Understanding Shopper Behaviour to Boost Sales

Analysing shopper behaviour can feel like a difficult task, but it doesn’t have to be. A key to understanding what makes customers tick, no retail analytics strategy is complete - or even effective - without this insight.

Identifying why shoppers make certain purchase decisions whilst others don’t puts you in a better position to achieve your wider business goals. Keep your customers happy. Boost your business longevity. Increase your return on investment. All obvious wins, but a lot of retailers miss out because they don’t quite get who their customers are.

In this guide, we will observe and analyse the consumer in their natural habitat to gain a comprehensive understanding of shopper behaviour insights and how these can inform your field marketing decisions.

Consumer Shopper Behaviour and why it’s important

In a nutshell, shopper behaviour refers to the study of how customers behave, their shopping habits, and how they make a buying decision. It encompasses the actions and emotional responses of consumers throughout the shopping process, giving a holistic view of how they interact with your products in an in-store environment.

There are several aspects of shopper behaviour to take into consideration. From the moment consumers waltz through those glass doors, you need to capture their attention. Whether it's eye-catching colours, strategically stocked shelves, or enticing offers, our retail merchandising services will set your products apart from the off.

The Importance of Customer Insights

Customer insights are long-term trends in data, consumer behaviour and feedback that help you gain a deeper understanding of how your target audience thinks and feels. You can then leverage this data to:

• Enhance your current offerings
• Personalise and tailor your products

Listen to your customers. Their opinion is like gold dust to your business, and understanding how they operate within a physical shopping environment is fundamental to your success.

To us, customer insights are essential. Alongside your products, your consumers are the driving force of your business. Combining customer analytics with market research data will provide a granular understanding of who they are, their needs and their shopping behaviours. This will help you make data-driven decisions that benefit both you and your customers, as well as future-proof your business. From there, it's full steam ahead!

As a leading field marketing agency, we can help remove the guesswork by using customer insights to analyse shopping patterns and provide context to consumer trends. 

Using Data to Analyse Consumer Shopper Behaviour

Understanding shopper behaviour is one thing, but turning those insights into action is where real value lies. For brands and retailers, there’s nothing more important than understanding consumer behaviours.

By understanding what products people purchase, what influences their decisions, and how they use these products, businesses can adapt offerings to suit their audience while minimising wasted time, money, and stock.

A clear understanding of buying habits allows you to:

• Tailor marketing to specific groups
• Improve customer loyalty
• Adapt to changes in behaviour
• Identify emerging trends
• Reduce stock wastage

But how do you gather consumer insights and convert them into actionable data? That’s where analytic technology like Reapp comes in.

Reapp uses accurate consumer insights to supercharge sales and marketing, connecting data from digital and physical worlds to make better-informed strategic decisions. It simplifies this data into decisive sales actions at the shelf edge, showing what customers want more of and less of. Guesswork is a thing of the past. Up to 150,000 rows of data can be turned into dynamic, customisable dashboards.

The Four Types of Buyers

Data can show you what shoppers are doing, but understanding why often comes down to buyer psychology. Personality traits are one of the main factors that can influence the shopping process. Some customers will march into a store and know what they want. Others will be more inclined to browse. Understanding how to appeal to the various buyer types will help you to make strategic improvements to your retail marketing and ultimately maximise your sales.

The Analytical Buyer

Motivated by logic, they will carefully compare various products before making an informed purchase decision. Providing concise, clearly labelled information is one way to twist their arm.

The Amiable Buyer

Motivated by stability and cooperation, this friendly bunch find it difficult to make big purchase decisions. Whether it's deploying an enthusiastic brand advocate or creating an engaging endcap display, give them a reason to choose your product.

The Driver Buyer

Fearful of being taken advantage of, driver buyers are goal-oriented and decisive. Impatience is their middle name, so emphasising why they need your product early on is key.

The Expressive Buyer

Creative and intuitive types, these consumers are motivated by recognition and value personalisation. For them, an enticing visual merchandising strategy will do nicely.

Top tip: Avoid categorising customers into rigid buyer personas - the majority will be a mixture of two or more of the above.

The Evolution of Shopper Behaviour

Of course, buyer behaviour doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and the way people shop has changed dramatically. For the most part, the days of the simple grocery shop run are far behind us. With the rise of the digital space, shopping behaviour is continuously evolving.

Once upon a time, shopper behaviour could be broken down into three simple categories:

• The weekly shop at a large supermarket
• The top-up at a smaller convenience store
• The daily essentials at your local grocery shop

Today, the modern omnichannel retail environment has drastically altered how we shop. The internet allows consumers to order their entire monthly shop from the sofa, bridging the gap between consumption and shopping. This shift enabled price comparisons, the rise of bargain hunters, and the erosion of traditional brand loyalty, along with the emergence of specialist and subscription retailers.

Competing with online ads and next-day delivery makes driving in-store engagement trickier. But physical stores offer a tangible experience, from try-before-you-buy samples to immersive displays and cleverly organised aisles.

With a kick-ass field marketing strategy, driven by market trends and shopper behaviour insights, your products will fly off the shelves. We may be biased, but we much prefer a casual stroll down the cereal aisle over a soulless scroll on an app. Don't you?

How Does Shopper Behaviour Impact Your Retail Strategy?

Shoppers are the heart of the in-store home, and their behaviour should have a significant impact on your retail strategy. Understanding shopper behaviour alongside key trends is essential; identifying, analysing, and reacting to fluctuations keeps you competitive.

AI-based tools offer real-time insights, tracking movement and reading emotions as customers interact with products. This helps form a wider understanding of shopping behaviour and allows you to adapt your strategy, from improving store layouts to adding entertainment.

In-store product demonstrations are a great way to engage consumers, enhance the experience, and increase brand visibility. Our proven track record shows successful campaigns harnessing customer insights.

Retail staff also play a key role. Coaching them to embody your brand ensures products are represented in the best light, boosting sales and customer retention.

Here’s How Dee Set Can Help You

With a people-led approach to field marketing, we will work with you to develop and deliver a foolproof retail strategy that appeals to the modern consumer and drives sales. Our purpose is to take away the headache of shifting shopper expectations and find practical and innovative solutions that make a real difference.

As experts in understanding shopper behaviour, our passionate team has years of professional experience when it comes to the ways of the consumer, both in the field and behind-the-scenes data analysis. We can help you stay relevant in the market, increase profitability, and instil fear in your competitors. A triple threat!If you’d like to learn more about Dee Set and the services we can offer to your business, you can check out some of our success stories here. Alternatively, give us a call or fill out our online form to get started with our retail tech!