Shopper Culture

Priceless Picks from MasterCard Guide You Through Your World

With more and more consumers upgrading to smartphones, Mastercard looks to change the way consumers view m-commerce with their new iPhone application ‘Priceless Picks’. The Priceless Picks application lets you not only share your favorite places and those sensational deals you find with others, but also provides visibility to all the great things around you that others have tagged through utilization of your phones GPS technology. They bucket picks into 5 main categories: Priceless, Dining, Shopping, Entertainment and Other. In addition, the application offers a filter feature which lets you take customization a step further to ensure the content you are receiving is relevant to what you are looking for.

Check out the video: 

MasterCard Priceless Picks iPhone app from Kelly McCormick on Vimeo.

So this begs the question. How and when will retailers utilize this tool to engage their consumers?

Contributed by Michael Glunk

The Psychology Of Color At Retail

Recently we executed some in-market research for developing in-store POS pieces  to be used in a busy supermarkets. Wanting to make sure we caught the shopper's attention with the right in store media, we took a series of shelf extenders into a retail environment, affixed them to a store shelf and asked shoppers to shop the aisle without telling them what they were looking for. 

It was an interesting real-life test - shoppers denied seeing the extender in every instance except for one - when the extender was mostly yellow. In that instance, shoppers recalled either the sign or the messaging more than 65% of the time. Even a neon green sign, much loved in a sterile conference room, seemingly disappeared into the background once it was affixed to a store shelf.

Why? It wasn't that the design was different. The design, with the exception of color, was exactly the same. It's because people are conditionally programmed to respond to color in certain ways.

For example, in car-loving America, green means go. We're driving along see a green light and don't think or pause. When we see a yellow light on the other hand, drivers are conditioned to slow down, some even stop. By using a predominately yellow sign, we were able to tap into a shopper's psychological conditioning - we were able to get her to slow down and look.

Please. Touch.

Recent studies have shown that the sense of touch is closely linked to higher order perceptions of experience. In its simplest form, as we all know, a product or package that is pleasing to touch will likely have a positive correlation to purchase intent. New research, however, suggests the existence of a far deeper connection and, perhaps, a far greater opportunity for brands.

Consider:

• Test subjects who used heavier clipboards to rate hypothetical job candidates scored them as more serious about the jobs than those using lighter clipboards. 
• Test subjects seated on hard chairs for negotiations were less flexible than those who were seated on a cushion.
• Water sampled from a sturdier cup scored better on taste than the same water sampled from a flimsy cup.

So what does this mean in the context of in-store experience?

• In-store Demos - If you plan to demo that fancy new hand processor, you might consider investing in better plates for serving the samples.
• Merchandise - May be something as simple as branded grocery bags (that become heavy when filled) could help boost a brand's perceived weight/value. 
• Sales Environments - If you're selling cars, you might consider investing in cushier chairs. 

The simple reality appears to be that how we experience the things we touch goes far deeper than merely tactile aesthetic. 

Contributed by Ian Whitney, Paris

Do you have an email account just for shopping?

When I shop at my favorite stores and they ask me for my e-mail address, I give it to them. Mainly so I’ll know when sales events are or to receive discounts and coupons. I actually prefer the promotional e-mail delivery method versus waiting for sales flyers in newspapers, mail announcements, searching online or even iPhone apps.

Apparently, I’m not the only one.

In a recent study by Experian (The 2010 digital marketer: Benchmark and trend report), 53% of online adults say they are either very likely or likely to open an e-mail that contains promotions or coupons. Experian goes on to say that in 2009, e-mails promoting in-store visits increased by 50% over 2008.

 
This made me laugh because here in the office, a few of us received an e-mail alert that a nearby retailer was having a 50% off everything sale for one day only. News spread across the office, and lots of us are now strutting around in new threads. Clearly, it works. And part of the reason why it works, I believe, is because promotional e-mails become a social conversation topic.

