviour makes it

clear what this objective should be. If manufacturers

and retailers want to increase consideration and spend

they must organise categories to reduce search time

and ensure that decided shoppers find what they are

looking for as quickly as possible. In doing so, they will

be putting shoppers in control of the time they spend

in store inviting them to spend less of that time

searching and more of that time shopping. Its a leap

of faith, but one that is long overdue.


Precise priorities of decided and open shoppersin each category is essential for planning shelfhierarchies and product groupings.


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About the authorPat McCann is Global Director for TNS Retail &Shopper, responsible for developing best practiceshopper solutions and enhancing shopper insightdelivery.

She started her career at Nielsen and then workedclientside at Avon and Allied Lyons before joiningTNS.

With over 20 years experience as a buyer andsupplier of shopper and consumer research, Pat wasinstrumental in establishing this global practice areaand in acquiring shopper specialists, Sorensen and IDMagasin.

About Opinion Leaders

Opinion Leaders is part of a regular series of articles from TNS consultants, based on their expertise gathered

through working on client assignments in over 80 markets globally, with additional insights gained through

TNS proprietary studies such as Digital Life, Mobile Life and the Commitment Economy.

About TNS

TNS advises clients on specific growth strategies around new market entry, innovation, brand switching and

stakeholder management, based on long-established expertise and market-leading solutions. With a presence

in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the worlds consumers than anyone else and understands

individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of the world.

TNS is part of Kantar, one of the worlds largest insight, information and consultancy groups.

Please visit www.tnsglobal.comfor more information.

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TNS Stop Interrupting Shoppers