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Grocery shopping is now less planned and more impulsive. Weekly or fortnightly trips are less common and shorter top-up visits more frequent. But research shows that overall, shoppers are actually spending more time shopping. What are the implications of this for retailers and suppliers? How are retailers and suppliers sharing their expertise? Much shopper research has been done to identify specific shopper groups and missions. Much of this new, detailed work has been done by manufacturers re-defining category decision trees and cross category purchasing dynamics. Simple definitions of staple versus impulse, expandable versus non-expandable are too simplistic. Our report shows how leading suppliers now divide categories. “If you lay out the shelving in a way that matches the logic of the way the category is shopped, they then move on and notice more things…. we’ve done the research and the prize is at least a 20% sales increase” (Customer Marketing Director, Supplier) Retailers are redesigning stores to match shopper missions to layout. Because shoppers are using less lists, store environment and signage needs to prompt the shopper and offer solutions. Use of “beacon brands”, and “vertical blocking” exploiting consumer cues with “colour and shape” will develop further. Increasingly, point of sale, is recognised as a key advertising medium. Retailers and suppliers are communicating with shoppers, using off shelf displays, sampling, in-store TV and POP plasma screens. Digital media has made it possible for advertising or other messages to take place on one screen, leaving the aisle and shelf-edge uncluttered. Tesco may roll-out in-store TV to 300 stores. How will this fit into overall changes in store layout? “I don’t think that price in isolation is becoming less important, but I think price compared to time is becoming less important” (Business Development Director, Major Multiple) Research shows that shoppers are less price conscious on small shopping missions and are less motivated by promotions, with convenience and time-saving now being paramount. How are promotional strategies likely to be adapted to fit in with these changes? Which promotions build not just individual SKU volumes but also overall basket size? And can stores be made more “exciting” environments in different ways? Sainsbury’s concepts at Hazel Grove and King’s Road may become more mainstream. But Hazel Grove is not the only ground breaking concept store in Europe. Metro AG have the world's most extensive trial of RFID technology at their future store in Rheinberg. In the short term RFID may only impact on the shopping experience through better product availability. In the longer term RFID could be revolutionary. What are the other possibilities? This report is based on interviews with Metro AG, each of the leading UK grocery retailers at Director and senior management level,category leading manufacturers and third-party marketing specialists. As with all Strategic Insight reports, it features proprietary business-to-business interviewing and data analysis techniques. High level qualitative depth interviews are transcribed and subjected to a systematic process of analysis.
Published: May 2003 Price: £ 495, US$ 795, € 695
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Insight Research .:. 2 Severn Street, Welshpool SY21 7AB, United Kingdom |
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