Global retail is introducing new technologies and information resources in order to change people’s shopping behavior and influence their purchasing decisions. Large retail chains conduct research on consumer behavior and develop tools to attract audiences.
“If you are the owner of one or several stores, it means that a fairly large part of the work has already been done – you have invested money, formed an assortment, thought over the design and organized logistics. Now you are faced with three important tasks: to make sure that people come to your store so that they buy your product and that there is as much of this product as possible. Translating into the language of terms, you need to attract traffic, ensure conversion and a high average check. All of these tasks are directly related to visitor behavior and how you can manage it.
The Path To Purchase
The path to purchase is a key concept in consumer research. Now in global retail there is a huge number of new technologies and information solutions that change the behavior of people while shopping.
If we look at the whole cycle of how shoppers think and act, we can see three large areas along the path of a person to buy:
- Pre Store – what happens to people before visiting the store;
- In-Store – describes the behavior of people in the store;
- After Store – a person has purchased a product and starts using it.
Consumer Behavior Analysis
The behavior of people within the retail space clearly described in numbers. There is a whole system of metrics that allow you to identify the optimal models of consumer behavior and, based on them, select solutions that will affect traffic, conversion, and average check.
These metrics capture the purchase path within the store and are fairly stable. For example, traffic calculated by dividing the flow of visitors into external and inbound. Outside is all people who walk within a certain range from the entrance to the store. Study who these people are, how they react to window dressing, promotional offers, events inside the store
Influencing The Buying Decision
As soon as people enter the store, they start predominantly irrational behavior related to the amount of information, sound and visual range, the appearance of the sellers, and the assortment.
In our practice, there was a case when we did the research for a youth women’s clothing store, and among the monochrome assortment, we saw a bright yellow dress. Recording moments of communication with goods and equipment, we realized that the entire flow of customers, regardless of gender and age, first of all go to the rail with a yellow dress. Then we moved this dress deeper into the trading floor, and with the help of one such bright spot, we managed to organize a new flow format and deepen the routes in the store.
Formation Of A Retail Space
Another important point concerns how people perceive the retail space. Since the design and planning of stores is carried out by architectural firms, they proceed from their own idea of fashion and color trends, without considering psychological perception.
At the same time, there is a theory that repeatedly confirmed in practice: people perceive space and movement in space in the same way as when watching a movie or video clip. This theory initially had nothing to do with retail and appeared in the 30s, when silent cinema switching to sound and completely different mechanisms for displaying images required.
Dividing The Audience By Gender
When developing a model for organizing a shopping space, it is necessary to take into account the gender of the audience, since men and women behave completely differently during shopping.
Gender division is also important within the group. A woman shopping alone, in the company of her husband or girlfriend – these are three different types of audience and consumption patterns. The last group is the most interesting for the retailer. Depending on who your target audience is and what zones of the space they visit, it is necessary to organize these zones in accordance with its needs and think over various communication scenarios.