Getting to the heart of shopper behaviour. Retailing in India

To drive up sales in the retail world, the key is to get to the heart of the shopper behaviour. With more and more stores across malls all over the country, retailers in India are trying various ways to ensure shopper loyalty and push them to make important buying decisions.

One way this is ensured is by creating a dream in the shoppers' minds. So how does that new product fit into the house, mind and lifestyle of the buyer. The big dudes of retail, Saatchi and Saatchi X conducted a survey. The research also helped Saatchi and Saatchi X develop a model that it calls the Emotional Drivers of Shopping in which eight powerful emotional drivers were identified: Dreaming, Sanctuary, Connection, Sport, Playtime, Self Creation, Mastery and Security.

Here are five (humble) suggestions as to what to consider when planning your next Shopper campaign: 

1. Get to the “why” of your shoppers’ purchase behaviours

Go beyond behavioural tracking to reveal the underlying emotional factors that drive shopping behaviour. You may be surprised just what really is important to them.

2. Give shoppers what they want, when they want it and how they want it
Attract, educate, and inspire shoppers through retail communications that connect the dots between a brand, its product and the emotional benefits they want through the purchase of it.

3. Align all shopper touch points to create synergy
A shopper does not care about ‘touch points’. So identify and assess each of your tools, online or in store, and ensure they are working together to drive purchase momentum by connecting them back to the emotional benefits a shopper desires.

4. Coordinate emotional drivers with your brand positioning within the category:
Once you’ve uncovered the emotional drivers that ignite your category, align them to your brand’s personality in store so they work in harmony to strengthen, differentiate, or augment your positioning against the competition. (Remember the value you create may also be valuable to your retail partners!)

5. Understand and manage your shoppers’ frustration
Negative emotions can impact behaviour as strongly as positive. So identify and reduce the factors that frustrate your shoppers and ensure you are not diminishing their desire to shop.

Get this right and it should lead to better in-store design, retail communications, packaging and product innovation. And the insights you glean will shine a new light on all your communications and inform the overall planning, influencing the development of big ideas that will ultimately win you ‘loyalty beyond reason’ in store, out-of-store and beyond. 

Excerpts from shopper marketing with Richard Nicoll, MD Saatchi and Saatchi X