Marketing Management

Activating The Shopper (E)

How to activate customer? How to engage customer? Where we have the opportunity?

Posted: Apr 2010

The shopping is very complex process which includes many components. The shopper is the decision maker in the shopping process. Beside promotional mix and price, his decision depends of different factors:

Constrains: Time, Money, Space in the Basket
Consumer: Shopper is buying for himself or for somebody else
Reason for Shopping: Planned purchase, Unplanned purchase, Quick Pick, ...
Motivation: Price, Service, Support, ...

The success of the whole process may depend of the single factor. If the shopper is limited with only one factor, the shopping can be missed. In order to activate the shopper and to make the shopping process successful, it is necessary to undertake different steps.

Visual Communication

Think how much time a consumer gets to understand the message….  1, 2, 3 seconds… Where to put your message? Shoppers are more pressed for time than ever, they expect information to be out in the. You cannot just put your sign up in empty spots where it fits and expect people to see it. Stores are a collection of Zones, you have got to map them out before you place your signs.

You need to go out and walk round the store and ask:

• What will shoppers are doing here?

• Where will their eyes be focused?

• What will they be thinking?

• Will they be walking slowly or fast?

• If fast the message must be short.

• If slow you can deliver more detail.

Each zone is right for one kind of message and wrong for another. At a petrol station you can put a longer message at the pump, a short and message on route and another longer message at the queue before the cash register. Basically, the time spent on some location dictates the size and length of the message.

For maximum exposure you should interrupt the natural sight lines in any given area, so you stand in a spot and determine where the shopper is looking. In the queue for the cashier hanging a banner above them is no good as they do not look up. However placing a sign 3-4 meters away is more effective as it is in their natural sight line.

People usually look at the other people. This is why in Fast Food Chains they often activate directly above the cash register, more or less just below the cashiers face.

Next: 

Activating the Shopper
Visual Communication
How to Slow Shoppers Down? Men versus Women as Shoppers
Rules for Displaying
Exploring the Peripheral Vision