WHILE EVERYONE IS excited about e-commerce, shoppers still appreciate a good instore experience, it seems.

A study examining behaviours and perceptions of over 1,000 Irish shoppers has shown that their feelings about grocery shopping are particularly influenced by the environment you give them when they step over the threshold.

While large supermarket chains often have extensive research behind their decisions for their template stores, smaller and independent retailers do not always have that information at their fingertips.

The report – the second in three from the Shopper Nation 2014 series by shopping marketing specialists Visualise - is called In-Store Experience.

• Read the whole report here>

The demographic surveyed had a wide geographical, age, family structure and gender range:

Shopper Nation 2014 Shopper Nation 2014

Some of the findings show where smaller retailers might be able to capitalise on the gap left by the larger supermarkets:

• Only 27% of shoppers found their main supermarket to be fun and exciting.
• Over two-thirds of shoppers would like for their grocery shopping to be more fun and welcoming.
• Shoppers had some suggestions for improving their instore experience: 

- activities for kids

- clear signs

- better music

- friendlier staff and better customer service

- competitions

- improve decor and add instore demos/sampling tables

• Recipe and meal ideas instore would encourage them to buy more to make their meals. Retailers could do this by displaying all ingredients for one recipe together in a group, and leaving recipe leaflets to hand.

The conclusion Shopper Nation comes to is that people are time-poor and appreciate help from retail outlets to address the reason why they are shopping with them. As the report says:

They are on the lookout for easy solutions to shopping needs. These needs may consist of trying to prepare daily dinners for the family, organise a dinner party for friends, and create simple lunch ideas or perhaps something as simple as snacks for a night in…It is not as simple as just grouping together what appear to be complementary products and expecting shoppers to buy them both. Shopper solutions must inspire shoppers and deliver real value to them.

How do you serve shopper needs? Have you trialled any new methods to keep customers coming back for a unique experience in your shop? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below…

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