Understand your shopper: A journey to win in-stroe (part II)

Hi FMCGers,

I will start by apologising for delay and lateness in posting this blog, it has been almost a month since last post (part I) I have been extremely busy in the last couple of weeks.

Last time we started discussing the different types of shoppers' characteristics and what are their winning strategies, in summary they are:

1. Loyal Shoppers      (discussed in part I, Link)
2. Bargain seekers      (discussed in part I, Link)
3. Impulse shoppers
4. Need-base shopper
5. Browsing shoppers

Today we will continue discussing the other 3 types, but before that I just want to emphasis that these discussions will give thinking framework not an absolute final solutions, as FMCGers your personal skills and experiences inputs will complete the cycle and make the plan more likely to deliver on its objectives. The reason I am saying this is that I have received a couple of questions on how these types are applicable to industries like beauty or pharmaceutical, if you add your personal input to this thinking framework, you can find that not all types are applicable for you and you will consider 3-4 types only

Going back to the topic :) 

Type 3:  Impulse Shopper: 

• This shopper will rarely consider buying the product as it is not on top of their minds or needs, these can very applicable to industries like chocolate, gums, etc, where the FMCGers need to make sure to remind the consumer about the product and quickly make them buying, they usually need to consider 2 critical points:

1. Strong call to action message: to make the different between seeing & noticing the product, it is impulse purchase they shopper may see the product but the shopper needs to notice it also, the shopper must see why he/she needs to make a quick (impulse) decision and purchase the product.
2. Easy access: very important point where so many FMCGers don't put this as a high priority, understanding the shoppers way of thinking will make this an essential part of any plan. To further clarify the point let's take an example from the chocolate industry: imagine that you are shopping in the supermarket and after doing a great job by completing a long shopping list between all the long isles in the outlet, and while you are waiting on the cashier line you noticed a small AD or you just remembered a chocolate brand you love and decided to reward yourself with a small bite, but guess what ?? the chocolate isle is  all the way back at the store end, and there is no way to make before your time for the cashier, you will immediately drop the idea, after all it was an idea to reward yourself not make your life harder. A strong yet a simple plan for example will introduce a small stand filled with the product at the cashier waiting area to deliver on both; the strong call to action message and easy access for the product, such elements will always add value to the impulse purchase shopper 

note: Retailers are becoming more knowledgable & stronger; they understand the important of such spots to these types of shopper and they are fully aware that companies are willing to pay more to get such spaces, to avoid being over charged a strong and unique customer plan is needed when approaching the customers. Convincing customers without paying pace rental money is an art that any strong Trade Marketeer/ customer marketeer should master.

 Type 4: Need Base Shopper:  

• This type of shoppers don't have strong brands' preferences, they purchase based on need, for example, the will go shopping for coffee not for brand X for example, they will go the coffee shelf and start looking for the brand they want, this type if they only want coffee, they will enter the store go directly to the coffee shelf get the coffee and go out of the store without and further steps; they just buy what they want.
• It might be easy to attract these shoppers to your brand but again it is very difficult to maintain them, and that's why the FMCGers need to fully and throughly understand the purchase habits and the shopper decision making tree, these 2 will put a strong base to put a strong strategies for the brand. (it is a topic we can discuss on a later posts)
• In summary, the need base shopper cares about their needs at the first place, brands should be positioned on how to address thees needs, or even to convince the shopper that they have these needs while the actually don't :) :)                                                                                                                     

 Type 5: Broswing Shopper: 

• A mix of all, these shoppers love shopping, they enjoy going to store and browse they may not buy anything put they want to see what's out there, and that's way I said they are mix of all.
• If you have any in-stroe communication; this type will be the first to notice, you have a new brand launched they will notice.
• This type of shoppers love comparing stuff, they enjoy looking at different brands and compare them, they even like this about themselves, this gave them the satisfaction of being a smart shopper and these 2 words are the key to win this type, FMCGers need to communicate how it is the right decision to purchase their product, again understanding shopper purchase habits is very important.  
• Also, these shoppers need to be entertained in their store visit, entertaining shoppers has so many benefits, it increases awareness, positive referrals, happy feeling linked to the brands and ofcourse increases the purchase decision probabilities.

Understanding your brand / category different types of shoppers is a very important task to any FMCGers in any brand or any project, it will always have positive impact on your strategy building, route-to-market plan and delivering different action touch points a long the project life cycle.

as simple as the differentiation may sounds above (I hope) the difficult part will be the brain storming sessions to apply them in a real brand or product, but from my experience strong understanding will result into strong action plan / project and will always lead to amazing results. 

I hope you enjoyed this blog and found it helpful, please let me know what you think on the subject it self or on the blog overall in the comments sections or over emails, any feedback is highly appreciated, also, please share with your friends and colleagues, it is matter of icon click below :)

Hasan Bashammakh

Follow @HasanBash