DDi - September 2011 - (Page 14)

14 | Shopper Insights An eye on research he dreaded question in any discussion regarding merchandising is: “But do you know if it works?” Did the display actually stop the consumer and get her to purchase the product? The best way to answer this question is to conduct research that evaluates exactly what the consumer saw and how she reacted. I have never been a huge fan of relying solely on consumer-intercept interviews, because, frankly, consumers are a terrible judge of their own behavior. When they are shopping, they think they are faster than they really are; and when they are in line, they think they are moving slower than they usually are. They also let their egos get in the way. T To understand the effectiveness of your merchandising investment, you need to know the path the consumer uses to navigate through the store. This includes the speed of movement, whether the display got noticed, if the consumer stopped and interacted with the merchandising or product, and whether she put the product in her basket. Many marketers have used ceiling-mounted video cameras in-store to observe consumers. Video cameras can provide an overview of where the consumer has traveled within the store and where they stopped and shopped. The process also provides a huge number of customer observations for good quantitative analysis. But, many stores will not allow cameras to be installed, and for the stores that do, the process is expensive. So, I was interested in finding an alternative option. My first inquiry revolved around “eye tracking,” which works by putting on a pair of camera-equipped glasses. In fact, eye-tracking glasses have two cameras—one facing outwards to record everything the consumer looks at and a second infrared light camera to capture eye movement. Then, a mathematical model of the eye is used to calculate the eyes’ position and what the shopper is looking at. According to Barbara Barclay, general manager of Tobii Technology North America, the Swedish-based giant in eye-tracking technology, “The idea is to be able to identify those visual cues that cause shoppers to change behavior. [Eye tracking] is a powerful method for assessing and improving displays, packaging systems and POP materials.” Photo: Courtesy of Tobii Technology I also reached out to Anthony Prior, of London’s SheridanGlobal Group Ltd., and an expert in consumer tracking, to review the various technologies for capturing these consumer insights. Prior pointed out that the eye-tracking technique is very useful for understanding observations at a very detailed level—but that the level of detail is higher than what most researchers need or want. “We have become increasingly less sophisticated in our research techniques over the years,” Prior says. “What is most effective is understanding the ‘point of impact.’ The point of impact is the moment when a consumer stops observing subconsciously and is consciously focused on [his or her] surroundings.” As a result, SheridanGlobal has developed a single-camera solution that simply records what the consumer is looking at, and can detect by head movement when the consumer has started to focus on an item or display. Apparently, we all move our heads to focus an image of interest into the central vision area to minimize eyestrain. Obviously, the camera will also track how the consumer interacts with the product: did she touch it? Hold it? Purchase it? Or did she put the product back, resulting in a lost conversion? SheridanGlobal’s research technique has been implemented globally, including the U.S. industry initiative coordinated by POPAI, and found that shoppers are very similar around the world. “Shoppers are fundamentally the same everywhere,” Prior notes. “They shop on autopilot until something catches their attention.” There are some marketers who are skeptical of the tracking of consumer behavior using cameras mounted on eyeglasses. I was one of them. Is this true behavior, or is the behavior influenced by the consumer knowing that she is being monitored? However, Prior reassured me that because most of us wear eyeglasses now (64 percent of adults), research indicates that consumers soon forget that they are wearing the camera (usually as a clip-on to their own glasses). There have even been times when consumers went to the restroom, argued with their partner, disciplined their children—and even shoplifted—while wearing the camera-equipped glasses. It is a bit worrisome that eye tracking makes us humans sound like we behave like fish, chasing shiny objects. However, the next time you are trying to grasp a better understanding of shopper behavior, ask your customers to slip on a pair of specs and see which glittery fishing lure they swim to first. —George Wishart is the president and CEO of Edgewood Industries LLC. He shares his shopper marketing insights with DDI in this regularly appearing column. www.ddionline.com http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - September 2011

DDi - September 2011
Table of Contents
From the Editor
From the Show Director
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Greentailing
Editor’s Choice
Portfolio Awards 2011
Retail Design Luminaries
Retail Design Influencers
Design Firms of the Year
Best Visual Merchandising Programs
Retailer of the Year
Best-Designed Stores of the Year
Retail Standouts
Calendar
Advertisers
Think Tank

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