As I think about that idea, I analyzed my own email and coupon behavior. When I signed up for this retailer’s email list, I used my personal email account that contains all my personal interests: running, hiking, swimming, etc. This account is all about ME. Not mom. Not career woman. Not wife. (Okay, there is some mom and wife stuff in there, but not the vast majority.) Thus, when I go to this e-mail account, my interest level spikes for what I’ll find, and I’ll often share these sales/coupons with others who have similar passions.

What about you? Do you have an email account just for shopping?

Products Most Likely Written on Shopping Lists Rather Than Brands

When creating a shopping list, more shoppers (81%) include the type of product, and not the brand, leaving the door open for brands and retailers to drive brand switching in-store via compelling marketing materials at-shelf. Respondents also report that their shopping lists also typically include the quantity needed (67%), but not details like the size of an item or its price. This may indicate that most price-based decisions (price and/or price-per-unit valuations) are being made at shelf. Because the majority of brand (66%) and unit size (73%) decisions are being made at shelf, there is a substantial opportunity for shopper marketing programs to persuade value-concerned shoppers to reconsider brand-name products and entice unit size trade-up in that location. This can be especially potent when considering that most name brands will be compared to their private-label counterpart a few inches away.

For more shopping list data and behavior, click here to download the The Checkout - Issue 4.10.

Foursquare ROI?

 Up to this point, FourSquare has been considered fertile territory with which only big name retailers (Starbucks, Ben and Jerry’s, etc) have started to partner, mostly stemming from the need to need to ‘be first’ in leveraging with this new technology.  

Many smaller-tiered brands are just now getting comfortable playing in the Facebook and Twitter platforms and haven’t established the same comfort level in tying into FourSquare – though the return might be greater. Whether it’s budget or merely the reluctance to take a risk with this new social media platform, all retailers are looking for security in investing marketing dollars into FourSquare.

Awareness, Inc. recently introduced a tool that could provide evidence of ROI opportunities. The site is Foursquare Perspectives and it allows venue owners (a brand’s bricks and mortar) to see how FourSquare users are interacting with their physical locations. Key stats include: 

·      Total venues, total check-ins, total unique visitors, and total Mayors

·      Breakdown of venues based on number of check-ins

·      Top Mayors across venues

·      Top Visitors by unique visitors and total check-ins

I see great potential for retailers here. This tool encourages the interaction between brands and their Foursquare-using customers by giving metrics beyond simple check-ins. What was once foreign territory is now a space where retailers can identify connections to brand zealots and usage and traffic insights– all valuable tools in developing communication. Both local and national brands can uncover unseen opportunities and recognize underutilized areas in which they can play. For niche brands like Anthropologie, learning that there are 7,800+ check-ins and 108 mayorships across 168 of your brands’ venues makes it hard to ignore the opportunity to communicate and reward these loyal shoppers.

 

What's Your Experience?

This is pervasive across the pages of Jim Joseph's new book The Experience Effect.  No matter where we are in the scheme of our marketing plan, this question is imperative to keep us grounded in where we're going.  In this straightforward read, he details each building block (yes, there is an order to the madness of marketing), one at a time, to bring your marketing plan to a triumphant crescendo.

Rookies and seasoned marketing professionals alike will find Joseph's book to be a simple and engaging read.  He explains concepts with agility and flair, often incorporating brand examples we know well, but adding a new twist.

Glocalization

With more shoppers trying to support local businesses and demanding to know "how" and "where" products they buy come from, big box and mass retail stores are rethinking how to make corporate seem communal. Gone are the days of the cookie-cutter, megastore footprints. For many big retailers, the next growth phase is about segmentation and localization — multiple formats targeting specific customers, markets and end-use needs.

Retailers will need to combine their global market sourcing with local market delivery and understanding — because the recession isn't over and shoppers still want value. Stores that balance value (big buying power) — with items that understand their neighborhood — are the ones succeeding.

To find who is focusing their efforts on glocalization click here to continue reading the latest issue of The Integer Pulse.